Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
3-2022
ORCID
https://orcid.org/
0000-0001-9063-133X
Document Type
Dissertation
Department
Organizational Leadership
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Libi Shen
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Joseph Rummenapp
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Karen Maxwell
Abstract
Over the past 40 years, school districts in rural areas have been forced to move to a modified four-day school schedule. As of 2019, 650 schools in over 25 states operate on a four-day modified school model. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore teachers’ and administrators’ perceptions of the four-day school week. Four research questions guided the study: (a) How do teachers and administrators perceive the four-day school system in Oklahoma?, (b) Why do teachers and administrators support or not support a four-day school system in Oklahoma?, (c) How do teachers and administrators perceive the impact of the four- day school system on students’ academic performance?, and (d) What suggestions do teachers and administrators have for districts considering the implementation of the four-day school week? The participants were 15 teachers and five administrators from rural school districts in Oklahoma. Interviews and a focus group discussion were adopted as instruments for the study. Data were collected through Zoom and analyzed manually. The findings showed seven significant emergent themes. The significant themes for interviews were (a) increased teacher and student attendance, (b) increased student morale and decreased discipline issues, (c) increased teacher morale and retention, and (d) more time for family and personal business. The significant themes for the focus group discussion consisted of (a) increased teacher and student attendance, (b) increased student morale and decreased discipline issues, and (c) school finance benefits. Recommendations were included.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Akins, Bryan D., "Four-Day Modified School Systems in Rural Oklahoma" (2022). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 435.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/435