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

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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