School Districts Adopt 4 Day Instructional Week To Attract Educators

Texas school district is the latest in the nation to adopt four-day instructional week.

School districts across the United States are increasingly adopting a four-day instructional week, with the Whitney Independent School District (ISD) in Texas being the latest to make the change.

This shift comes after district leaders surveyed faculty and staff, with an overwhelming majority in favor of reducing the number of student instructional days. As part of the new schedule, students will stay home on Mondays, giving educators an extra day to plan and prepare for the week ahead. The district’s board of trustees approved the change on Feb. 17.

“The results of the survey showed that 94.7% of the staff wanted to move to a four-day instructional week, and 66.7% of the WISD faculty/staff preferred to have Mondays as the off day to allow them to better prepare for the upcoming week of instruction,” said Superintendent Todd Southard in an interview with WNEM.

This shift is part of a larger effort to address a critical shortage of qualified educators. Across the country, many teachers are leaving the profession, and Southard hopes that giving educators more time to handle additional responsibilities—such as lesson planning, grading, and professional development—will help the district attract and retain skilled teachers.

According to Southard, the decline in applicants for teacher education programs is a trend affecting many districts, not just Whitney ISD.

“It has become increasingly difficult to find quality educators, a problem that is not exclusive to Whitney ISD,” Southard said. “All indicators show this problem is only going to get worse, as more and more teachers look to leave the profession, and college teacher preparation programs continue to see a decline in enrollment.”

School districts are looking for innovative solutions to attract new talent to combat this growing issue. Educators have pointed to factors such as low salaries, excessive work hours, large class sizes, and insufficient resources as reasons for their departure.

A National Center for Education Statistics study found that more than 45% of schools across the U.S. report being understaffed.

In response, hundreds of school districts nationwide have started adjusting their instructional schedules to make teaching positions more appealing.

Offering teachers more time for planning and professional growth is hoped to improve retention rates and help recruit new educators into the field. The shift to a four-day week is one of several strategies being tested in the face of the ongoing educator shortage.