Study on Four-Day Schools Approaching

Next week, I’ll present during an interim study before the House Common Education Committee examining fourday schools.

The study is hosted by Rep. Danny Sterling and will take place Wednesday, Oct. 12, beginning at 8:30 a.m.

Our four-day school option is incredibly important. Hundreds of thousands of students across the US are now attending school four days a week. According to a 2021 study, more than 1,600 school districts across 24 states are using a four-day school schedule, and Oklahoma is one of those states.

Oklahoma‚s four-day, or quasi-four-day, school weeks are found exclusively in rural communities, and the same is true for surrounding states. During the past two decades, four-day school weeks have exploded in rural communities, and the trend does not appear to be slowing down.

Wednesday’s study will evaluate the impacts of four-day school weeks in Oklahoma to ensure students are receiving a good education and retaining necessary information. The study will include speakers from across the US, including a leading researcher on the topic, Emily Morton, Ph.D.; a state official from Colorado‚s Department of Education, Christina Monaco; and two local school board members from rural Oklahoma.

I’ll also present on the model used by Cottonwood Public Schools, a rural K-8 four-day school in Coalgate. They were once the second-lowest economic area in Oklahoma, and I‚ve worked with them to implement practices that resulted in students repeatedly achieving some of the highest test scores in the state.

In my work at Cottonwood, I implemented a discipline plan that all teachers follow, resulting in less time spent on discipline, fewer referrals to the office and more time on task, helping to increase academic achievement.

We also work to ensure interventions are assessed at an early age, helping avoid more problems later. In addition, the school has two full-time counselors to deal with attention factors, behavior disorders and emotional problems.

There has been some contention regarding fourday schools in the last few years. In 2019, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 441 to regulate four-day school districts in Oklahoma. The bill required fourday schools to obtain a waiver from the State Board of Education (SBE). The SBE established a set of minimum standards for a school district to obtain a waiver.

According to SB 441, the Legislature was intended to approve or deny the standards set by the SBE. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we couldn’t evaluate the standards; instead, the governor certified the rules. Unfortunately, this has created some barriers for schools following the four-day model.

I look forward to hearing from our presenters at the interim study and considering how Oklahoma can set our children up for success.

All studies are open to the public and are also livestreamed on the House website. They can be viewed by visiting ‘Media’ then ‘House Audio/Video.’ Recordings of the studies can also be accessed there to be viewed later.

If you have any questions about this issue, please don’t hesitate to reach out at 405-557-7375 or randy. randleman@okhouse.gov.

Rep. Randy Randleman, a Republican, serves District 15 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, which covers Haskell County and portions of Muskogee, Sequoyah, LeFlore, Pittsburg and McIntosh counties.