More North Texas school districts are switching to 4-day weeks. Here's why.
More public school districts in Texas are turning to shorter school weeks, including several in North Texas.
For the 2025-2026 school year, Kennedale ISD in Tarrant County and Ponder ISD in Denton County will transition to a four-day school week. At least 18 public school districts in the North Texas area have already made the change.
Districts have said that moving to a four-day school week will help them recruit and retain quality teachers. According to the Texas Education Agency, for the 2024-2025 school year, the total number of employed teachers fell for the first time since 2011, and the number of teachers leaving rose. Other reasons include saving money and student attendance.
While the TEA does not have a complete list of districts implementing four-day school weeks, the Texas Classroom Teachers Association said that Olfen ISD, east of San Angelo, was the first to implement a four-day week in the 2016-2017 school year.
As a rule, districts will designate a day off. Usually, that's on a Monday or a Friday. By law, Texas requires public schools to provide a minimum of 75,600 minutes of instruction per school year. Instead of making the school year longer, many districts opt to make the school day longer. Kennedale ISD, for example, plans to increase its school day by 15 minutes. Ponder ISD says it will increase its school day by 30 minutes.
But missing that fifth day may impact students when it comes to learning retention. The TEA released a report in February 2025 comparing the academic impact of a four-day school week to a five-day school week. Results are based on the 2022-2023 school year STAAR test scores.
In reading/language arts, students in grades 6-8 who attended a four-day school week scored an average of 6 to 8 percentage points lower than students who attended a five-day school week. In math, students in grades 4-6 had an average of 5-8 percentage points lower.
The TEA also cited national research that shows evidence of academic growth from districts that adopted a four-day school week as long as they made the school day or the school year longer. However, that growth didn't happen as fast as in five-day school week districts.
On average, students in a four-day school week attend 148 school days per year, compared to the national average for five-day schools at 180 days per year.
North Texas school districts operating in a four-day school week:
Chico ISD
Gordon ISD
Graford ISD
Mineral Wells ISD
Palo Pinto ISD
Tioga ISD
Farmersville ISD
Terrell ISD
Anna ISD
Community ISD
Decatur ISD
Sanger ISD
Athens ISD
Gainesville ISD
Quinlan ISD
Joshua ISD
Gunter ISD
Collinsville ISD
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