The Board of Education for Niles Township High School District 219 last week approved implementing four-day weeks for summer school 2025.
The district, which serves students from all or part of Skokie, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove and Niles, instituted four-day weeks for the first time this summer and, according to district administrators, saw increased student retention, a higher rate of students passing their classes, and higher rates of in-district teachers who taught during the summer.
The board’s approval of four-day weeks for the summer school calendar will mean that days will be longer by an hour to make up for the fifth day. Students who attend summer school will also be fed a lunch during the school day, which the district did not provide when summer school contained five days a week.
The 2024 summer school session saw a 40% decrease in dropped enrollment, 99% of students passing their classes and a 12% increase in D219 teachers who taught in the summer compared to the 2023 figures, according to Sara Klos, the summer school principal.
“I think a lot of that was because the Monday to Thursday schedule allowed students for more flexibility (and) students who maybe wouldn’t have enrolled before were able to enroll because they had the four-day week with the option to do other activities or work on Fridays,” Klos said. “With fewer days to be absent, students had less opportunity to miss (school).”
The 2024 summer school program had 32 fewer students than in 2023. “But overall, our demographics of summer school continue to mirror the district’s during the school year,” Klos said.
The implementation of the lunch boxes given to students also created a social space for students to interact with each other, Klos said.
“You saw students sitting together in the hallway in different classes (whether for) enrichment or credit recovery, everyone mixing in (and) staff joining in. So you saw a community that we didn’t see in the five-day week when (students) didn’t get out.”
The shift to four-day weeks did not gain the support of everyone on the board. Board member Joseph Nowik said, “Studies indicate that students’ attention tends to wane over time, particularly in longer classes, if the content isn’t broken up effectively with elements in terms of breaks.”
“I want to make sure that they take a truncated class over 12 periods, that they actually retain the knowledge that it would get over a semester in a regular environment,” Nowik said. “I personally feel that the fewer longer classes does not provide that to our students,” he said.
Klos responded to Nowik’s comments, saying that summer school classes are condensed by nature, and that student performance was better because they were more engaged in their classes.
“Teachers are experts at assessing their students, and I think we have to trust our expert teachers that when they assess students and saw that 99% of students met the learning targets in the credit recovery and 100% of students met the targets in the enrichment courses, you know, I don’t think they were compromising their standards just to fit into the four day week.” she said.
Board Members Celia Stennett and Ken Durr spoke in favor of the four-day summer school.
“I mean, we saw the metrics. We saw that we have 100% passing for (enrichment courses)… I think that four day does make sense,” Stennett said.
Durr said that the study Nowik referenced would most likely apply for students who take on an entire semester with more classes. “They’re (students) taking one class for three weeks. I don’t think outcomes are going to be detrimentally affected.”
Nowik insisted that the four-day week was not going to be better than a five-day week for summer school.
“My issue is that you’re basically cramming,” he said. “I strongly suggest that somebody sit down and write your proof that by reducing the number of days and increasing hours you’re getting better results to our students — I think you’re gonna get a Ph.D out of it, because you’re contradicting all the data that’s been accumulated over hundreds of studies.”
Superintendent Tom Moore, in response to Nowik, said “in fairness, I would actually take issue with that. First of all, we’re not saying it’s better. We’re saying it’s basically the same, because you’re gonna get more teachers and you’re gonna get more students actively engaged during that time and that there’s not a detriment to it.”
“I hate to even bring this up because it sounds like something I’m advocating for and I am not. I am not advocating for this. But in the states that have gone routinely to four-day school weeks, in high schools doing what you’re saying, there is no drop in achievement in national assessments, on college board assessments, on ACT assessments, on college admissions. It basically pairs out equally,” Moore added.
Unconvinced, Nowik voted against the four-day week for summer school. Board Member David Ko was not present, and the remaining board members approved the schedule change in a 5-1 vote.
