Recruitment & Retention: A 4-Day School Week Case Study

The following information provides a very high-level overview of information and data received regarding the four-day school week. This information comes from Martensdale St. Marys who transitioned to the four-day week this year. Martensdale St. Marys was chosen for comparison purposes for the following reasons:

• Geography: Martensdale is located in roughly the same proximity to the Des Moines metro area that Baxter is. Martensdale is 25 miles from Waukee as Baxter is 30 miles from Ankeny.
• Student Enrollment: Martensdale St. Marys serves 494 students, and Baxter serves 444.
• Open Enrollment: 25% of Martensdale St. Marys students are open enrolled into their district and 29% of Baxter students are open enrolled into our district.
• Retention Issue: As stated below, Martensdale had 31 teacher departures in the three years prior to moving to the four day week. We have had 31 teacher departures at Baxter in the past three years.

Major rationale for moving to the four day week: Teacher retention and attraction

Data: Impact on Attracting and Retaining Teachers

• Martensdale total teacher departures the three years prior to switching: 31 vacancies
• Martensdale teaching departures the year prior to switching: 15 vacancies
  • Of the fifteen vacancies, four were for elementary positions. For those four positions, they received six total applications.
• Martensdale teaching vacancies after announcing the transition: 3.2 vacancies
• Martensdale applicants after announcing the transition for the 3 positions listed above:
  • 19 applicants for 1st grade opening 
  • 16 applicants for TK opening
  • 4 applicants for HS SPED opening

Baxter Vacancies

• Baxter teacher vacancies over the past three years: 31 vacancies
• Baxter teacher vacancies last year: 14 vacancies
  • There were 16 total applicants for the 14 positions posted at Baxter last year.
  • 9 of the openings had either 0 or 1 applicant