05/27/2026
What a special day celebrating Dr. A***n May and her final dissertation defense!
Dr. May's dissertation is titled “The Effects of a 4-Day School Week: A Focus on Student Success,” and her work discusses a very important topic: student success related to academics, attendance, and behavior as defined by ISS, OSS, and DAEP placements. Dr. May’s mixed methods study examined 7th grade reading and math STAAR scores for two years on the 5-day school week and for two years on the 4-day school week. She also looked at attendance and discipline for the same years. Additionally, Dr. May gathered survey data from 660+ students in grades 7-12 to gather student perceptions about how they utilize the extra day at home, their beliefs about the 4-day week’s impact on their academic success, and if they prefer the 4-day week. Students responded to eight questions that utilized a 1-5 Likert scale and five open ended questions to gather this student voice data.
Dr. May’s findings highlighted several important considerations districts and school systems can utilize if they are considering a change to a 4-day week schedule. Dr. May’s written dissertation is excellent, and she did an outstanding job in her final defense presentation! She was knowledgeable, poised, and compelling.
Congratulations, Dr. May! We are so proud of you.
Dr. May's Dissertation Committee was comprised of the following educators:
Dr. Phyllis Scott, Committee Chair
Dr. Kimberly Coppens, Committee Member
Dr. Sharon Lee, Committee Member
Dr. Sally Scoggins, Committee Member
Dr. Julie Leslie, Director of Research for EdD K-12
Dr. Larry McHaney, Director of EdD K-12
Dr. Neil Dugger, Founder of and Program Advisor for EdD K-12
