Faced with massive budget cuts in the wake of the recession, many Idaho school districts switched to a four-day weekly calendar. But more than seven years into the experiment, an investigation by Idaho Education News -- lead by reporter Kevin Richert -- found little evidence that the schedule change improved either student achievement or the fiscal outlook of cash-strapped districts.

Richert spoke with EWA Radio about the surprising lack of state and national statistics on four-day schools, tips for weighing anecdotal evidence of an educational program's success or failure, and how participating in EWA's Diving Into Data workshop helped inspire the investigative project.