Life

Year-round schooling is a topic that has caused much debate over the years. A year-round calendar is an alternative to the traditional school year system which most schools follow. In year-round schools students attend school for the same amount of days as students following a traditional calendar, only several breaks are given instead of the long-established 3-month vacation. Research has shown that there are many advantages and disadvantages to adopting a year-round school system. Some advantages consist of year-round schoolings cost effectiveness and student achievement due to intercessions. Other disadvantages include the idea that year-round schooling is not as cost effective as previously thought, and that it has a tendency to cause family complications. Deciding to implement a year-round school system is a choice that should not be made too quickly, but rather by evaluating the pros and cons depending upon the circumstances at the time. Furthermore, the decision should always be done in the best interest of the students.

An Assessment of

Year-Round Schooling

Introduction

Have you ever wondered what year-round schooling is all about? Do students really stay in school all year? If you have ever pondered these questions, then you are not alone because a great deal of people are unfamiliar with the way in which a year-round school calendar is organized. The term "year-round schooling" is a very misleading name because even though the school year begins earlier and ends later, students still attend school for the same amount of days as students in "traditional" schooling. However, students in the year-round education program receive several vacation blocks throughout the year as an alternative to the usual three month break during the summer. Year-round schooling is a national issue that continues to cause much debate and controversy. Nevertheless, a large number of students are attending year-round schools each year. During the 2002-2003 school year there were more than two million students in 3,181 year-round schools located in 565 districts in 46 states in the United States alone according to statistics published by the National Association of Year-Round Education (NAYRE). Many believe year-round schooling is a more time efficient, cost efficient, and learning efficient way to reorganize the school year and improve student achievement. Others feel that year-round schooling ruins the traditional school year that already exists by creating unnecessary confusion in the school system and family life. The purpose of this research paper is to examine the benefits and drawbacks of year-round schooling as opposed to the alternative traditional school year.

The History of Year-Round Schooling

Year-round schooling may seem like a relatively new topic; however, it has been around since the twentieth century. According to information published by NAYRE, the first supporters of the year-round schooling system were in Bluffton, Indiana. Between 1910 and 1938, year-round schools were put into operation mainly for extra space. The first mandated K-12 year-round program was introduced in Aliquippa, PA. Between 1938 and 1967, year-round schooling stopped, and focus was placed more on World War II, the Korean and Vietnam Wars as well as the reconstruction of America. In 1968, Hayward, California had the first year-round school in its district following WWII. In 1969, Francis Howell School district in Missouri implemented the first multi-track calendar. The number of year-round schools continued to rise, and between 1998 and 1999, the number of students enrolled in the year-round education program broke the two million mark. In the recent 2002-2003 school year, Wyoming and Delaware joined the year-round schooling calendar.

Types of Year-Round Schooling

There are two main types of year-round schooling. Single-tracking is the form most prevalently associated with improved learning opportunities for students. Using the single-track plan, students follow the same instructional and vacation schedule as school staff. The vacation is dispersed throughout the school year into periods called intercessions. Following a single-track school year does not accommodate for more students or reduce class size, for it is just an alternative way to reorganize the school year.

(NAYRE).

The alternative type of year-round school schedule is multi-tracking. Multi-tracking varies from single-tracking in that not all students and staff are in the school at the same time. Students, who are organized on a variety of tracks, and teachers are divided up into three, four, or even five different groups of approximately the same size, and each are given different schedules (Shields & Oberg, 2000). The three track method can increase the schools capacity up to 50%, four tracking up to 33% and five-tracking up to 25% (NAYRE). Therefore, multi-tracking is most commonly used as a resourceful way to accommodate increasing student enrollment. By using tracks, schools can avoid construction costs and fit more students in an existing school.

Further Calendars Associated with Year-Round Schooling

Year-round schooling can also be divided up further into different types of calendars. The first type is the 60-20 schedule, where there are 60 days of schooling followed by 20 days of vacation. This type of schedule, which accounts for roughly 37.1% of year-round schooling, is used in both single and multi-track schools. The 45-15 plan is the most popular schedule, accounting for 39.6% of year-round schooling calendars. In this schedule, school is attended for 45 days with a 15 day vacation period (Palmer & Bemis, 1999). There are countless other types of year-round school calendars; however, the 60-20 and 45-15 plans are the most commonly used.

According to the National Association of Year-Round Education, there are many other types of calendars that also follow the year-round school system such as the extended school year. In the extended school year, the traditional 170-180 days is lengthened to 240 days. Another type is the flexible all-year calendar, where the school is open for 240 days per year and students are required to attend a certain number of days depending upon what each