2. What is year-round schooling? Year-round schooling is a modified schedule for teachers and students which involves year-round schooling with frequent three to four week breaks throughout the year The end of the school year typically ends with a five week summer break (St. Gerard, 2007)
3. Background Information Over 2.3 million public school students in the U.S. participated in the year-round school schedule for the 2002-03 school year According to NAYRE, approximately 2,200 elementary schools and about 300 public middle schools in the U.S. following a year-round modified schedule (St. Gerard, 2007) (edweek.org)
4. What is a Modified Schedule? A modified schedule is one type of schedule based around year-round schooling In a modified schedule, 180 days of instruction are divided by frequent breaks throughout the year
5. What is a Multi-Track Schedule? A multi-track schedule is a specific type of year-round schooling in which students and teachers are placed in “tracks” of the same size Students and teachers on the same “track” follow the same schedule This schedule works out so different “tracks” are alternating being on break and being in school (St. Gerard, 2007) (edweek.org)
6. Pros to year-round school schedule Children on year-round schedules tend to retain more information from one session to the next without need to review Year-round schooling also boosts academic performance for students with learning disadvantages because frequent breaks allow time for them to review and acquire the help they may need (Anderson, 2007) (St. Gerard, 2007) (edweek.org)
7. …continued The multi-track schedule can ease overcrowding by separating the teachers and students into different tracks In some particular schedules, having a year-round school year can keep education in the U.S. up to the high standards of schools are the world.
8. Cons to year-round schooling Without a full summer break, teachers have to adjust to a small amount of preparation time for the next school year. Year-round schooling conflicts with family life Summer learning children experience is hindered Constant breaks serve as a problem to prepare students for state mandated tests
9. Legislation in North Carolina In North Carolina, the Wake City County district are planning for an explosion in the amount of students expected to move to this location Year-round schooling would help solve this problem by alternating school and breaks by putting different students and teachers on “tracks.” Problems arise when year-round schooling is mandated
10. Conclusion Past is always a the best predictor for the future! With that said, more and more districts around the U.S. are going to implement year-round schooling schedules based on the benefits and the growing amount of districts switching to year-round schooling
11. Work Cited St. Gerard, Vanessa. “Year-Round Schools Look Better All the Time.” Communicator, 30 (February, 2007): 56-8 “Year-Round Schooling.” http://edweek.org/rc/issues/year-round-schooling/ 28 October 2009 Anderson, Joan. Blankenship, Duncan. “School’s Out- or Not.” Teacher Magazine, 18 (May/June, 2007): 10 Gewertz, Catherine. “N.C. District Polling Parents on Year-Round Schools.” Education Week v. 26, (May, 2007) :5
Editor's Notes
Year-round schooling has been implemented in the past decade and every year more and more districts are choosing to do this.
NAYRE is the National Association for Year-Round Education.
Every few weeks, children are allowed usually a three week break before returning to class again. Summer breaks may allow four to five weeks of leave. Some schedules do not allow summer breaks whatsoever.
“Research shows that multi-track year-round schooling can significantly save money if it is used in place of building costly new school Facilities (Shileds & Oberg, 2000; Bradford, 1995; Brekke, 1992).
During a year-round schooling break, time allows for some students to have supplementary learning if they are up to speed on the required curriculum.
Economically, year-round schooling helps American children achieve just as much as children from across the world.
Many teachers also feel that having frequent breaks can interfere with learning because you keep teaching subjects and then have to break.
Since the year-round schooling in Wake City is not mandated, parents may chose to send their children to traditional school setting in which there may not be enough seats for this growing population. This may become more of a problem in the future when other districts experience overcrowding.
Year after year more and more school districts are switching to a variety of different schedules that include year-round schooling. Just think about college. Summer classes are always available and help students succeed further. Your local elementary school could be next!
