The Adoption Of Year-Round School

Year-round schools have gained popularity among the United States, being a very communicated topic within middle class communities. These schools are generally argued about by whether they are beneficial or not. While there are many advantages to year-round schools, there are some disadvantages as well. A few of these disadvantages include the expenses of the schools, the schedules the schools provide, the involvement within the schools, and the actual effectiveness of these schools.

The topic of year around school has been brought up many times throughout my time in school. Though it has been brought up, it has not actually been considered by my fellow students and I. We have all taken surveys regarding it and most of the people I know have been against it. With our school being in a small town in Iowa I do not think having year round schooling would benefit us or the community.

In America most public schools go to school on a 10-month system established when America was mainly agriculture, and the children had to work in the fields during the summer. Year-round school was first used in the early 1900s to fight overcrowding and underfunding. It wasn’t until the 60s that year-round school was used again when a school in California became the first school to use it since 1904. I believe that the school schedule is fine the way it is. Some of the cons of year-round school are students can’t have summer jobs, most programs such as lunch and buses cost more, and extracurricular conflicts.

However it can be argued that the more frequent breaks throughout the year will leave students feeling refreshed and ready to continue learning when they get back. In the proposition detailed above, students will have a series of breaks throughout the school year, with the longest being three weeks over the winter holidays. This gives ample amounts of time for families to vacation and celebrate together and hopefully leave the students feeling refreshed and ready to learn when they get back. It was also indicated by administrators that “renewed motivation and continuous injection of new ideas maintained a higher level of enthusiasm than [students] had experienced in their previous traditional calendar schools” and that they fully believed this was a critical factor in improving student performance throughout the year (Shields). It should also be noted that the vast majority of jobs offered globally do not have a summer break, and by shortening summers from 13 weeks to 7, students will be more prepared to enter the work force once out of school, and should have an easier time transitioning into the year round life as opposed to students used to taking 10 to 13 weeks off at

The first session will be forty three days on with thirteen days off. The second will be forty five days on with eleven days off. The third will be forty nine days on with nine days off. The fourth will be forty three days with thirteen days off. Every four years there will be a longer break using the extra 56 days not used during the past years. This lets kids experience both types of schooling. During the school years kids, teachers, and staff will be interviewed on their opinion of the scheduling that year. Kids will be tested on intelligence while teachers will be tested on the convenience of when they taught. If their lessons were easier or harder during what part of the year and each year. The information can be analyzed to determine which type of schooling is the most effective.

Many schools are considering switching to year around school schedules. Some people might not understand what this means. ”Students in most American year-round school districts spend the same amount of days in class as students in traditional calendar schools- the days are just arranged differently, with smaller more frequent breaks throughout the year” (McMullen, 2001). Holton should not consider this schedule because it does not improve students learning, year round school would interfere with family vacations, and it makes trying to get a summer job for teens difficult.

Summer learning loss is only one major problem of the famous three month long vacation from school (Ballinger and Kneese 2). The traditional school calendar was created during a time when children needed to help work at the farm, and we are far past being a primarily

A lot of people have misunderstood the “year-round” schooling. The year-round school is not an alternative curriculum for learning, but it can also be called continuous learning, all-seasons learning, or four seasons (Warrick, 1995). Quinlan, George, and Emmett (1987) define YRE as a reorganization of the school calendar, into instructional blocks and vacations distributed across the calendar year to ensure continuous learning. Students that learn in a year-round school, can progress with less interruption during the summer months. Students also retain more information during the four, short break than they would after the normal summer vacation. It is good for children to attend year-round school due to some loss of knowledge and skills over the summer vacation. Not only is this good for the students, but it is also good for the teachers because they would not have to worry about preparing materials to reteach their

Students spend much of their time in scheduled or required activities such as school, before and after school programs, hours spent doing homework, etc. that their calendars may already allow little time for other interests or just unwinding (Worsnop 443). The long, traditional summer breaks away from daily schedules and demanding workloads may be these students’ only time to really pursue other interests and opportunities (Worsnop 438), especially activities that may take more time and dedication. A common and often efficient way to explore these interests is through the wide variety of summer camps offered during the traditional break (“Leave Those Kids” 5). These activities could help students learn new skills that are more specific to their field of interest or can be applied to any aspect of life (Worsnop 443). Offering educational and interesting opportunities such as these camps can help students realize that “not all learning happens in the classroom” and inspire them to seek out other ways to explore their interests (“Leave Those Kids” 5). However, these enrichment and educational possibilities are not always available to everyone, potentially putting certain students at a disadvantage. To counter act the financial disparity possibly causing this obstacle, actions should be taken to aid these students specifically oppose to changing an entire school’s schedule (“Leave Those Kids” 5). Moreover, for the number of schools unable to offer additional courses during breaks, students would not be able to take required classes outside of the school day in order to replace them with enrichment courses which can provide a source of self-expression and relieve stress (Mazzochi 121) as well as a way to expose or fill students with passion for something new. Many advocates of year-round systems highlight the fact that both systems, traditional and year-round, provide the same

people believe year-round schools is a good idea for students, there are those who believe it’s a bad idea and schools should stay the way it is. Some may say no year-round schools would be better because students can experience more outside during the summer instead of having three - four weeks of summer off and spend more time with family. Although Having year-round schools have many benefits for students actually , giving students the education they need, less drop outs, and more vacation time to spend with their family each break. It is important that we get the education we need so we can succeed in life and do better in the future.

Jill Parker, who is apart of a group in North Carolina called Time to Learn are against year round schools. This group argues against year round education, and they say- “Studies done so far don’t have the longitude to merit serious discussion.” They are saying that schools don’t take all the facts into consideration. Summer is when many people travel and go see relatives, but with students in school all year, it takes away that opportunity. Also, in lots of farm communities, the kids work on their family’s farm. Those people’s farms might possibly be their only source of income, but if the kids are at home, they can’t help out. In the summers, especially, farms need the kids to help out. Some school districts don’t think of that. Not only are the students getting family time taken away, but the teachers have families too. Teachers have to stay longer, and often live in another town than students too, so that takes even more time away. There are so many students and teachers who do not have time to do the things they want to do. As you can see, year round schooling limits family time, for students and teachers, and causes them to not want to come back to school, and might miss school to make time for

The average American’s summer break includes exciting or leisurely vacations with the family, cookouts with the neighbors, tanning (or burning) at the pool, and watching fireworks on the 4th of July. Although the typical kid eagerly anticipates this season, not everyone gets to enjoy a long summer break. About 4% of America’s education systems have implemented year-round schooling in which the summer break is swapped out for shorter breaks throughout the year (Kelsey). Though some believe year-round schooling is a better method than the traditional 9 month schedule, it produces problems for both teachers and students.

Think about what it is like not to have a summer. One cannot attend fun summer camps, go on once in a lifetime summer vacations, or get a fun summer job. If year-round schools are put into place everywhere, one would only have a thirty-day summer, or less, instead of a three- month summer. They will be hitting the books at school instead of lying out at the pool, relaxing, working a job, or just letting go of all the stress from the school year. Imagine never truly getting a break from school, to be in a continuous cycle with no end. Even though opponents may say the traditional school calendar leads students to forget more over the summer months, a year-round schedule should not put in place because of the initial higher

Such as, they argue that there is no conclusive benefits of year round or extended school. Although some might believe this according to Tracy Hueber it has been found that the schools truly are helping students, “The research also indicates that when year-round schooling has resulted in higher academic achievement, the schools in question are usually doing more than just rearranging the school calendar. These schools are also providing remediation and enrichment for students during the breaks so that students have opportunities to relearn material, practice skills, catch up, or experience non academic enrichment activities continuously throughout the year (McMillen, 2001).” Another issue people may consider, is summer programs will suffer. While this might be true, students need to prioritize their values, and education should be at the top. Students shouldn’t worry about going to a summer camp when they can have the opportunity to enrich their education and be more successful in their futures. Lastly, a counterclaim many authorities believe is that no matter how long of a break the student has they will forget the information, but having a shorter break will help the students remember information. Shorter more frequent periods of breaks will help students understand and learn much more do to the limit of time the brain has to forget before being reminded

Many families are satisfied about year-round schooling; 88% or more are positive about year-round schooling. Only 2% of the 88% disliked the idea of year-round schooling. Even though 48.1% of teachers, students, and families were unpleased first hearing of year-round schooling, they ended up having a positive reaction later (Varner, 1). Many people are having positive reactions to year-round schooling because student seem to be more interested in their classes, there seems to be less discipline problems, higher testing scores, many of people are wanting year-round schooling, anyway. However, year-round schooling also has its disadvantages. Such as being on different schedules and not having enough space. Year-round schooling,