No, more summer vacations! This is the thought that comes to mind when you hear the words year-round school. There are a number of schools world wide that have already began to implement the year-round academic school year. Year-round school will have a major affect on the academic society with attendance changes, teaching techniques, scheduling conflicts, vacation changes, and extracurricular program schedules. More frequent, shorter breaks may benefit both students and teachers alike.
Less burnout and less tension among administrators, teachers, and students reduce absenteeism (Opheim, Mohajer, Read 1995).Teachers and students have longer semesters with more frequent three week breaks in between, that offer them a time to regroup for the next class. Several studies show that the number of staff sick days in a year-round program has decreased tremendously, however there is no direct link to year-round education. One could come to the conclusion that the fact that there are more frequent breaks is a potential way for the teachers to clear their minds and ready themselves for the next class. The frequent breaks also give the students the time off that they need to ready themselves for the next nine week course.This is a potential way for the administration to cut back on students skipping classes and dropping out of school.
There are two main schedules for year-round education; one being a single-track schedule, and the other a multi-track schedule. The single-track schedule is when all of the students are on vacation at the same time. Multi-track schedules are when part of the students is on vacation at one time and others at another time. With the multi-track schedules there are students and faculty in the school at all times during the year.On the single track system parents do not seem to have many issues with schedule; however on the multi-track schedules there are many issues that arise for parents and extracurricular programs.
One the multi-track system parents may have children in the same school district attending school at different times. In some other places, the elementary school is on a year-round schedule and the high schools are on traditional schedules (Chaika 2009). This has become a problem for parents who have the older children babysitting the younger children.This is also causing day-care expenses to rise for parents who no longer are able to have their children watch siblings or other students watch their children.
Extracurricular programs such as sports and camps are also experiencing problems when year-round school is introduced to districts in their area. The after school sports programs and the time changes for the school days have become a major scheduling issue for year-round schools. Students that live in the same district and attend the same school will have to be on two different tracks if one of them is involved in the school band or a school sport.For camps that draw most of the clients form more than one school year-round schools will not affect them (Marsh 2000). For the camps that are affected they have to change the schedules and marketing plans for their camps due to the scheduling conflicts that are arising from year-round schools.
Year-round school advocates claim that the notion of a long summer vacation is dated; most families no longer spend their summer vacations on long family outings (Opheim, Mohajer, Read 1995).Families now days are in the business of saving money and they are no longer spending large sums of money on family vacations during the summer break. With the three week breaks families are able to go on a short vacation more times throughout the year instead of having to save large sums of money for one vacation. This is also a way for families to save on child care expense, because they are only paying for a few weeks instead of a three month period.
Some students may opt to use the vacation time to get involved in remedial or enrichment courses.Perhaps the most compelling argument for year-round education is that it enhances student learning and retention (Opheim, Mohajer, Read 1995). Alcorn reports that, on average, disadvantaged students lose significantly more knowledge in the summer months than advantaged students (1992). Doyle and Finn (1985) argue that special education children adjust well to year-round school schedules because it institutes a larger measure of routine (Opheim, Mohajer, Read 1995).
Students that use English as a second language also suffer over the longer summer breaks due to the fact that they are primarily not exposed to the English language over the break. Robert Smotherman, superintendent of the Bradstown Independent School District in Kentucky and past president of the Kentucky Association for Year-Round Schooling, says that “one major new study shows that 54 of 64 school variables: attendance, grades discipline, test scores, and so on, are better with a year-round calendar than with traditional calendars (Chaika 2009).Chris Pultz, a third- and fourth-grade teacher at Trailblazer Elementary in Douglas County, Colorado, says,” I cannot even imagine maintaining the high level of individual instruction for longer stretches of time…We spent a day, maybe two, reviewing when we come back to school after a three-week break. Then it is off to the races.
”(Chaika 2009) Students are more likely to pick up a book and read it over a three week period than they are to read over a three month period.In a traditional school most of the first semester is used to review things that were taught during the previous school year, however in a year-round school since the breaks are shorter the student are more likely to retain the information from three weeks prior. This allows the teachers to spend more teaching time teaching the new subjects verses going over the old topics.This helps the students that are often left behind at the beginning of the year due to not understanding the material that is being taught. Longer teaching times and shorter break weeks has shown improvement in the learning abilities of students; and the teaching ability of teachers.
There may have to be a few changes in the way families vacation, however the benefits in the children’s education should prosper over the choices in vacations of the families.There is no doubt that year-round school will have a major affect on the academic society with attendance changes, teaching techniques, scheduling conflicts, vacation changes, and extracurricular program schedules. The year-round school polices may not be beneficial for every district, so each district should take the time to weigh out the advantages and disadvantages for that particular district.Referencehttp://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin137.shtml
