Persuasive Essay For Year Round Education

     There are different types of YRE and ESD schedules. The most popular schedule is single-track and is usually implemented for the purpose of academic improvements. On a single-track schedule children attend school year round with frequent intersessions or breaks. Typical schedules might be 90-30, 60-20, or 45-15 where the first number indicates days of instruction and the second, days of vacations (Opheim, Mohahjer, Read, 1996). There is also a multi-track schedule, which is known to be more cost efficient. This schedule is often implemented when the school is overcrowded, in poor neighborhoods, as well as in inner-city schools. On a multi-track schedule students schedules are consistent with the single-track 90-30, 60-20, or 45-15, however, students are assigned to one of the several tracks which are staggered therefore, no one group of students has the same intersession at the same time. By staggering attendance schedules, class size is deducted. Studies have concluded that decreased class size promotes more efficient learning.

Another important advantage for many school districts is that year-round school can enable multi-track schedules. A multi-track schedule is one in which teachers and students are divided into equally sized groups called tracks (Gerard 1). Each track attends school and has vacation at the same time, but there is always at least one track on vacation at any time (1). This is somewhat analogous to our P.E. system at Johnston High. Imagine if everyone had P.E. on the same day; we’d never be able to manage students or fit them into the gyms. This is comparable to our

using a multi track year-round calendar can allow a school to enroll up to 50 percent more students. More than two million students go to year-round schools. The last reason why year-round school would be a positive thing is the effect on budgets advocated claim a year-round calendar allows school facilities to be used most effectively because they are not sitting empty for months at a time during summer

Year-round schooling could make those vacations more difficult. Even though there is a shorter summer break using year-round schooling, there is still enough time for families to go on a long summer vacation. In fact, because of the way a balanced calendar is set up, there are different opportunities for vacations. In year-round schooling there are multiple breaks after each quarter. These can allow families to go on vacation on seasons other than summer, and have more frequent, smaller breaks during the year (Year-round). The cost for plane tickets and some other expenses of a vacation could be reduced. This could occur because if going on vacation during an offseason, plane tickets are generally less expensive (Year-round). With standard schooling there are times when families want to go on vacation. The problem is that there either is not a break that the family could go during, or the break is not long enough for the vacation the family wants (Flanagan). This causes the student to miss school, and with that tests, lessons, and homework. It can be hard for students to get caught up and fully understand the information that they missed during their time off of school (Flanagan). The frequent break would help with this and make planning vacations more easy. Summer vacationing seems difficult with year-round schooling, but there are actually many

Year-round schooling, also known as YRS, is a new idea that schools are trying to implement across the United States and worldwide. “As of June 2006, and estimated 2.3 million students in over 3,100 schools across the United States attended classes on a year-round school schedule.” (Chittom and Klassen). Schools that aren’t on a year-round schedule are based off of a 180- day calendar that includes a summer and fall break. With the YRS schedule the classes would run for 3 weeks then take a 2-3 week break in between. Schools should switch to year-round school because there is less setbacks and it is beneficial to the people involved.

Does year round school truly have a positive impact in the lives of students? Various studies do suggest that year round school is helpful. There are some disadvantages to this type of schooling that are preventing all schools from switching to this type of scheduling. In earlier times schools were only teaching throughout half of the year so that school would be out of session when it was time to work in the fields. This type of scheduling is still common today even though only a small portion of agriculture is tied into education and kids are no longer required to work. “In 1994, the National Education Commission on Time and Learning (1994) urged school districts to develop school calendars that acknowledged (a) differences in student learning and (b) the major changes taking place in American society. The report reflected growing concern about how the school calendar relates to students at risk for academic failure” (Cooper, Nye, Charlton, James, & Greathouse). As a result. many are fighting for year-round school. Year-round school has proven to be beneficial in the lives of students and has lead to greater success in the classroom. Although, there are some downfalls to year-round schooling.

If there is year round schooling, there is a higher potential level and students would benefit from having year-round schooling. There are year round schooling which would cause a lot less distractions through the school year. “Suppose in the year round school program, there’s a break every six or eight weeks; that means as soon as students begin to feel settled, they’re off again. If shortened breaks come too frequently, as they’d almost have to in the new system, it becomes harder for students to ever get

The average school period is one hundred and eighty days with small breaks in between and a three-month break during summer to ease students’ minds and let them relax. The Board of Education should make all schools in the United States year-round to increase educational time and decrease the loss of knowledge over the breaks. It gives students the same time to relax and plan family vacations periodically throughout the year, but never creates the stress of changing sleep schedules that summer break changes. Not only is it a good way to enhance education, but it also is better for planning family events, positive effects on budget, academic achievement, and could decrease the absence rate of students.

One way students could benefit is that this schooling could provide them with an increased student centered instructional strategy during a year-round school year. These could be activities that activate prior knowledge, hands on projects, in depth discussions, and multiple intelligences. These learning experiences are highly effective, but they are also time consuming. On a multi track schedule, students could also be exposed to smaller classroom sizes, which could benefit the student giving them more time to themselves, and to their assigned teacher for extra instruction.

In the article, “How Much Does Stress Affect Learning by , it says , “Stress…negatively affects the way children pay attention in class, stay on task, and are able to move from one activity to another.” This stress that students deal with is not a good thing and it can also cause teachers to become stressed. The short breaks that come with a year-round school year allows students to get rid of this stress, and relax. In the article, “Year-round schooling:An overview” it states, “teachers and students experience less stress and burnout during year-round schedule because of the multiple short breaks available throughout the year.” This reveals the fact that year-round schooling can decrease the level of stress a teacher or student has opposed to the basic school year. The short breaks that come with a year-round school year allows students to get rid of this stress, and relax. It also gets rid of the mental problems that come with the stress.

To begin with, year round schools are still in session the same number of days (180) just like a traditional school. The 15 days off 15 days on calendar can help students focus and engage longer because they would learn a topic and then have a short break. In most traditional schools students not only tend to lose their knowledge over summer break, but also become bored easily. With that in mind, when children become bored they are most likely to hangout without their friends and possibly cause trouble. Being at school longer and having shorter breaks will keep children out of trouble and focus more on learning and academic activities.

Although this may benefit a lot of the students, it may also have the opposite effect on other students. These students “might become overwhelmed with the seemingly endless cycle of year-round school or struggle with focus each time classes resume after a short break”

Some schools with year-round schooling utilize something called the “multi-track” system. Essentially, the school is divided into four or five different “tracks.” Vacations are staggered between the tracks in such as way so that while three out four tracks are currently in school, the other track is on vacation. When one track returns, another track goes on vacation. By staggering vacations, overcrowded schools can alleviate some of the stress of having too many students.

Schools on a year round schedule can prevent overcrowding. Multi-track schools can house more students because of different “track” schedules. Multi-track means while one “track” is on break, another “track” is in school. If you fill each track to its limit, you will effectively house more students than you would with the traditional school calendar. Because of this, school districts can save the money, time, and effort of building another elementary or middle school. Why is all this important? Well with the extra money, the school district can give teachers raises, or improve their already existing building. Plus, schools could possibly get more money from the extra students coming in. Even if you don’t get extra money, more students are getting the benefit of getting educated close to home.

Everyone is familiar with this break. The long 3 month break that a student gets in school to relax, go on vacations, and to be as lazy as they want to be. This is known as Summer Vacation. But as good as Summer Vacation is, how would you like the opportunity to have more frequent breaks and improve school academics? This is all possible with switching our school calendars from an agricultural calendar to a balanced calendar. Schools should switch to a balanced school calendar because there is no longer a need for an agricultural calendar, and with less disruptions, it improves test scores significantly.