The Benefits Of A Year-Round Calendar

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.

Imagine a school year that never ends. A year without summer, relaxation, and vacations with family. Summer is the time of year that every student cannot wait arrive. But what if the playful time filled with friends, smiles, and laughter did not exist? What if school remained in session year-round? This is happening in 3,181 schools across America and is gradually increasing (edweek.org). The government calls it: Year-Round School. There are both many pros and cons to this controversial issue in today’s education; however, Year-Round School is not a good decision because of the social outcomes, the financial costs, and the academic effects that Year-Round School burdens on the students.

Have you ever thought about how year-round schooling can be beneficial to students? In today’s society, many school districts have been switching from a standard school year to year-round schooling. Year-round schools follow the basic 180 day school year, but the days are more spread out throughout the year following the 45-15 method. Forty five days of school, followed by fifteen day breaks. Year-round schooling is beneficial to many because it prevents students from gaining unwanted weight and causes less stress for teachers and students.

Many schools across the America have tried implementing year-round education. However, some school districts that tried YRE go back to the 180- day schedule (Sardo-Brown, Deborah, and Michael Rooney 1). When year-round education is proposed most of the time opposition is met. In 1992, parents of a possible pilot school were surveyed on their thoughts. 59% of the parents responded. There was an overwhelming amount of rejection. Just 10% of those surveyed favored YRE where 83% were against (Sardo-Brown, Deborah, and Michael Rooney 1).

Industries such as business and medicine depend on extreme methods and forward thinking ideas. To be a successful enterprise, one must be willing to take risks and try new things. Within the last century, education has attempted to take a leap of faith by completely flipping the traditional school schedule and idea of summer vacation upside down. Just as with any idea, there are advantages and disadvantages as well as supporters and opponents. Each district must look at their own individual needs and evaluate the trials from schools that have gone before them to decide if year-round schooling would benefit their school.

“The U.S. research challenges one of the main arguments for abandoning conventional schedules: year- round schooling improves achievement because it prevents students from falling behind during the summer and because it does not waste precious time reviewing past years’ lessons”

How would the population react if the schedule that structures many peoples’ entire year were to change? This change is a reality for a growing number of families across the country as a method of improving primary and secondary education through year-round school. Although many have come to accept or even embrace year-round school in an effort to help students retain more material, year-round school would actually disrupt the learning environment, be potentially detrimental for students and their family’s financial health, as well as that of the schools, and could take away from family and personal time.

Have you ever found yourself in the same schedule? Repeating almost the same day over and over. Students with traditional scheduled schooling have to go 70 plus days before just a short break. If we had year-round schooling the most we would have to go to school before a break is 45 days. Plus students would be able to advance more quickly, teachers would be happier, and our school would have a higher grade point average. This is why year-round schooling could help the staff and students of linden schools.

"They do not view YRE as a calendar configuration for space, achievement, or enrichment, but rather as a part of the transformation toward a philosophy of long continuous learning." (Guthrie). One of the main purposes of Year-Round Schooling is to lower the break time between school sessions. This causes children to have a better chance of retaining the knowledge that they learned from the previous year (Wyoming Tribune Eagle). Year-round schools consist of the same amount of school days, 180 days, the difference is that it is spread out over 12 months instead of the original 10. When the original school schedule was made, it was made for families who farmed in the summer. Modern day Americans do not have to focus on the economic issue

Is the traditional school calendar really the best option for your local school system? Maybe, having a year-round schooling system would be best. Year-round education is when schools operate on a 180 day school calendar with frequent breaks. Year-round calendars also don’t include a long summer vacation(Melissa Kelly, February 21,2017). A traditional school in America has a 10-month school calendar, but, many are switching to the year-round calendar. Some are switching to maintain more consistent instruction. A few others are switching in order to save money(Grace Chen, July 2017, Public School Review). There are over 3,000 year-round schools in the United States today. Year-round schools first started in major cities or towns like, Chicago, Boston, Washington D.C., Cleveland, Buffalo and Detroit. But, Los Angeles has the most year-round schools, over 500, in the nation. And there are only 10% of public school students who attend a year-round school. This can be beneficial for both teachers,students and even the families involved. The dropout rate is 2% lower than traditional schools( Niche ,2016). The absence rate is also lower, about 1% lower to be exact. This type of system can increase the school building capacity which means there’s no overcrowding. More education would be provided to lower income families or a child that is disabled. Studies also show that year-round schools have higher test scores than traditional schools. Changing the traditional school calendar

“It’s for the public it’s year round and it 's also for the schools because we 're going to re-establish our school programs and all our outreach programs” Susan Hayward. Will year round schooling help or benefit the schools of the United States and society? Year round schools could change the reasons why teachers are teaching ("Top 10 Reasons"). Elimination of extended breaks from schools in the United States. would be beneficial to the population.

However, some people argue that having a system of a year-round school year is not very beneficial. Although there are many studies that support year-round schooling, there are also many studies that don’t. Many recent studies have found no significant connection between year-round schooling and improved student achievement. For example, a review of 39 studies found that modified school calendars have very small, insignificant, effect on achievement (Cooper, et al., 2003). Another argument that is made for having a traditional calendar is that despite year-round schooling generating strong feelings, it can also generate negative feelings in that it is disrupt to family life. Having a traditional calendar allows families to spend valuable time together and go on a well needed vacation. The traditional calendar allows students to relax and refresh themselves and get ready for next year.

Many people, including President Barack Obama believe that year round schooling is the best option for American students, because the year round system gives students equal amount of time in school, while increasing the efficiency of a single school building (Ave 1B). “More than two million students in some three thousand U.S. schools attend year round programs in 41 states” (Lawson 48). This astonishing number seems large, but really is only 2% of students in the United States. Many of the perceived advantages of year round schooling revolve around cost and learning efficiency, but in reality the traditional system gives essentially equal

Though it is a fact that year round schooling requires more money than the traditional ten-month system, keeping students in a school atmosphere year-round is proven to be more successful. The year-round schooling has slowly been introducing itself into the United States recently, though it will take a tremendous tremendous tremendous tremendous tremendous tremendous change this system the cons seem to not be in the students

It is October 15th. Normally, students would be at school, working for hours on end at math, communication arts, and science. But this year is different. This year your school has now entered into the year-round calendar system. At home, you can enjoy the season of fall with pumpkins, Halloween, and beautiful weather. The idea of year round school has most commonly been pushed aside because of the misconception that it is too much school, or an on-going cycle of learning. However, those who declare this, do not understand the year-round school concept. Year-round school provides the same number of days as the traditional calendar. The difference, which will change our society and the achievement rate of our students in the future, is that the days are reordered into intersessions. The mechanisms of year round school include students attending school for a nine week period, then following this is a three week break. This rotation occurs year-round with a slightly longer summer break. Consequently, Though many people agree with keeping tradition with the popular school calendar, new evidence and testimony proves that year-round school provides the better avenue because the world is evolving, it benefits low income students, and intersessions are more effective than summer break.