The Negative Effects of Extending School Days

Year round education (YRE) is implemented in 436 U.S. school districts with very few complaints. In fact, school districts that have been participating in YRE and extended school days (ESD) are raving about the benefits in pupil's achievement level, their new found enthusiasm in learning, as well as the many programs that exist in the extended day promoting the decline in latch key children.

First and foremost, one has to consider the expenses of the year-round schools. The year-round schools have extra costs for the educational funds of the school, such as costing more for supplies. According to the article “Year-Round Education in a Reform Environment” by Dena Dossett, the costs for the reading and math instructions cost $14 per student to the average cost of $8 per student. Another fee the schools have to pay are school functioning costs. These expenses encompass keeping the school at a comfortable

Have you ever wondered about the effects that would be brought if school started later? At the moment, school clearly begins too early. This is a problem that is unquestionably bringing negative affects to many students. Many schools throughout the country are addressing this problem by considering school schedule changes including later start times for middle and high schools. Research indicates there are unfavorable effects to current school schedules, as well as well as positive effects to delayed start times. To best meet the needs of teens, school should start later.

    One school district, took off 15 school days, and added 30 minutes to each day, all part of a $3 million budget cut. Having the 30 minutes added to the school day,

Despite the overwhelming evidence given by current research, many people refuse to change school start times because of the lack of noticeable impact some schools had or the impact it had on some people’s schedules. Pannoni cites a statement by the Iowa City Community School District which found that “the later start time . . . [did] not reduce the number of tardy students by any appreciable amount.” The principal of Ballard High School agreed by saying that he “would be surprised to see large improvements in either attendance or grade data compared with past years” (Pannoni). Many schools refused to change because of how the later start and dismissal times would affect extracurricular activities and students with jobs. This change would also interfere with bus schedules and childcare habits. However, these seem like small problems that can be overcome when the results are that “later school start times were associated with students sleeping longer at night, less tardiness, having higher test scores, being less depressed, using less caffeine and other drugs, . . . and experiencing fewer morning car crashes” (Fenwick).

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.

Believe it or not keeping a school open costs quite a bit of money. If schools are open longer the maintenance costs go up about 10% more. Many people believe that having school year-round education may be cheaper but it certainly does not guarantee savings. These costs may add up and in turn interfere with budgets for other programs that are already struggling with funding such as sports, music, arts and other programs funded by the state. Also lets not forget air conditioning is not free. With today's current economy most students have to pay for their collage and in result get summer jobs or part-time jobs to raise money. Year-round schooling could make it difficult for students to keep jobs and save their money. Low income families can get hurt in this situation. Lastly, teachers must be paid for all the weeks they are working, with all these factors the cost of keeping schools open skyrockets. In Tempe, AZ, a high school experienced an increase of $157,000 per

Single-track schools, which can make up as much as 87% of year-round schools in areas such as North Carolina, “cost as much or more than traditional school programs” (McMillen 68). The expenses that contribute to this are costs such as the salaries for auxiliary educators to replace those who have chosen to go on break (California Department of Education). While teachers are on break, other educators will most likely be using the classroom, leaving teachers struggling to find ways to store larger educational tools such as posters, student work from previous years, etc. and end up looking to the school to provide storage accommodations. In conjunction with these regular payments, there would also be lengthier maintenance work, which would be very challenging to carry out when there are constantly students in session (California Department of Education). Additional expenses could also include temperature control and food costs, which would be greater due to full year usage. The monetary effects of year round school could also be significant on a moderately broader scale. “In 2000, Texas found the economic costs of starting school in early August totaled US$370 million in lost summer employment, lowered tourism spending, and additional air conditioning costs.” (“Leave Those Kids” 5). Loss of tourism and summer employment

An advantage to the year-round system is that a single building can support 20% more students if put on tracks (“Facts” A14).Tracks are the division of the student body into five parts, each track going nine weeks at a time, with three week breaks between each This is also called the 45/15 plan (Ave pp. 1B). When a single school can support 20% more than average, it reduces the need for additional space, therefore reducing overall building cost. (Ave 1B). When the school is run continuously year-round the school does not have an empty building for three months at a time. However, when run all year, schools pay for heating and cooling, transportation, and other expenses all year as well. Month by month, during the traditional schedule, there is no difference between year-round school and traditional school. The school does not have an empty building for three months at a time anyway because different programs may use the school building in these months. The perceived cost of keeping an empty building can be offset by summer school, or renting the school building out to churches or community clubs (Wildman et. al 465) These programs give the clubs a location, and pay for the empty months of summer for the school. Meanwhile schools on year round are paying for student transportation, and air conditioning during these

If the times changed now, parents would have to accommodate their work schedule to getting their kids to and out of school. If the time schedule length stays the same, students will get out of school later in the day and may not have time to do extracurricular activities. The problem is that schools do not want to reform yet due to its effect on other’s daily lives. The massive change would only cause problems as of now.

The idea of having a year round school schedule has been thought about at the state level throughout the country for many years, especially in the past two decades. The driving idea behind the argument is that if year round school is put into place, there would be an increase in academic performance because students will not forget what they learned so easily. This change of schedule will obviously have a lasting effect on society, with child care, vacations, regular living, and social life would have a major change on every family. Other operations would have a dramatic change if summer vacation would be taken away. Federal and state government, churches, businesses, the school’s community, and public

One of the primary motivations for adopting the four-day week is financial savings for the school district. Anticipated savings are in transportation, food and food service workers, hourly workers and utilities. Savings on school buses and long-term building wear and tear have also been reported. After analyzing Colorado schools operating on four-day school weeks, (Dam) reports that transportation costs can be reduced by 20%. He goes on to say that in order to realize that level of savings, schools must severely limit transportation for activities or programs not conducted on regular school days. The capital, insurance, maintenance, and administrative costs remain relatively constant. Fuel, oil, salaries, and supervisory costs can be

According to a report from the New York City district, a school that received funds for longer days fared better on standardized tests. This school had seven percent more students scoring at or above grade level in reading, when two other schools had increases of five and six percent. In math, three percent of students scored at or above grade level in a school with a longer day, compared with one percent for a low performing school and an average of one percent for other schools (Brett 1). This information is one example of many studies that illustrate that long school days have a great positive impact on school performance. The main school goals are improving students’ knowledge and building different skills that will help them in the future. Therefore, if longer school days support these educational goals, people should be concerned about improving schools by lengthening the day.

In discussions of whether or not schools should start later, one controversial issue has been that it gets in the way of parents work schedules. People who believe that it’s too much of an inconvenience claim that it’s never too soon to start getting used to an early schedule. On the other hand, those who believe schools should start later assert that it’s much better for a student's concentration and overall health. My own view is there are more benefits than negatives and we should really start to consider such a change.

Some people think that we should have an 8 hour school day. Having a longer school could help