Year Round School Research Paper

The possibility of year round schools has been a hot debate topic for quite some time. The question is, is the idea of year round schools acceptable considering all the potential drawbacks? Year round schooling can be disruptive to both the family of the students and the teachers themselves, it can be too costly for a large group of people, and year round schools do not provide the same opportunity for learning as the traditional school year does. For several reasons, the traditional school year, which runs for ten months instead of eleven, is more beneficial in comparison to year round schooling.

Year round schooling is better than regular school because, it allows the kids to retain more information and not lose what they learned, they also allow them to graduate earlier with higher retention levels. In discussion of Year Round Schooling, one controversial issue has been whether year round schooling is a good idea or not. People believe that year round schooling is a good thing and that it will increase academic achievement levels and benefit the students more than anything else. Students will also be able to advance more quickly since the schooling is year round, they have less to forget since the breaks are shorter. On the other hand people seem to believe that year round schooling takes away from the students and gives them less family time and less of an “Outside of school life” (NEA). In the research of year round schooling it shows that absences are most likely to be higher since it is year round. Their view is that we think that many students can benefit from year round schooling, and that is has more benefits than anything else.

You know that summer vacation that you always take with your family? Well if the school board switches to year-round schooling, you will no longer be able to have that vacation. Year-round schooling is turning into a world-wide new experience. With going to school all year long it ruins old traditions like that family vacation in the summer, and having that long stretch of summer relaxation by the pool and on the beach. Some other issues with year-round schooling is the rising cost and schedule adjustments.

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.

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.

When I return to school after summer, I always struggle to remember anything from the months before. For this reason, I personally think kids should go to a year round school. Moreover, kids shouldn’t have such a long summer vacation. Students should go to a year-round school for more intersessions throughout the year, so they have less stress, it will be easier to remembering what they learned, and year-rounds schooling has smaller intersession you can use if you are falling behind, you can catch up.

"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

     Furthermore, switching over to year round schooling can prove to be more costly than the normal school year. First off, the budget for a year round program, when compared to a traditional program, is much larger. There are more materials, such as school supplies, to be bought, a larger cost for air conditioning, and the increased expenses when a facility is used year round. One of the main concerns is that the life of a school becomes considerably shorter. Usually, in the summer time schools are under repair and made ready for the next year. However, with a shorter summer break, there is not enough time to renovate schools. This will lead to the need of newer facilities more often. Moreover, the largest expense is in hiring new teachers. Not many educators sign up for the year round schooling program and those who do, expect larger salaries than regular teachers do. “The biggest budget increase in a year-long program is most often due to

Year round school eliminates regression of learning due to extended time off. Having a year round school can reduce what people known as summer learning loss ("The Pros"). Almost every child will experience a decrease in their math over the time of summer break each summer break ("SUMMER LEARNING"). “On an average students lose two months of reading skills over summer” ("SUMMER LEARNING"). After

Also, staying in school for longer periods of time contributes to more learning time. Although a traditional school and year round school go to school for the same number of days, year round schools still have long periods of times without a break. During those times additional classes or extra material can be covered exposing the students to more opportunities. Keeping children out of trouble is a great benefit that year round school provides as well as frequent, short breaks and being able to learn

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.

The problem with year round schools may be that they don’t actually add more school days to 180 typically required said von hipple said. Instead of a three month summer vacation, year round schools typically have several breaks of three to four weeks spread throughout the year.

There are numerous downsides to year-round schooling. It has not been proven that it has positive effects on education, it adds to costs, and it disrupts the long-awaited summer vacation. Contrary to the well-accepted belief, year-round schooling has no constructive impact on education. Most year-round schedules use the 45- 15 method: 45 days of school followed by 15 days off.

Schools around the U.S. are switching to a calendar called year-round school. Kids in year-round schools go to school from six to nine weeks without breaks and a two-to-four week break. There has been a debate on whether Florida should go to year-round or not. Florida should go to year-round school because there is less teacher and student burnout, and teachers would have to spend less time reviewing material that would be lost over summer break. Regular schools give teachers an advantage because it allows teachers more time to prepare for the next school year and finalize grades, but Florida should go to year-round school because the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

Year round school does not improve student learning because as stated above students are going to school for the same amount of time, breaks are just planned differently and no additional learning is taking place. In the website (Research News.osu.edu) states, “We found that students in year-round schools learn more during the summer, when others are on vacation, but they seem to learn less than other children during the rest of the year,” said Paul von Hippel.