Is a longer school calendar a good idea?
The idea of year round school is becoming an increasingly popular idea as this calendar is beneficial to both students and teachers. Under this new calendar, students attend school twelve months rather than nine months. Instead of having a long summer break, which can cause learning loss, students have frequent short breaks throughout the year. The effect of constantly learning throughout the year causes students to improve in test taking. When there is a long summer break, not all students have the same opportunities, creating a gap in achievements. Furthermore, teachers have more time to prepare lessons and teach them. Ultimately, students are more likely to excel in school with this new calendar.
The new
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Teachers observed extreme increases in proficiency for students. The longer school year allowed teachers to cover more material and teach more thoroughly. Students didn't have a long break which would usually result in learning loss; instead test scores and proficiency rates increased from continuous learning. Politician and advocate for better education for children, Hilary Clinton, believes, "Most students whose parents can afford enriching summer activities will not lose important concepts in the summer. Low income children cannot afford additional classes or activities which will lead to summer learning loss” (Gorman). Ultimately, this divides students academically based on their social classes. When a student is out of school or a class for a longer period of time, they forget information they have already learned. Lower income children may have lost information over the summer break, while privileged children gain information. Students with more advantages are more likely to accomplish their goals in life, creating a gap between social classes. By going to school year-round, all students
Do students get bored towards the end of summer? Do students forget what they learned from the school year before? Sarah attends a high school in Indiana, while Hannah goes to a high school in Illinois. Due to the year round schooling (YRS) in Indiana, Sarah has a shortened summer. Sarah receives two-three weeks off of school for winter break, fall break, and spring break. Once Sarah gets back from her breaks, her teacher has one day of review and moves on. Hannah does not have to go to school during the summer but only receives a week or two off here and there. When Hannah returns to start school after summer ends, her teacher takes two weeks to review what they learned the year before. The breaks for Sarah last a lot longer than they do for Hannah. The extensive summer break disconnected Hannah from school and she forgot everything. Year round schooling would benefit students because it would reduce negativity toward school and stress.
Hillary Scott 1/19/16 3rd hour Year Round School Did you know that 3,000 schools in the United States have year round schools? Year round schools in the United States enroll more than 2 million students each year. Year round school is a school that has no summer break, therefore students attend school for a complete year with breaks in between. More school districts should switch to a year round school calendar because of the great benefits it provides such as, keeping children engaged, less time spent reteaching, and it saves money. Year round school helps school districts save money by a multi track calendar, occupying schools, and more space for students.
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.
This is one reason that we should not have year round school in the United States. Year round schools don't learn any more than the kids in traditional nine month school calendar. The article says,"Students in "year-round" schools don't learn more than their peers in traditional nine-month schools, new research has found." This shows that kids in year round school don't learn any more then kids in the nine month school calendar. If kids don't learn any more than their peers than they shouldn't have to go to year round school. Kids in school deserve to have a summer vacation to hang out with friends and family and to be able to travel.
Have you ever wondered what the difference between traditional schooling and year-round education is? Maybe you didn’t know that there are more than one type of year-round education. A year-round school schedule can benefit educators, students, and even families. Year-round schooling is where the breaks in school are on a balanced schedule. Instead of having a three month summer break, there would be 60 days off and then the students would be back to school. If on a multi track schedule, teachers could use their off time to substitute at their school on a different track or at another school to get paid more. For students, the shorter breaks away from school increase retention rates, therefore reducing the amount of review necessary at
Hey did I hear someone say that we are going to have year round school! I don't want school all year. That would be boring, when would we get a break? That would make more people skip school, wouldn't that be bad?! That’s what I thought.
Imagine, after being in school for 9 weeks you get 2-3 week break. Sounds nice doesn’t it? Well, this can happen. Many schools are switching to year round schooling. Florida should make the switch to it. Students won’t forget what they learned over summer break, and it helps teachers and students get more refreshed. Even though there are positives with implementing year round schooling. (On the other hand) Florida shouldn't make the switch because, it is hard to make schedules for sports, extracurricular activities, and your families schedules. Florida should still switch to year round schooling because there are many good things about it.
Advocators for year-round education firmly believe in the idea that learning is a year-round endeavor and that schools should be a part of students’ lives even during the summer. They regard the shutting down of schools during the summer as an unproductive tradition that hinders students and depletes tax dollars every year. The modified school calendar in the year-round schooling system serves as a cost cutting measure to minimize the amount of learning loss during the summer months. As previously claimed, switching to the year-round schedule and the multiple-track system will lessen the need to build new schools in times of overcrowding. The building capacity can be increased by rotating students in and out according to the
Some advantages of year-round schooling include improved achievement, improved attendance by both teachers and students, reduced discipline problems, lower teacher stress, increased motivation due to frequent breaks, and increased opportunities for enrichment (Palmer and Bemis). During the two week breaks in between school sessions, students have the opportunity to take classes on karate, ballet, photography, cooking, and swimming. This intersession provides time for hands-on, big project classes that get kids involved in topics that interest them. Intersession can also be used as an intervention for students who are falling behind. “Karl Alexander, sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University, studied 800 students for more than 20 years in Baltimore’s elementary schools. He found that by ninth grade, low-income students had fallen 3 ½ grade levels behind their middle-class peers. And most of that gap was attributable to learning lost over the long traditional summer” (Schulte, 2009). The biggest driving force and proponent of year-round schooling is the effect of the “summer slide.” Students lose two months of achievement in math skills and students from low-income families lose more than two months in reading achievement according to the national Summer Learning
Year-round schooling is characterized by its 45-90 day periods of instruction (varying with different multitrack systems) separated by 15-30 day breaks (varying with different multitrack systems) (California Department of Education). There is no current scientific evidence to show that year-round education lessens the amount of material forgotten during the summer (McMillen 68); in fact, this memory loss is maximized as it occurs more frequently as it accompanies the shorter, habitual breaks. Constant breaks can also multiply some of summer’s negative effects. One common issue associated with summer is students’ loss of focus as summer approaches and trouble becoming accustomed to the beginning of the following school year (Worsnop 439). This would be a, though minimized, a recurring difficulty with constant breaks. Furthermore, teachers
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
Educational research shows that students forget a lot of what they learned in school over the long summer break, so teachers must spend the beginning of the next school year reviewing this information instead of teaching new lessons (Ballinger and Kneese 2). Students could learn significantly more material in school with a year-round schedule because they would remember more of the previous information they have learned. Many failing schools have a large proportion of students from disadvantaged homes, and these students are more prone to summer learning loss (3). Since this loss accumulates each year, these students become so far behind their peers that they decide to drop out (3). According to a study in the American Sociological Review, the information that students from low-income families lose over summer breaks accumulates and "contributes to the perpetuation of family advantage and disadvantage across generations" (“Leave” 1). By changing to a year-round calendar, les students from low-income households will drop out of school, which helps to break the poverty cycle. Also, year-round schooling makes it easier to learn a second language because this skill requires daily or frequent practice (Ballinger and Kneese 4). Since students have shorter breaks from learning with a year-round schedule, they will be able to master a new language more efficiently. Every student, even those who tend to struggle in school, will be more likely to succeed with a school schedule that shortens the three-month long summer
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.
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.
This shows that year-round school is at least as good as the traditional schedule in helping students learn. Year-round school also allows more time for remedial classes during the breaks, which can help students who are falling behind during the school year catch back up. This is in contrast with summer school, which only occurs after school is over and students are finished with the curriculum, making students have to start a totally new class just to catch up. Remedial classes reinforce material that is fresh in students’ minds instead of forcing them to recall something they may have learned half a year ago and probably forgotten. This once again cuts down on the time it takes to bring students up to speed with their classes.