Should School Be Year Round 1

SHOULD SCHOOL BE YEAR ROUND?

By: Witney WithersOctober 29, 2009Education in TechnologyDr. Dirkin

YEAR ROUND SCHOOLINGWHY ITS IMPORTANT?

School is the one thing that has globally been the most important factor of our lives.

The battle between traditional and year round schooling has been in effect for a very long time

Now with the competition of other countries academically, more and more people are thinking year round schooling is something we should consider.

HISTORY OF YEAR LONG SCHOOLING

Year long schooling has been in the United States dating back to the 1800’s.

It was used mainly in the northern industries in attempt to teach children immigrants English.

By 1900’s, it’s main goal was to get rid of many problems present today such as: Overcrowding Funding Shortage Improving Education process

Reasons for failure is the same as today Disrupts family time No academic benefit Can end up costing even more than traditional

ABOUT YEAR ROUND SCHOOLING

Students in year round schooling attend school for the same number of days as students on

traditional calendars which is 180 days. However, instead on one long vacation they

have several short vacations.

DAYS ON AND OFF IN YEAR ROUND SCHOOLING

TRADITIONAL SCHOOL CALENDAR

YEAR ROUND CALENDAR45-15 DAY SCHEDULE

TRACKS IN YEAR ROUND SCHOOLING

Year Round Schools operate on either a single track or multi-track

system

Tracks are groups students divided to share the same

schedule rotation.

SINGLE TRACKING AND MULTI-TRACKING

All students attend school and go on vacation at the same time.

Most people who are familiar with Year Round Schooling recommend single tracking

Percentage of students are on vacation at a time, while others are in school.

Allows the school to hold more students that it regularly could hold.

Requires extensive planning and can be challenging for some to get used too.

Single Tracking Multi- Tracking

EXAMPLE OF A MULTI-TRACK CALENDARFROM THEODORE ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOL

7/1/08 First Day of Classes (Tracks B,C)

9/2/08First

Day of Classes(Track

A)

(Track B Break)

10/24/08

Track B-back

Track C Break

11/27-11/28/08(Thanksgiving Break)

12/24/08-1/2/09

Winter Break

1/2/09

Track B, C Return

Track A Break

1/5/09Second Semester Begins(Track B,C)

1/19/09

Martin Luther King B-day (No School)

2/16/09

Presidents Day(No School)

2/27/09

Track A back

Track BBreak

3/3/09

Second Semester Begins(Track A)

4/29/08

Last day of school(Track C)

Track B back

6/30/09

Last Day of school(Track A, B)

MORE EXAMPLES OF YEAR ROUND SCHOOLING

From research I have found that most of the Year Round Schooling is in the west coast part of the country especially California. There were also a lot in North Carolina.

Some examples are: Theodore Roosevelt High School (Multi-Track) Wilburn Year-Round Elementary School (Multi-

Track) Southeast Raleigh High Magnet (Single Track) Centennial Campus Middle Magnet (Single Track) Durant Road Middle Year-round (Multi-Track)

Pros & Cons of Year Round SchoolingFor Students

o Benefit from a more continuous learning pattern

o Reduced need for reviewing

o More motivated about school

o Schools offer remediation programs during breaks

o Reduces student stresso Increases student

retention

If using multi-tracks, may not have same tracks of friends

Sometimes doesn’t get a choice of what they prefer

Pros Cons

Pros and Cons of Year Round Schooling

For Teachers

Experience less burnout and fatigue

Less absents from school

Spend less time reviewing material they have already taught

Earn extra income by reviewing during the intercessions.

Sometimes not enough time to prepare in between classes

Continuing education course for teachers may be more difficult

Multi-tracking- Everything is stored into carts while on break and when you come back you have to set up again.

Some teachers don’t like teaching on multi-track schedule

Pros Cons


For the Schools

Allows school to enroll students in the building than it could regularly fit

Experience less vandalism because there is no long summer breaks

Saves the district money by not building onto school. For example, the state of California saved almost $4 billion when it switched to year round schooling multi-track

The school gets more ware and tear and always seems dirty because there is less large scale cleaning

Cost of setting up is high because extra storage, longer use of air conditioning and renovations

Scheduling process is difficult especially with multiple tracks

For multi-tracks everything will have to be done twice such as parent conferences.

Pros Cons


For the Families/Community

Allows family to take vacations at times that are less crowded and have lower rates

Parents will only have to worry about getting child care for shorter periods of time.

Students in the same household may be on different tracks

In some school districts, the elementary is on year round and the high school is not. Therefore day care becomes harder to plan

Pros Cons

THE FUTURE OF YEAR ROUND SCHOOLING

Many people around the United States are now thinking year round schooling is the way to go.

Most people who have tried Year Long Schooling says it has a positive impact and it’s the way to go.

As said earlier, most people who are familiar with Year Long Schooling recommended single tracking over multi-tracking

Year Round schooling adds 40 extra days of school that is lost during the summer

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT BEFORE SWITCHING TO A YEAR ROUND SCHOOL

YEAR ROUND SCHOOLING LEGAL PROBLEMS

Year Round Schools in Wake County of North Carolina ended up in the supreme court.

The issue was if the school board can force students to attend year round school without parental permission.

However, parents didn’t want it because there was under enrollment in year long schools and over enrollment in traditional schools.

A decision has not been made yet but until one is made the school will have to give students an option.

CONCLUSION

Whether school is taught in a traditional way or on a Year Round calendar is something will be an on going argument.

The bottom line is something different works for every school district.

Year Round Schooling may be right for one district but wrong for another one.

From the article Education World, Principal Hazel Colebank of Nautilus Elementary School in Arizona says, “If our country began on a year round schedule, it would of seemed bizarre to propose the summer-off schedule as a way to educate students.”

REFERENCES

http://www.ericdigests.org/1995-2/year.htm

http://www.nwrel.org/request/feb97/article5.html

http://www.ericdigests.org/1992-4/year.htm

http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin admin137.shtml

http://bctf.ca/publications/ResearchReports.aspx?id=5608

http://www.edsource.org/data_multitrack-sched-decrease.html

http://wake.mync.com/site/Wake/news/story/22090

http://www.summermatters.com/history.htm

http://www.nayre.org/YRE-Pie2.gif

www.wikidot.com

http://www.nayre.org/-pictures