Research Paper on Year Round Schooling
Most schools in the United States are set up for sessions to begin in the middle of August or first part of September and then run until late May into mid-June. Then there is a twelve-week break during the summer. The school year was initially set up that way because the majority of parents were farmers and needed their children home to help with the growing and harvesting the crops during the summer months. That is no longer a consideration, yet the same school schedule exists. During the summer break now, children go on vacation with their parents, attend summer camps or just enjoy carefree days swimming, riding bikes, and playing without the constraints of homework, early bed times and bus schedules. Of course, many of them also spend their summers planted in front of the television and/or video game without ever going outside also. When students return to school though, some of what they learned the year before has usually been forgotten, and teachers must spend the first few weeks of the school year refreshing their students’ With memories. a general lack of time to teach what must be taught as it is, this catching up period seems like a waste of precious time. That is the main reason that many education experts have called for schools to be year-round with extended holidays interspersed throughout the year. Combined with the other reasons that are discussed, and the arguments against retaining the current 40 week school year, there is a strong case for restructuring school years to a year-round track.
Some schools have tried year-round schooling and found it to be beneficial in many ways including the decrease in knowledge loss. The typical year-round schedule is about 45 days of classes (9 weeks) and then a three-week vacation. Students can enjoy three weeks of freedom from the constraints of the school schedule without losing much of the knowledge they gained during the weeks they were attending classes. Many parents and students who have tried the year-round schedule really like it. Students who need help with their school work find that they have the help available year-round. When school is already difficult, it is made even moreso when students have to spend time trying to catch up on the knowledge they forgot over a twelve week break, and they do not have to spend that break in summer school. Jennifer Graves, Steven McMullen and Kathryn Rouse of Education Finance and Policy say, “It is estimated that all students lose roughly a month of math skills and that low-income students are estimated to lose as much as three months of learning in reading skills. By the end of ninth grade almost two-thirds of the socioeconomic achievement gap can be explained by differential summer learning loss” (Graves, McMullen and Rouse 302). The “summer learning loss” or “summer slide” no longer exists with year-round school. The socioeconomic equity gap is reduced and better opportunities are available for everyone. This is the best argument for changing from the conventional model of school attendance to the year-round model, but there are plenty of other good reasons too.
Having more frequent breaks is another attraction of the year-round school track. Teachers and students agree that it is nice to look forward to a break every two months rather than having to slog through three or more months until the winter break or until the summer break. When the summer break does roll around, it seems long. Parents are happy to get their kids back in school in the fall and free up time during the day to do other things that they cannot do when their children are on school break. Teachers and administrators love having a rejuvenating break every couple of months too, unless they work for one of the schools in the United States is overcrowded, then the year-round schooling may be on a multiple track schedule. Still, for just about every stakeholder, the year-round school schedule is preferred.
The multiple track schedule helps to stop the overcrowding of schools. This is another advantage of year-round school: it eases the overcrowding that is endemic in some schools. Schools can provide three different tracks when school is in session year round. In any given three week period, one third of the students would be on their break. Having the overcrowding reduced by a third of the students would help conditions a great deal. Not only does it help to reduce class sizes and overcrowding in other ways, it also makes the best use of school buildings. When they are shut down for an extended period over the summer, they must still be maintained, air conditioned and cleaned. If schools are in operation year-round, then the overhead expenses of upkeep on the building is better utilized.
Despite these advantages, not everyone thinks that there should be year-round school. One of the reasons is that school sports would suffer if teams took three weeks off during a sport season. The pep band that plays for the team would also suffer if its members could not practice together for three weeks. Of course, sports and band practice could continue during the break without much of an adjustment. Students that played in band or on a sports team could just show up for the practices during their break. While it may minimize the benefit of having a break from the stresses of school, dedication to a hobby like music or sports requires daily commitment even during breaks.
The argument that sports and musical groups would have a difficult time maintain practice schedules and bonding is rather moot when one considers that with the current schedule, students do not “bond” with their team during the summer months, and that is a much longer practice free time than a three week break would be. In fact, students during summer break often sit around and do nothing for the entire break leading them to become obese. Glenn Weaver, Michael Beets and Keith Branzendale of the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine say, “Recently, summer has been identified as a period of excess weight gain and reduced physical fitness” (Weaver, Beets and Branzendale 117). They go on to cite several studies that showed that schools help to keep children from becoming overweight and obese because they serve them nutritious meals, have physical education classes and allow outdoor play time during recess. During the summer months, the food may not be nutritious and the activities may consist of sitting in front of a television set especially if the students’ parents have to work.
Those children affected most by the food sources and activities available for them at school are the those with low socioeconomic status. Another aspect of the school food consideration to year round school is that of children who come from food insecure homes. Many of them rely on breakfast and lunch at school, in some cases, as their only meals during the day. When school is not in session, these meals are no longer available. Perhaps taking a three week break results in the same absence of food source, but it is a much shorter span of time than the twelve week summer break.
Some children may come from homes where there is drub abuse or domestic abuse. Many are from one-parent households. Schools provide students with more than just and education. Teachers and other adults provide a good example of how people should act that students may not get in their homes. Brooke McGuire of the American Collee of Education says, “Year-round school provides a more structured environment, one of consistency and positivity, for students with unsupportive or unstable homes. The safety and dependability that school offers doesn’t stop with the onset of summer” (McGuire). Schools may be safe places for children. They may be the only place they feel as if someone cares about them. It is a shame to take that kind of support away from a child for twelve weeks.
From an educational standpoint, when students transfer into a new district that is on year-round schooling from one that is on the conventional schedule, they may struggle to keep up with the rest of the students. However, once they become adjusted to the schedule, they will also see the benefit. Some experts believe that the year-round school year is better for academic achievement too. Mary Therese O’Sullivan of the Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal says that year-round school is important if the United States wants to have educated citizens who can compete in the world economy. O’Sullivan cites I.Z. Granderson, who says, “‘American students are competing with children around the world who are in many cases spending four weeks longer in school each year.’ . . . . Summer vacations may be a major factor contributing to the United States’ student test scores being lower than many other nations” (O'Sullivan 402-403). It certainly does stand to reason that having a twelve week gap of learning is not making the scores of American students any higher.
Families with more than one child may not want to change to a year-round school schedule. One child could be on one schedule while the other is on a different one. That can wreak havoc with daycare and family activities. Parents often purposely take their vacation time from work during the summer so they can travel with their family or just enjoy time with their children. On a year-round school schedule, that may not happen. Of course, they can schedule their vacations during the three week breaks their kids have from school too.
Finally, when schools are attended year-round, there is not much time for maintenance on the buildings. Many of the schools in use in the United States are very old and in need of repair. These repairs are often done during the summer breaks, but if there is no summer break then there probably not enough time to do the type of maintenance that many schools need to have done. This issue can be addressed by scheduling maintenance in the evening hours when the building is not in use. For larger projects, a portion of the school could be closed off and pods brought in to accommodate the missing educational space.
None of the arguments against year-round school stand. There are ways to get around each one of them. With the advantages that year-round school offers for all students, but especially or those from low socioeconomic status homes, it should be implemented nationwide as soon as possible. Children in the future can listen to their parents talk about how they used to take twelve weeks off during the summer and wonder what their parents did to stay engaged during that time. Those future children will be better educated though because they have attended year-round school.
Works Cited
Graves, Jennifer, Steven McMullen and Kathryn Rouse. "Multi-Track Year-Round Schooling as Cost Saving Reform: Not Just a Matter of Time." Education Finance and Policy 8.3 (2013): 300-315. JSTOR. 7 December 2019. < https://www.jstor.org/stable/1... >.
McGuire, Brooke. "The Pros & Cons of Year-Round School." 17 July 2019. American College of Education. Web. 7 December 2019. < https://www.ace.edu/blog/post/... >.
O'Sullivan, Mary Therese. "The Ten-Month School Year: Are We Ignoring Educational Research in Order to Preserve Summer Vacation: Finding a Compromise between Educational Advancement and over-Schooling.." Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal 2.9 (2013): 395-415. Google Scholar. 7 December 2019. < https://digitalcommons.law.byu... >.
Weaver, Glenn, et al. "Weaver, R. G., Beets, M. W., Brazendale, K., & Brusseau, T. A. (2018). Summer Weight Gain and Fitness Loss: Causes and Potential Solutions." American Journal of LIfestyle Medicine 13.2 (2018): 116-128. PMC. 7 December 2019. < https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... >.
