Morningtide

(My name)

(My teacher's name)

Language and Literature

8 February 2022

Year-Round School is Better than Traditional School

When most people think of the school year, they imagine 9-10 months of school, followed by a long summer break. More recently, however, students in some schools have moved away from the traditional calendar and are using a newer, more efficient school schedule: the year-round program. This calendar eliminates the usual 2 or 3 month summer break, spreading out all 180 days of school throughout the year. Schools should move over to the year-round school schedule because it has shown many educational and recreational benefits for students, staff, and parents.

The year-round school schedule has been around for a surprisingly long time. However, it has only started to gain recognition in more recent years. This program was originally invented to replace the traditional school program. One of the main arguments for transferring to a year-round calendar is that the traditional school calendar is now obsolete. The original purpose of the traditional schedule was to make sure that students would be home to help their families during the harvest. Clearly, this is no longer needed. There are several different year-round programs; the defining feature that connects them together is that none of them have a long summer break. The two most popular school calendars are the 45/15 and the 60/20 schedules. The 45/15 schedule consists of 45 school days, followed by a break of 15 school days - three weeks. The 60/20 is the same, but with 60 school days followed by a month off. Another popular program has been called the “Balanced Schedule”. This calendar is very similar to a 45/15 schedule, but has a one-month summer break. Also, the breaks in a Balanced Schedule correspond to holidays. However, regardless of the program chosen, the benefits are the same.

There are many studies that prove that students in a year-round schedule test higher than ones in a traditional calendar school. One of the best arguments for year-round school has to do with the so-called summer slide. The summer slide is the name used to refer to the huge amount of information forgotten over the summer break; some studies show that as much as 2.6 months of learning is forgotten. Teachers have stated that the first 1-2 months of the traditional school year are used for finding out what students remember from last year and reviewing what has been forgotten. Moving over to a year-round school schedule eliminates most of the summer slide because the shorter breaks don’t give enough time to forget that amount of information. Eliminating the summer slide adds up to 2.6 months of more learning each school year! For disadvantaged students who are the most susceptible to the summer slide, this is a huge benefit. Besides the elimination of the summer slide, there are also other educational benefits.

One of the biggest complaints about extra lessons for students that need it is that the extra help often comes too late. Summer school often comes months too late for students that had trouble with concepts that were taught in the beginning to middle of the school year. With year-round school, teachers can offer mini “summer school” lessons during each break. Depending on your school schedule, these breaks could be anywhere from three to six weeks. . The more frequent and shorter breaks allow students to get help for things they don’t understand, soon enough to help them. Another educational benefit has evidence that comes straight from teachers. Multiple teachers have said that their students’ focus increased greatly when their school switched to a year-round calendar. The frequent breaks allowed both students and teachers to have time to recharge and refocus for the next section of school. The educational benefits of year-round school are undeniable, and the recreational benefits are great as well. 

Changing the frequency and timing of breaks in the school year opens up many opportunities for parents, students, and staff. Most families don’t spend the entire summer break on vacation, so shortening the summer break wouldn’t detract from their vacation schedule. In fact, more frequent breaks throughout the year allow families to participate in a wider variety of activities. Most year-round school programs have breaks in every season, allowing multiple types of recreation for students. Vacationing during the summer is often more expensive than at other times during the year because there are more people. With the year-round schedule, students and staff have time off when vacationing is cheaper. However, there are also breaks in the year-round schedule that align with breaks in traditional schools. For example, both school programs have Christmas break, during which students from both calendars can be off of school and spending time together. Even without these aligned breaks, students also have the weekends! 

Another option for scheduling that year-round schools use is called a multitrack schedule. The multitrack program has a rotating student body; one “track” of students is on vacation while the other tracks are in school. Depending on the year-round schedule being used, off-track students could make up ⅕ to ⅓ of the student body. A major benefit of the multitrack schedule is that it increases the school’s carrying capacity. This benefit is especially good for Alturas because this school has a long waiting list to get in. Despite the obvious benefits, some people still support the traditional calendar. 

Many people think that year-round schedules have more disadvantages than advantages. They say that a year-round school would remove opportunities for students in multiple aspects of their lives. Students in year-round schools miss the chance to get a summer job, attend college or extra credit classes in the summer, and aren’t able to participate in the usual sports activities. Their argument is that this will cause stress in students' lives and they will eventually regret not having these opportunities. These arguments are invalid. Students with year-round calendars can get “summer” jobs during their breaks throughout the year. Practices for sports don’t usually happen during school hours, and besides, most sports are run through the schools. If schools transition over to year-round schedules, the sports will as well. Year-round schools will quickly become the norm for students; within one school year, the year-round calendar won’t feel as strange. If students are concerned about having school at a different time than their friends, they can rest assured that all year-round calendars don’t have school on weekends. Those days will still be available for activities. 

Year-round schools are better for everyone. They offer many benefits in education and recreation, and the arguments against them don’t have any merit. If schools go over to this more efficient schedule with many benefits, they will see immediate results in their schooling. Schools should leave behind the outdated traditional schedule for the year-round one. 

Bibliography

Chen, Grace. “Year-Round or Traditional Schedule? - Public School Review.” Public School Review, 2003, https://www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/year-round-or-traditional-schedule.

“Pros and Cons of Year-Round School - American University.” School of Education Online Programs, 15 Dec. 2020, https://soeonline.american.edu/blog/pros-and-cons-of-year-round-school.

“Year-Round Education Program Guide - Cde.ca.gov.” California Department of Education, 18 Nov. 2021, https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/fa/yr/guide.asp.

Superville, Denisa R. “Is It Time to Reconsider the Year-Round School Schedule?” EducationWeek, 24 June 2020, https://www.edweek.org/leadership/is-it-time-to-reconsider-the-year-round-school-schedule/2020/06.

“The Pros and Cons of Year-Round Schools - Scholastic.” Scholastic, 2021, https://www.scholastic.com/parents/school-success/school-involvement/pros-and-cons-year-round-schools.html.

(My name)

(My teacher's name)

Language and Literature

8 February 2022

Year-Round School is Better than Traditional School

Schools everywhere are leaving behind the traditional school schedule, with long summer breaks, and are using year-round school schedules. This more efficient calendar should be used in all schools because it shows educational and recreational benefits.

Despite years of existence, the year-round system has only started to gain notoriety. This program was invented to replace traditional calendars, which are now obsolete; their original purpose, giving students time off for harvesting, isn’t important. There are several different year-round programs; the most popular are the 45/15 and 60/20 calendars. These calendars eliminate long summer breaks, implementing shorter breaks throughout the year. The first number in the schedule represents the days in each school session; the second number represents the days in each break. Many schedules match their breaks to commonly celebrated holidays, but no matter the schedule used, the benefits are the same. 

Year-round school has been proven to increase testing scores, mainly because of the elimination of the “summer slide”. The summer slide is the information forgotten over the summer break; some studies show that 2.6 months of learning is forgotten. Teachers say the first 1-2 months of school are spent reviewing forgotten information. Shorter breaks in year-round schedules aren’t long enough for students to forget information. The summer slide isn’t the only thing the year-round schedule improves, there are other educational benefits as well. 

When students take remedial classes, they often complain that help comes too late. Year-round schools offer “summer school” lessons during breaks. The more frequent breaks allow students to quickly get the help they need. Multiple teachers say that their students’ focus increases in a year-round school - another educational benefit. Recharging and refocusing is easier in a year-round school; it keeps students more focused and ready. The educational benefits of year-round school are undeniable, but the recreational benefits are also great.

Changing the frequency and length of school breaks opens opportunities. Shortening summer break won’t change most families' vacation schedules because they don’t vacation the whole time. Breaks throughout the year let families participate in a wider variety of activities. Most year-round programs have breaks every season, allowing all types of recreation. The traditional break during summer increases tourism during that time, making vacations more expensive. The year-round schedule allows people to vacation when it is cheaper, but there are also breaks that align with those in traditional schools. 

Another year-round scheduling option is a multitrack schedule. The multitrack program rotates the student body; one “track” of students vacations while the others are in school. Off-track students can make up ⅕ to ⅓ of students, depending on the schedule used. Multitrack schedules increase schools’ carrying capacity - a major benefit. Despite the benefits of year-round schooling, some people support traditional schooling. 

Many people think that year-round schedules have too many disadvantages. Their argument is that year-round programs remove opportunities; students in year-round schools miss the chance to participate in  summer jobs and sports programs. This will cause stress in students’ lives, making them regret not having these opportunities. This is inaccurate. Students in year-round schools can get jobs during their breaks. Sports are run through school; year-round calendars will have practices that fit their calendar. Within one school year, year-round calendars won’t feel as strange.

Year-round schools are better for everyone. They offer benefits in education and recreation, and the arguments against them don’t have any merit. If schools change to this more efficient schedule, they will see immediate results. Schools should leave behind the traditional schedule for the year-round one. 

Bibliography

Chen, Grace. “Year-Round or Traditional Schedule? - Public School Review.” Public School Review, 2003, https://www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/year-round-or-traditional-schedule.

“Pros and Cons of Year-Round School - American University.” School of Education Online Programs, 15 Dec. 2020, https://soeonline.american.edu/blog/pros-and-cons-of-year-round-school.

“Year-Round Education Program Guide - Cde.ca.gov.” California Department of Education, 18 Nov. 2021, https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/fa/yr/guide.asp.

Superville, Denisa R. “Is It Time to Reconsider the Year-Round School Schedule?” EducationWeek, 24 June 2020, https://www.edweek.org/leadership/is-it-time-to-reconsider-the-year-round-school-schedule/2020/06.

“The Pros and Cons of Year-Round Schools - Scholastic.” Scholastic, 2021, https://www.scholastic.com/parents/school-success/school-involvement/pros-and-cons-year-round-schools.html.