Essay On Year Round Schooling

How is Year Round Schooling Beneficial? Literature Review Charles Casey Year round schooling has been present in society since the early 1800’s as well as the debates of its benefits. Year round schooling allows children to attend in a staggered schedule with no long breaks. It is said children who attend year round schools have better retention rates and teachers are able to better execute their curriculums. Year round schooling offers more curricular activities to lower income families thus allowing them to have a better educational experience.

The following literature reviews are of articles that support year round schooling and it’s benefits to both children and teachers. Tracy Huebner, Senior Research Associate at WestEd, was the Principal Investigator for the California Academic Partnership Program’s Expository Literacy Grant Evaluation. She is in charge of research and evaluation efforts that focus on organizational and instructional change in every level of the education system. Aside from just research Huebner also focuses on how to share as well as develop knowledge throughout the education community.

Huebner wrote an article on the effectiveness of year-round schooling to address the problem of summer learning loss. The article brings light to the reality of the problem, especially for economically disadvantaged students. Studies show the disadvantage students’ gain as much as others during the school year. Unfortunately they also experience more loss during the summer. While, the research is inconclusive on if year-round schooling addresses the problem completely, it does show some improvements for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds.

Get quality help now

RhizMan

Verified

Proficient in: Teaching

4.9 (247)

“ Rhizman is absolutely amazing at what he does . I highly recommend him if you need an assignment done ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

Essay On Year Round School

It also shows positive experiences for their families. I chose this article because of Tracy Huebner ‘s educational background. I have read a other articles she has written and her knowledge of the educational system is extensive . Mike Wilder a writer for Times News in Burlington North Carolina covered a research on year-round schooling in the Alamance-Burlington School System. North Graham Elementary School was one of the schools that had operated on a year-round schedule since 2000. Eight years later, Eastlawn and Haw River elementary schools began operating on the same schedule.

Greg Holland, principal at North Graham Elementary, states “There’s no question that student achievement has increased as a result of the year-round calendar,” he said, “but it’s also not a magic bullet. ” [Greg Holland] said a shorter summer break means there’s less time for students to forget what they learned during the previous academic year”. In the article Holland also discusses the waiting list of students who want to get tutoring during the breaks. North Graham Elemantry School, along with other schools in the Alamance-Burlington system, conduct tests to determine how well students are learning material.

The results of these tests help identify which students are recommended to get help during the breaks. Children attending the year-round schooling program are also given opportunities to explore other interests. While Wilder does not have educational background his article on this research of an actually school district and the way it is presented provide beneficial information on this topic. For my final reference I chose a study done on a mid-western school system. The report was done by Barbara K. Ramos, Ph. D. (2004) Associate Professor of Education Chair of the Department of Education at Simpson College in Indianola, IA.

This study takes a look at a mid-west elementary school transitioning from a school-within-a-school calendar. The school had offered both year-round and traditional calendars, to a year-round only calendar. Using focus groups and surveys assessed the acceptance of teachers and families with the transition, as well as factors they had to consider with the transition . Both teachers and families for the most part had positive reactions to the transition. Some teachers and families initially had a negative reaction to the transition.

However after adapting to the transition their opinion became more positive both during and after. There was a significant difference in the satisfaction level by calendar for all five questions asked of parents. Teachers were 100% satisfied with the change from a traditional calendar year. The results of this study were very similar to previous studies done. Generally, both teachers and families were satisfied with the transition to a year-round calendar. Families and teachers who had experienced year-round schooling previously were even more satisfied during and after the transition.

With the information from this report it will help to show solid findings on the positives of year-round schooling through statistics rather than just opinions.