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Ted Celis

Ms. Montooth

AP Language, Period 4

21 February 2011

Year-Round Education: Focusing on the Wrong Target

Introduction

In an effort to improve the quality of education in schools throughout America, reformers

have often looked to the seemingly innovative year-round schools. Year-round education

operates on an alternative school calendar which restructures the 180-day traditional calendar so

that summer break is shortened and multiple breaks are spread out through the school yearnot

to be confused with extended-year education, which adds more days to the traditional school

year. There are several different forms of year-round calendars, but the most common is the 45-

15 single-track plan, shown in the chart at the right. While each calendar is slightly different, all

Figure 1 (Balanced vs. Traditional Calendar)

year-round calendars claim to improve school occupancy, decrease summer learning loss,

promote continuous learning, increase student discipline, increase attendance rates, and, overall,

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improve schools. While these claims may make year-round education enticing, recent research

has raised the question of whether the restructured calendar actually does what it promises to do.

The focus of this paper is to determine if pursuing the 45-15 year-round calendar in high school

is worth the effort.

What to Ignore

The Agrarian Origin

A common myth spread by those in support of year-round schools is that the traditional

school calendar is an outdated agrarian relic. Various schools cite this as a reason for converting

to the year-round calendar; for example, in defense of the Paramount Unified School Districts

switch to year-round schools, Superintendent Jay Wilbur stated that [t]he traditional calendar

was instituted decades and decades ago when [p]eople needed summer breaks to work in the

fields (qtd. in Mathews). Kenneth M. Gold, author of School's In: The History of Summer

Education in American Public Schools, points out that rural schools did originally have breaks

for farming seasons, but during spring and fall, not in summer or winter. As time went on, this

schedule transformed into the current traditional calendar due to three main factors: urbanization,

which made summer vacation more accessible; absenteeism, which caused school officials to

reconsider school being in session during the hot summer and the holiday season; and

educational scholars, who saw summer as an opportunity for professional development

(Mathews). Therefore, the traditional calendar is not agrarian; its urban. The traditional school

calendar has already done what the year-round calendar attempts to do: modernize.

Multi-Track

While they could possibly work for elementary or middle schools, high schools should

definitely avoid the multi-track year-round calendar. Unlike single-track calendars, multi-track

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calendars, used primarily to relieve overcrowding, separate students into different groups that go

on vacation at different times of the year. The problems presented by this configuration are

Figure 2 (Ballinger)

detrimental to students, teachers, administrators, and school buildings. Students with

extracurricular school activities, such as sports or music, would have to be on the same track to

synchronize practice, which might cause a split in the family. Of course, while it may damage

some familial relations, this split can be advantageous if used to separate bickering siblings

(Ballinger). Similarly, a multi-track calendar can remove helpful students from classes at one

time in the year while removing disorderly students at another. In both cases, however, the

disadvantage, which deals with a loss of helpful or caring people, seems to outweigh the

advantage, which deals with an avoidance of problems. Teachers in multi-track schools can

suffer a more definite problem: they may be required to move to different classrooms frequently

through the year, consequently causing concerns with the storage and availability of supplies

(Ballinger). Administrators need to take extra time to handle these problems, which indicates

another drawback of multi-track schools: administrator burnout. According to two administrators

of multi-track schools, There [is] only a two week period when all the kids are gonebut that is

when administrators need to plan. Year-round is never ending (qtd. in Arambula et al.). They

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find that there is little to no time for self-assessment or teacher evaluation, which can hurt the

quality of school staff. Time would also take a large toll on schools buildings; the constant use

by students from all tracks would cause them to slowly deteriorate, and in addition to

maintenance downtime, increased operating costs, and additional transportation, instituting the

multi-track calendar may cost more than constructing a new school building (Carter). The multi-

track calendar creates too many challenges to students, teachers, and administrators, without

even having enough evidence that it could profitably relieve overcrowding. High school is

already a challenge for students and staff; they dont need an even more chaotic schedule to

hassle them.

Old Studies

Although studies and statistics may seem like a tremendously helpful resource to assess

the quality of year-round schools as compared to traditional schools, the reality is that most

wont help. Studies of year-round education have been biased, contradictory, or inconclusive.

One reason for this is because schools that convert to the year-round calendar usually implement

other techniques for improvement unrecognized by researchers. Some even compare traditional

schools to schools of statistically smarter countries, but, along with incorrectly using data from

extended-year schools, they ignore the fact that different cultures have different impacts on

education. Another reason is that students on year-round calendars learn at a different pace than

those on traditional calendars, giving them an advantage in the summer and a disadvantage in the

winter; past research, however, has been conducted only in a certain part of the year when the

lessons of tradition schools did not coincide with lessons of year-round schools. A few more

concerns include weaknesses such as failure to report any tests of statistical significance,

failure to differentiate between year-round and extended-year schools, avoidance of peer

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review, and failure to account statistically for the nesting of students within schools (Von

Hippel), as well as qualitative findings with no empirical evidence given to support the

claims [and] the difference in number of years of study (Anderson). With so many possible

oversights, the majority of old research on the effects of year-round education is just too

unreliable to use.

What to Consider

Difficult Transition

Eliminating the long summer break would be problematic for students, teachers, and

parents to go through. The principal reasons for opposing the year-round calendar are problems

with vacation, child care, jobs, education, and summer activities. Most of these would be

insignificant if the year-round calendar were the traditional calendar; for example, teachers that

have expressed concern about pursuing an advanced degree in college while on a year-round

schedule have later found that more and more universities in areas where year-round education

has been initiated are offering courses at night [and] on weekends (Ballinger). Likewise,

traditional supporters argue that summer is needed for long family vacations while year-round

supporters argue for cheaper and more varied seasonal vacations, but if year-round were

traditional, seasonal vacations would become more expensive. This holds true for child care,

summer jobs, and summer activities too: an environment adapts to the majoritys needs. If, in the

future, the year-round calendar becomes the new traditional calendar, none of these complaints

would matter, but as long as traditional schools remain prevalent, these concerns provide

effective reasoning against year-round education. Determining if high schools should adopt the

year-round calendar depends on whether it will make enough of a difference for schools to

willingly undergo the difficult transition.

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What Really Matters

Unsupported Claims

One of the main reasons for establishing a single-track year-round school is to improve

student learning and retention by reducing summer learning loss, developing a schedule of

continuous learning, and shortening review time. According to recent research, however, there is

not enough sufficient evidence to prove that year-round education is effective. For instance,

while year-round schools do accelerate summer learning, they also reduce learning during the

rest of the year, explaining further that year-round schools do not really solve the problem of

summer setbackthey simply spread it out across the year (Von Hippel). He also notes that the

claim of year-round schools to at least help disadvantaged students is untrue because summer

setback comes from cognitive disadvantages in students homes and neighborhoods (Von

Hippel), and even if it were true, one must ask if making such a change is worth the time, effort,

and research especially in places that have few bilingual students (Anderson). Since no study of

year-round school has sufficiently proven or refuted year-round claims, current researchers have

concluded that [o]n purely academic grounds, [they] cannot advocate a year-round calendar,

but cannot recommend against it, either (Von Hippel).

The Spacing Effect

The year-round calendar does not only shift school daysit also shifts break. Several

year-round researchers assess the academic success of students without discussing how

effectively students or teachers use their vacation time. Von Hippel does touch on this topic

slightly, though; in his research, he emphasizes the importance of family and community on

students and alludes to the spacing effect, which shows that retention is better in studying with

several short breaks as opposed to the fewer large breaks of massed practice. But, he points out,

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this may only apply to small periods of time, and when the interval between practice sessions is

longer than a day, spaced practice may be even less effective than massed practice if the

mental tasks being learned are especially demanding (Von Hippel). Year-round proponents

believe that students learn best by a continuous pattern of teaching, practice, reteaching, and

more practice (Ballinger), but with the research performed by Von Hippel, it seems that year-

round education doesnt exactly create a continuous pattern of learning. With more frequent

breaks, it may disrupt the learning process instead, especially since students and teachers tend to

attend school less and work less when they know a long break is ahead. Year-round education

tries to decrease summer learning loss in order to reduce review time and increase instructional

time, but by overlooking learning loss and review time in each of the year-round seasonal breaks,

the year-round calendar may actually promote forgetting instead (Carter).

The Forgetting Curve

According to a memory experiment conducted by German philosopher Hermann

Ebbinghaus, who discovered the spacing effect and forgetting curve in 1885, people usually

Figure 3 (The Key to Elevating L&D) Figure 4 (Randall)

forget 90% of what they learn in class within 30 days [a]nd the majority of forgetting occurs

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within the first few hours after class (The Key to Elevating L&D). Ebbinghauss experiment

shows that frequent breaks, which have shorter but steeper forgetting curves, would be more

harmful to student learning than a summer vacation, which has a longer but less influential

forgetting curve. Yet, the forgetting curve does depend on numerous variables (Randall), so after

the winter break of 2011, I generated two separate surveys completed by students and teachers

from Cabrillo High School to figure out how detracted the mind is from school during breaks.

The student survey, which was taken mostly by those with grade point averages above 3.0,

shows that most students begin working on their winter assignments on the last week of winter

vacation and finish in an average of about five days (Appendix A). With this information, it

seems that vacations are not used efficiently enough to make a calendar conversion. If students

actually studied during break with respect to the forgetting curve, year-round calendars could

actually improve school by allowing for more relaxed review during vacation. While review time

is made up in the second week by some students, other students in both academic and

nonacademic classes dont get to review either because they dont do the work or they arent

assigned any, as shown in the teacher survey (Appendix B). Even if review time was enforced

during seasonal breaks, they may contribute to more burnout if overstresseda problem claimed

to be reversed under the year-round calendar. Professor Richard West of the University of

Southern Maine launched a study of college student burnout, discovering that of the 67% of the

students reported having experienced burnout at college 49% reported assignment overload as

the primary factor driving their burnout (Newport). Thus, while there is opportunity to learn

with materials like books or projects, there is also an opportunity to forget. Unfortunately,

neither is taken as advantage since it makes the hardworking student more prone to burnout

while hindering the academic success of the other students.

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Conclusion

Although year-round education may be the right choice for those who want to relieve

overcrowding in elementary and middle schools, changing the high school calendar would be too

difficult attempt. Year-round researchers havent found adequate evidence in support of their

claims and using a school system without knowing the effects would be too much of a gamble,

especially in years as important as high school. Psychological experiments show that it could

even worsen what it tries to improve due to the fact that more frequent vacations could cause

more frequent time-wasting during the school year instead of between school years. Year-round

education is not the answer to fixing any academic problem seen in traditional schools today; it

changes neither the quantity nor quality of days in school.

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Works Cited

Anderson, Allan C. "Year-Round Schooling." Northern Michigan University, 14 Apr. 2010.

Web. 20 Feb. 2012.

.

Arambula, Stacy, et al. "The Effect of Year-Round Schooling on

Administrators." Education 119.3 (1999): 465. Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context.

Web. 17 Jan. 2012.

.

Balanced vs. Traditional Calendar. Digital image. NAYRE. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.

.

Ballinger, Charles E., Norman Kirschenbaum, and Rita P. Poimbeauf. The Year-Round School:

Where Learning Never Stops. Bloomingington, Indiana: Phi Delta Kappa Educational

Foundation, 1987. ERIC, 29 Feb. 2010. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.

.

Carter, Robin L. "Year-Round School: Not the Solution for Failing Schools." 28 Oct. 1999. Web.

16 Feb. 2012. .

"The Key to Elevating L&D to a Strategic Partner." LearningGuide Solutions, Dec. 2011. Web.

20 Feb. 2012.

.

Mathews, Joe. "A Lesson in the Value of Summer Vacation." Los Angeles Times, 29 Aug. 2001.

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Web. 16 Feb. 2012. .

Newport, Cal. "The Science of Student Burnout." 31 Oct. 2008. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.

.

Randall, Vernellia. "Develop Keyword Flashcards." Dayton. 2005. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.

.

Von Hippel, Paul T. "What Happens to Summer Learning in Year-Round Schools?" ERIC, Oct.

2006. Web. 17 Jan. 2012. .

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Appendix A

Winter Survey: Students

The survey may be viewed at .

These surveys were submitted between 15 January 2012 and 20 January 2012.

Student Grade Level

GPA Were you assigned any winter break assignments?

When did you start it?

How long did it take for you to finish all of it?

Rate your winter break: (1=bad)

Rate the length of winter break:

Anonymous 10 - Yes Second Week 4 Days 3 Too Short Mabanglo, F. 11 3 Yes Second Week 3 Days 5 Too Short Celis, T. 11 4.33 Yes Second Week 7 Days 3 Just Right Pacquing, J. 11 3.9 Yes Second Week 3 Days 4 Too Short Concepcion, N. 11 - Yes Second Week 4 Days 4 Just Right Anonymous 11 3.3 Yes First Week 5 Days 1 Too Long Galima, V. 12 4.22 Yes Second Week 13 Days 3 Too Short Anonymous 11 3.8 Yes Second Week 3 Days 4 Too Short Anonymous 11 - Yes Second Week 10 Days 4 Just Right Anonymous 11 - Yes Second Week 4 Days 5 Too Short Torres, J. 11 2.52 Yes Before Break 6 Days 3 Too Short Hudson, K. 11 - Yes First Week 10 Days 3 Too Short Anonymous 11 3.8 Yes Second Week 3 Days 3 Too Short Lopez, G. 9 - Yes First Week 2 Days 5 Just Right Anonymous 11 - Yes Second Week 4 Days 4 Too Short De Haro, S. 11 3.5 Yes Before Break 14+ Days 4 Too Short Anonymous 11 - Yes Second Week 5 Days 3 Too Short Garcia, S. 11 3.5 Yes Second Week 4 Days 3 Too Short Keuth, L. 11 3.6 Yes First Week 10 Days 3 Just Right Anonymous 9 - Yes After Break 2 Days 3 Too Short Anonymous 12 3.1 Yes Second Week 3 Days 4 Just Right Anonymous 11 - Yes Before Break 3 Days 4 Too Short Anonymous 11 - Yes Second Week 4 Days 4 Just Right Anonymous 11 - Yes Second Week 14+ Days 3 Too Short

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Appendix B

Winter Survey: Teachers

The survey may be viewed at .

These surveys were submitted between 15 January 2012 and 18 January 2012.

Teacher Years Teaching

Period Grade Level

Class Type Class Subject Which assignment(s) did you give to this class during winter break?

Anonymous 6 1 10, 11, 12

Regular Physics None

2 10, 11, 12

Regular Chemistry None

3 10, 11, 12

Regular Chemistry None

4 10, 11, 12

Regular Physics None

5 10, 11, 12

Regular Chemistry None

Montooth, M. 10 1 11 Advanced Placement

Language & Composition

Project, Reading

3 9 Intervention Literacy Workshop

None

4 11 Advanced Placement

Language & Composition

Project, Reading

5 9 Intervention Literacy Workshop

None

6 9 Intervention Literacy Workshop

None

Zeeman, J. 8 1 9 Honors Geometry None 2 9 Regular Algebra None 3 9 Regular Algebra None 4 10 Regular Accounting None 5 9 Honors Geometry None Anonymous 8 1 10 AVID AVID None 3 9, 10,

11, 12 Elective Drawing and

Painting 1/2 and 3/4

None

4 9, 10, 11, 12

Elective Drawing and Painting 1/2

None

5 9, 10, 11, 12

Elective Drawing and Painting 1/2

None

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6 9, 10, 11, 12

Elective Drawing and Painting 1/2

None

Anonymous 5 1 9 Regular Algebra Project 2 9 Regular Algebra Project 3 9 Lab Algebra None 4 9 Regular Algebra Project 5 9 Regular Algebra Project Anonymous 8 1 9 Regular Biology - 2 9 Regular Biology None 3 9 Regular Biology None 5 9 Regular Biology None 6 9 Accelerated Biology None Sarno, D. 16 1 10 Accelerated English 3-4 Project, Reading 2 10 Accelerated English Project, Reading 3 10 Accelerated English Project, Reading 4 10 Accelerated English Project, Reading Blackwell, R. 5 1 9, 10,

11, 12 Regular Art &

Animation None

2 9, 10, 11, 12

Regular Art & Animation

None

3 9, 10, 11, 12

Regular Art & Animation

None

4 10, 11, 12

Regular Art & Animation

None

5 9, 10, 11, 12

Regular Art & Animation

None

Fisher, K. 13 1 9 Project Lead The Way

Introduction to Engineering Design

None

2 9 Project Lead The Way

Introduction to Engineering Design

None

3 10 Project Lead The Way

Introduction to Engineering Design

None

5 12 Advanced Placement

Calculus Packet, Take-Home Quiz, Reading

6 10 Accelerated Intermediate Algebra

Packet, Worksheet, Reading

Anonymous 15 1 12 Regular American -

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Government 2 12 Regular American

Government -

3 12 Regular Economics - 4 12 Regular Government - 5 10 Regular Modern

World History

-

Anonymous 6 3 11, 12 Regular Latino Studies

Worksheet

4 11 AVID AVID Reading 6 10 Regular Modern

World History

Worksheet

Anonymous 7 2 9, 10, 11, 12

Advanced Placement

Spanish for Spanish Speakers 1-2

Project

3 9, 10, 11, 12

- Spanish for Native Speakers 1-2

Project

4 9, 10, 11, 12

- SSS 1-2 Project

5 9, 10, 11, 12

- SSS 1-2 Project

6 9, 10, 11

- SSS 1-2 Project