Year – Round Education: Alternative Curriculum or Needed Strategy?

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Many concerns regarding academic failure within the United States regarding the inability to rival other countries, has greatly increased yearly due to the lack of clear support for teachers and students within the Traditional School Calendar. With the implementation of the Year – Round or “Balanced Calendar”, students have been given the opportunity to close those unnecessary gaps between school years and begin to even out “in-school” time throughout the year. Many parents and teachers consider this division of time conflicting when dealing with scheduling of community programs or additional summer employment opportunities, along with the cost becoming too great to keep students within the walls of the school for longer periods of time. Realities have become quite clear regarding the educational uplift other countries receive due to the consistent nature in which they implement strategic learning opportunities. The benefits and opportunities behind keeping children on a more regular schedule will greatly out-weigh the extensive summer break in terms of the student’s acceleration process, cost to local schools, districts support, family time, student and teacher attendance as well as the academic gap that continues to plague the United States today.

Understanding the difference between a Traditional School Schedule and a Balanced School Schedule is very important. Both schedules cover the general 180 day blueprint that the United States Department of Education has instituted, but the variances are significant (SchoolDays32). By definition, a Traditional Schedule is:

…features a long summer vacation of 12 weeks followed by a long period of in -session days with the first break coming at thanksgiving. The winter holidays...

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.... Web. 30 Apr. 2012.

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Lyttle, LeighAnne: “Year-Round versus Traditional Schools.” Information Analyses. March 2011.
McMillen B. A Statewide Evaluation of Academic Achievement in Year-Round Schools. Journal Of Educational Research [serial online]. November 2001;95(2):67. Ipswich, MA. April 30, 2012.

Mitchell R, Mitchell D. Student Segregation and Achievement Tracking in Year-Round Schools. Teachers College Record [serial online]. April 2005;107(4):529-562. Ipswich, MA. April 30, 2012.

M. M, Mueller K, Yeston J. Calendar Effects. Science [serial online]. December 9, 2011;334(6061):1324. Ipswich, MA. April 30, 2012.

SCHOOL DAYS. State Legislatures [serial online]. June 2006;32(6):5. Ipswich, MA. April 30, 2012.

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