Year-Round Schooling

It is becoming a hotly debated topic of whether schools should be ran all year long. Many students disagree, yearning for their loved summer break with no homework to attend to. Yet, many adults in the academic and teaching field believe schooling year round benefits the learning process. Students retain what they have learned, and can learn faster because they do not have to review as long in the fall. Beside the education boost for students, it gives the schools’ facilities use in the summer. There are those, on the other hand, who believe the transition between the traditional school year and a year-round school year would be difficult, and it would take away the reprieve of summer break. What they are not considering is the fact that there

Research shows teachers spend at least a month re-teaching material to students at the beginning of each year (Peters 1). On average, students lose two months of math computational skills (15 Critical Facts about Summer Learning 1). These skills are very important for students to have and also have the ability to increase the level of knowledge they have. Not only for themselves, but the schools they attend. Schools are mandated to have students take standardized testing, and with the huge gap of summer vacation, schools struggle to help students achieve higher scores. Before a student goes one summer break, they are able to score considerably higher on a standardized test than he/she would by the end of break (National Summer Reading Association 1). These lower test scores and loss of knowledge not only affects the students and educators, but also the school in general as standardized test scores can also affect how much funding a school receives. Less funding can prove devastating to schools and students as the inability to run or provide a basic education, can become troubling. With the importance of not only students’ knowledge to grow, but also for students to do better on certain tests, it is imperative schools switch to a year long academic

Many things would be disrupted, from family vacations, childcare, and even jobs, as parents juggled the new schedule of a year-round school year. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, located in North Carolina, run on a year-round schedule. They have organized their schedule in nine-week quarters, where each quarter is broken up by a three-week break, which the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools District refers to as an “intersession” (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools 1). This way, the students still receive ample break time to relax and vacation with their family. Not only do they still have a good amount of time off, they are in school for the government regulated 180 days. The time in school does not lengthen, and it makes the transition less difficult overall. Despite the few hiccups of switching to a year long schedule, it is still worth it for the students’