YEAR-ROUND SCHOOL

· New buildings will not need to be built in order to house the growing population of students. There will be a reduction in the number of vandalism and burglary incidences.

· Students may experience higher achievement due to shorter disruptions in instruction, which leads to better retention.

· Class sizes will be reduced.

· Teachers and students may experience less burn-out because of the more frequent breaks.

· Districts implementing YRE seem to experience better attendance rates, as well as lower drop-out rates.

( from “Year Round Schools” by Michelle Bradish)

Year-round schooling has not caught on in the U.S., where 37 of the 50 states have fewer than 10 year-round schools and just three (Florida, Texas, and California) have more than 100. Less than three percent of public schools are year-round, and 84% of year-round sites are at elementary schools, mostly in states with benign climates. (COPYRIGHT 2000 Society for the Advancement of Education published in USA Today)

WHAT IS YEAR-ROUND SCHOOL?

Year-round school is instruction arranged over 12 months rather than the customary 10-month schedule most school divisions currently follow. Students are taught the identical curricula but receive instruction in 45-day blocks of learning, with vacations and intersessions of 5-15 days distributed throughout the year.

Year-round school represents a change in when students learn, not in what and how they learn. Research studies show that students who attend classes under a year-round schedule learn better and retain knowledge longer. The year-round schedule allows students to utilize learning blocks of 45 days, have a holiday break, and then return to classes as part of the intersession learning block. Students may use the intersession for review or to accelerate their learning.

For many families, the year-round school schedule will offer more flexibility for vacations since students will get holiday time in the fall, winter, spring, and summer.

Schools that adopt a year-round school schedule report: Improved student achievement, a higher rate of student knowledge retention, less time spent on review, improved student and staff attendance, reduced stress, improved student behavior and attitude, reduced discipline referrals and truancy, additional remediation and enrichment opportunities through intersessions, less school vandalism and reduced construction costs. (© 2002 Virginia Beach City Public Schools )

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In Danville, Virginia, single-track year-round schooling has had a very positive impact, says N. Andrew Overstreet, superintendent of schools. "Our continuous cycle allows for 40 additional days of school," he told Education World. "Many of our students -- 50 to 60 percent of them -- come to school with great gaps in their learning. The extra days cost $11 per day per student, or about $440 per year per student. But Retaining a student costs about $6,000 per year, plus remediation and special education costs. Therefore, Year-round schooling has been very cost effective for us." (Education World)

Will Franklin