РефератыИностранный языкYeYear Round Education Essay Research Paper Imagine

Year Round Education Essay Research Paper Imagine

Year Round Education Essay, Research Paper


Imagine a child, on a hot summer day? no baseball, no swimming, no picnics or


amusement park rides. Instead of spending time doing all of the things kids like


to during summer vacations, this child, is attending school. Year round


education (YRE) has been around since 1904, with 3,000 schools and 2 million


students currently using the program (National Association). Students in year


round schools go to school the same 180 days that traditional schools attend. In


YRE, the summer vacation is eliminated, replacing it with shorter, more frequent


breaks. There is a number of ways the year round school can operate, including:


90/30, 45/15, and 60/20. The most popular of these calendars is the 45/15, where


the year is divided into 4 nine week terms, separated by 4 three week vacations


(National Association). YRE has been a debated issue in education almost since


it began. Supporters of YRE say this schedule improves the learning process. The


biggest debate, however, comes from the parents and teachers who believe there


are no proven studies that YRE helps the learning process at all. So, is year


round schooling a good choice for the education of your children? YRE will not


only hurt the education system, but it will create chaos for the lives of the


students attending and their families. Supporters of YRE believe year round


schools are more cost effective than traditional schools. With population in


some districts rising rapidly, YRE is said to reduce overcrowding of schools and


classrooms. In many cases, school calendars are changed in response to


population growth. By running schools all year, districts can pack in more


students and postpone building new schools (Endless Summer). Supporters of YRE


say that by staggering vacations and schedules, schools can increase capacity by


25-50 percent (Should Kids go). Supporters argue that the costs for the


transition form a traditional calendar to year round schools are modest compared


to the construction costs of new schools (Inger, Morton). However, those against


YRE feel that expenses will only be reduced temporarily. According to a ?Year


Round Education Study? conducted by the Lewisville, Texas Independent School


District, ?Findings of a year-long study concluded that there is no financial


benefit to operating a Single Track System. The system would cause a modest


increase in operational expenses without providing any instructional benefits?


(Time to Learn). In Iowa, the Carroll School Board found that the costs of the


district moving to a year round education system could range from $16,786 to


$32,412. Taylor Elementary School, in Cedar Rapids, spends more money according


to the classroom teachers that any other elementary school. Schools in Davenport


reported that the switch to YRE will cost an additional $36,000 in salaries,


$3000 per year for equipment, and supplies, and $22,300 as a one time expense


for teacher training. Plus, the move to YRE would also cost the district an


extra $92,626 to fully air condition the school building. In Des Moines, Moulten


schools spend about $80,000 annually for year round schooling. If YRE were


implemented, Indianola school districts would spend an additional $3,655 for


middle school and $5,000 for elementary school to pay for the additional


secretarial, administrative, and custodial time during the summer (Time to


Learn). Costs will not only be incurred with the schools, but also with the


state and with taxpayers. Cost savings for one of these groups may create cost


increases for the other (Naylor, Charlie). Contrary to what supporters of YRE


claim, there are definitely extra costs to implementing and maintaining a year


round education system. Supporters of YRE say that year round schools would


promote continuous learning. The belief is that students forget a lot of what


they learn while on long summer vacations. This is seen more in slower learning


students and for those who know English as their second language. It is also


thought that because students retain more when the learning process is


interrupted for only short periods of time, teachers in year round schools need


to spend less time reviewing pre-vacation material (Inger, Morton). Although


this seems true, opponents believe that there is research that needs to be


addressed. Mary Lee Smith and Gene V. Glass have done extensive research in year


round schools since 1974. In a study conducted by Smith and Glass, in a school


district in Colorado, the learning loss in the students was evaluated. They


found that although teachers in year round schools spent less time reviewing


pre-vacation material than teachers in traditional schools did, the actual


achievement differences were insignificant on tests designed specifically to


measure district objectives (Glass, Gene V). According to Don Patterson, a


member of the Albuquerque, New Mexico School Board that tried and rejected year


round schooling, ?Short term memory loss is very acute. Studies show that the


only discernible summer loss occurs in the first two to three weeks. So, by


introducing all these multiple breaks, all you?re doing is maximizing


forgetting.? It has also been proven that forgetting and relearning are part


of the learning process. Gaps in student?s learning begin with loss of context


retention in the subject area, which begins within 24-48 hours, unless the new


information is reinforced or applied immediately. After a month without


reinforcement, about 80% of what a student has learned is recently lost.


Research indicates what we retain depends on student motivation and


teacher-e

ffectiveness and isn?t limited to a time factor (Time to Learn). It


is quite obvious that YRE does not improve the learning process, as those who


support YRE claim. Supporters of the year round school system believe there are


many benefits in the program for students and teachers. Advocates of YRE say


families have greater flexibility in planning vacations that often cost less.


Parents that support YRE feel that the shorter, more frequent vacations allowed


students to remain focused and enthusiastic (Prisoners of Time). Angie


Maniscalco, a 5th grade student at Fairmount Elementary in St. Louis, says,


?Kids should go to school nine weeks and be off three because, kids get bored


in the summer. They get sick of swimming every single day going skating or


basically doing anything. I go to school for nine weeks, then get off three?


(Should Schools). Supporters also believe parents who are working outside the


home can take advantage of year-round care for their children. Teachers that


support the idea of YRE feel that the more frequent breaks reduce burnout, and


that the frequent breaks during the school year enable teachers to visit and


learn from other programs and other teachers (Prisoners of Time). Those against


YRE have different views about what year-round schooling will do for the


students and the teachers. In year round schools, middle, elementary and high


school students often have different schedules. While vacationing in the


off-season may work well, when children are on different schedules, vacations


can be more of a problem. YRE can certainly disrupt family life. With different


ages of students, vacations are difficult to schedule. For example, children on


non-traditional schedules may miss out on Boy Scout Camp, because their summer


vacation falls in the month of August and the activity is programmed for July.


School activities can suffer as well. One study found that band, chorus, drama,


and student government were particularly hit hard (Never Ending School). While


there may be some benefits to YRE, it is obvious that there are many situations


where the year round calendar will cause confusion in the lives of those


involved. Perhaps the most debated issue in YRE is that of the achievement


scores. Supporters of YRE claim that student performance in year round schools


is much greater. They believe that year round schools will yield higher


achievement scores that traditional schools. Many advocates for YRE claim there


are studies by the National Association for Year Round Education that report


that year round schools have a very positive impact on student grades. Although


supporters boast high achievement scores on tests, and higher student grades,


those against YRE disagree (Year Round Education: Is). Critics of YRE say there


is no evidence for higher academic gains under YRE as compared to traditional


schools. Studies and test scores repeatedly show little improvement by students


in year round schools. When test scores do increase, many educators hesitate to


attribute increases to the new calendar (Time to Learn). Many of these studies,


have been conducted by the National Association for Year Round Education (NAYRE),


a highly biased organization, whose consultants earn significant amounts of


income by promotion YRE. Robert Rosenfield, a systems analyst from Potomac,


Maryland, was so concerned at what he considered to be misrepresented data by


the NAYRE that he analyzed a substantial number of YRE evaluations in a 1994


paper. He concluded, ?Each study presented in the NAYRE review has either been


incompletely characterized, or otherwise contradicted by other studies within


the same state or district. Nothing in the NAYRE review demonstrates any


academic achievement gain by changing to a year-round calendar.? In a 1993


Resnik study of Oakland Unified School District, California, concluded,


?Students at year-round schools show on average a lower academic achievement


level than those at other schools, and their achievement has decreased for the


period, while it increased for schools in the regular calendar.? Overall, as


you can see, there is little difference in student achievement between


year-round and traditional calendars (Year Round Education: Is). As evidence has


shown, year round education will not improve the education of our children. YRE


will cost more money for schools. YRE will not promote continuous learning. YRE


won?t create benefits for students and teachers, but will create chaos in the


lives of the people around them. Achievement scores in schools with YRE will not


increase, but in fact, in some cases, get worse. A few spoken views on YRE say


it best. Sheila Duty Gibson says, ?Many students show that year-round schools


do not improve education. Changing the days students attend school does not


address what many believe are the real problems in education such as a lack of


parental involvement, teacher development, effective teaching methods and


curriculum.? An anonymous editorial in a North Carolina newspaper says,


?It?s time to face the truth. The year-round schedule is a personal


preference, not the answer to our educational problems. Year-round school


doesn?t work for everyone.? Executive Editor of Elizabethton Star in


Tennessee, said it well when he said, ?Summertime offers our youngsters an


extended time to experience life in such a way that will never again be


afforded. If we are going to do anything with respect to school scheduling, we


should extend the summer vacation to Labor Day? (Time to Learn).


Burgoyne, Becky. ?Backgrounder: The Never Ending School: Year Round


Education. 12 March 2000.

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