Year-Round Schools Can Stimulate Learning - Brief Article

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), August, 2000

Year-round schools are the answer to stimulating student learning, suggests Lawrence Smith, chair of the Elementary Education Department, Ball State University, Muncie, Ind. Schools that begin the academic year in July and end in June would eliminate the problem of students "forgetting" learned information during three-month summer vacations, he maintains.

After the long summer vacation, many at-risk students return to classes needing to have instructors reteach basic information during the first few weeks of classes. "Parents really should be concerned with the retention of learned information. Every year, teachers have to go over the previous year's basics to keep a class up to speed. It leaves some students who already are at risk behind the rest of the class. Students need some sort of academic activity over the summer months. They can't just be left sitting around the house watching television and playing video games. They get quite bored."

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.

However, Smith argues that year-round schooling in its present form does not work effectively. Under its current format, the students attend classes for 45 days and then have a 15-day break. Instead, he says, they should attend classes every week, with breaks coming during regular holidays and a two-to three-week break during the summer.

Smith's proposal includes a four-day school week with a fifth day set aside for enrichment programs, including activities sponsored by local YMCAs, cultural centers, children's museums, and other educational programs. On the enrichment day, teachers would have time to develop lesson plans and attend much-needed professional development programs.