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Year-Round Education

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Year-Round Education

One of the big issues today in the United States seems to be school reform; everyone seems to agree that we need to improve our nation’s schools. There have been several solutions suggested, such as: reforming curriculum, implementing national tests, and improving the quality of teachers. One specific solution may be to change the school calendar from the traditional school session of nine months, to a year-round term. Supposedly, this new calendar better facilitates learning. Year-round education has the potential to bring economy, accountability, and educational efficiency to the schools. While Year-Round schooling can save money, the impact on academic achievement is uncertain (Graves, McMullen and Rouse). This type of school system impacts students, teachers, parents and the community in both positive and negative ways.

The traditional school calendar has been in effect for more than a century. Students have relied on a 180-day school year with a long summer vacation. Originally, the school calendar was organized so that children would have the summer off to help their parents work on the farm. Although most communities no longer depend heavily on agriculture and children no longer carry on the responsibilities they once did, our society continues to follow the traditional school calendar. The debate surrounding YRE (Year-Round Education) generally focuses on five broad categories: professional staffing and development, administrative issues, student achievement, parental and community concerns, and cost factors (Opheim, Mohajer and Read).

The term “Year-Round Education” may be misleading. It doesn’t mean that students attend school Monday through Friday all year long. As Elaine Warrick-Harris states, “perhaps a better name for the concept would be “continuous learning,” “all-seasons learning,” or even

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