Year- Round Schooling

            Basically all countries around the world view education as important, but some value it more than others and use it to their advantages. Many countries around the world have been enforcing a school system that is year- round and these countries have been improving tremendously in education. There are two common types of year- round schooling: multi-track and extended (Greenfield, 2008). The multi-track system is when schools still have the traditional 180 days of school, but are rearranged different to provide shorter, more frequent breaks throughout the year. The extended system is when days are added to a school year calendar. Most people are turned off the by the idea of the extended system, but only around 50 more days are added and not very many more. Recent research shows that education is greatly improved when there is not a loss of information during the summer, so as other countries are quickly progressing, the United States should adopt a year- round schooling system in order to better educate its students.

Schooling in the United States started well into the 1600s, with the first school created in Boston during the year 1635, called the Boston Latin School (Cooper, 2003). From then until the late nineteenth century, agriculture was a main source of income for many farming families. There were not many other jobs available for most people, so without enough planting and harvesting of the crops, families would not have been able to make as much money or possibly survive at all. During this time period, the schooling system in the United States was designed to fit the needs of the people. This school system dismissed students in April, allowing them to use as many of the warmer months as possible for farming. Families needed as many children as possible to help harvest crops and plant for the new seasons, which is why there was such a long summer vacation in America. As new technology in farming improved (the plow, the tractor, etc), it took less time and people to do the same tasks as before. Cities were being built, so everything started to become more urbanized because of industrialization, technology, and progress in the country. According to Cooper, around 2-3 percent of the population still lives an agricultural lifestyle, which means that only a very small amount of people are actually in need of a longer summer vacation as a means of income (2003). Since there is currently little need for a three or four month break, educational researchers have brought to question if the schooling system in America is hindering students’ education, as well as examining and suggesting different ways this can be improved.

Researchers at the John Hopkins University School of Education studied the drop-off rate in students’ math skills. They found that there is a loss of around 2.6 months of grade- level equivalency, which means that in the fall, students performed as if they had missed a quarter of the previous school year (Davey, 2008). With the extremely long summer gap, students lose much of the information they were supposed to retain the previous year. Because of this, teachers are forced to take weeks when school resides in the fall to reteach this information again. This wastes time and, ultimately, students have less time to learn the maximum amount of information they could be able to without such a long break in the summer. It is possible that different social classes play an important role in the loss of information too. Families in lower economic classes have a more difficult time purchasing books for summer reading and other learning tools in order to help their students continue in an educated environment (von Hippel, 2006). Wealthier families have access to summer tutors or classes to help their children, while many families do not. Other researchers, including Downey and Broh, believe that this loss from information is closely related to the students and their parents. It is said to be that parents hold the responsibility to aid in children’s learning, and not just the teachers. Downey and Broh partially blame parents around the country for this learning gap because they do not always devote the necessary time needed to teach children important learning and studying skills. They also advise parents to enroll children in summer school programs if possible because it is proven that these students will have better study skills and probably a better grade point average overall (2004).

Many other countries are currently using a year- round schooling system and have virtually no serious problems. In New Zealand, for instance, the year has four 10-week terms divided by three two-week vacations and a shorter summer break (Davey, 2008). This is almost the same amount of days as the traditional system in the United States, but just rearranged differently to provide shorter and more frequent breaks. Japan is another country that follows this system and has proven to be a very successful nation in regards to education. Schooling in Japan usually starts on April 1^st, and ends the following March, with a much shorter summer break. Students also return to their same teacher, until they graduate each school level, so every specific teacher is familiar with his or her students’ work habits and strengths and weaknesses. Teachers are also required to give out summer reading and assignments that must be completed when school is back in session (Fiske, 1992). The current Japanese school system was adopted and reformed after World War II and operates on a 6-3-3-4 system. This means that there are six years of elementary school, three years of junior high school, three years of senior high school, and four year of a university (Abe, 2010). According to Abe, a Japanese researcher, Japan has one of the world’s best- educated populations with 100% enrollment in compulsory grades and zero illiteracy in those grades (2010). That is much better than the current situation in the United States, but with the help of year- round schooling, education in this country can catch up to countries like Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and Japan that currently enforce this type of schooling.

On the other hand, there is a belief that the school system in place in the United States right now is perfectly fine. Kelly suggests that students are going to forget information whether they are out of school for three weeks or ten (2012). Also, student summer employment will be almost impossible with such short breaks (Kelly, 2012). Academic researcher, Husén, explains how it is almost impossible to compare different schooling in other countries because they each have specific curriculum and motives based on national goals (1983). Societies in each country put a different amount of pressure on students and their ability to succeed. Countries like the United States, Scotland, and Germany have lower math scores than countries like Japan, Israel, and Sweden. He believes this is because these countries each put different pressure on what it means to succeed and be educated (Husén, 1983). Others believe that there is no correlation between the length of the school day or year with academic achievement. In fact, what is most important is how the time in the classroom is spent and how engaged the students are (Morin, 2012). If teachers are letting their students slack off and not perform to their fullest potential, then it is obvious that students will develop bad learning and studying habits and they will learn to live their whole lives without trying their absolute best.

            That is very reasonable, but there has been research to prove that current learning in the classroom may not be completely helpful like many people expect. Research done by LZ Granderson shows how American 15- year olds ranked 14^th in reading, 17^th in science, and 25^th in math in a study of students in 34 different nations (2011). This is not necessarily terrible, but it is not superb either, especially because America has the technology and resources available to improve education greatly. The United States tries to pride itself on intelligent political figures and developers, but in this generation test scores are much lower than other countries. It is a scary reality to know that America could possibly be “falling behind” other nations in the educational sense. No one can accurately predict what will happen in generations to come, but at this rate, the education level is decreasing and it could be due to the system that is in place.

            Recently, many school districts in America have been changing their outdated systems. Based off information provided by the National Associated for Year- Round Schooling, over 3,000 schools had year- round education programs in place the last few years. This is only less than four percent of all schooling, but it is still an incredible amount more than the year- round schooling programs less than ten years ago. Some school districts have been testing out this new system in many different states, including: Nevada, Illinois (particularly Chicago), California, and Missouri (Fiske, 1992 & Johnson, 2010). A specific example is the state of Nevada and the exchanging of the traditional school system to the year- round system in many different districts. Certain schools were sampled, or tested, in order to see if there would be any benefits in changing the systems. It was found that there were many, some benefits included a high average attendance and higher overall test scores. Also, the cost of the school is less than the output results from making schooling all year around (Daneshvary, 2001). It is important to have this type of progress so more people will realize how helpful it is and how much improvement in education can be made by adopting a year- round system.

            Another aspect to carefully investigate is the affect on teachers and faculty members of the school. Most of the focus is put on the student and his or her ability to adapt, but the workers are affected as well. A normal school would have around 180 school days, but plenty of schools have been changing to the extended year, which increases the school year to around 223 days (this could be slightly more or slightly less). This provides longer, more stable jobs for faculty and teachers who are in need of work (Gándara & Fish, 1994). The multi- track system is cost effective in the fact that schooling does not cost more than it already does now. This system is still 180 days, but the breaks are rearranged differently, which means that teachers in this setting will work the same amount of days and the public will still pay the same amount to send their children to school.

            Although there are a few negatives, the United States should enforce a year- round schooling system because there are many more benefits. Some parents are afraid that their children will lack a “proper” childhood by not experiencing summer camp or by not spending time with other children during summer vacation, but in reality, students still get a summer break that is just slightly shorter (Morin, 2012). In the public eye, there are probably many mixed feelings about changing the school system, but it is very important that education in the United States is taken more seriously, especially with other counties developing so rapidly. Tests have proven that students in the United States right now are doing just a mediocre job in school, and slowly falling behind. Year- round schooling would help stop this increasing gap between the United States and other countries, and could eventually even put America on top. It is crucial that the school system in place now is reevaluated because it is outdated and lacking in its fullest potential by not allowing students to learn and retain the maximum amount of information needed to succeed.

References

Abe, N. (2010, November). The Japanese Education System. Retrieved from http://japanese.about.com/od/japaneselessons/a/061000.htm

Cooper, H. (2003). Summer Learning Loss: The Problem and some Solutions. Colorin colorado. Retrieved from http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/8057/

Daneshvary, N., & Clauretie, T. (2001). Efficiency and costs in education: year-round versus traditional schedules. Economics of Education Review, 20(3), 279-287. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775700000108

Davey, M. (2008, July 14). The case for year- round schooling. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/459031

Downey, D., & Broh, B. (2004). Are schools the great equalizer? Cognitive Inequality During the Summer Months and the School Year. American Sociological Review, 69(5), 613-635. Retrieved from http://asr.sagepub.com/content/69/5/613.short

Fiske, E. (1992). Smart schools, smart kids: Why do some schools work?. (1 ed., p. 97). New York, NY: Touchstone Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=XoisTt-_qIwC&pg=PA97&dq=year round schooling in japan&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tplyT6Z2g4eDB6Hu2Vw&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAA

Gándara, P., & Fish, J. (1994). Year-round schooling as an avenue to major structural reform. American Educational Research Association, 16(1), 67-85. Retrieved from http://epa.sagepub.com/content/16/1/67.short

Granderson, L. (2011, May 10). We need year-round schooling to compete globally. Retrieved from http://articles.cnn.com/2011-05-10/opinion/granderson.yearround.school_1_year-round-school-math-and-science-international-student-assessment?_s=PM:OPINION

Greenfield, T. (2008). Year- round education: A case for change. The Educational Forum, 58(3), 252-262. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00131729409335341

Husén, T. (1983). Are standards in U.S. schools really lagging behind those in other countries?. The Phi Delta Kappan, 64(7), 455-461. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/20386764

Johnson, M. (2010, October 27). Year-round school gains ground around u.s.. Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39748458/ns/us_news-life/

Kelly, M. (2012). Year round education . Retrieved from http://712educators.about.com/cs/reformtime/a/yearrounded.htm

Morin, A. (2012). The pros and cons of year-round school.. Retrieved from http://childparenting.about.com/od/schoollearning/a/year-round-school-pros-cons.htm

Nair, S. (2009, December 2). Should American Schools Go Year Round?. Retrieved from http://www.teachhub.com/should-american-schools-go-year-round

von Hippel, P. (2006, October). What happens to summer learning in year-round schools?. Retrieved from http://savevirginiasummers.org/pdf/Paul von Hipple Research.pdf