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- Year-Round Calendars On The Decline
For the first time in at least 15 years, the overall number of school districts following a year-round school
calendar has dropped.
The newest statistics on the Web site of the National Association for Year-Round Education (www.nayre.org)
shows that 92 fewer school systems are on a year-round schedule -- 559 districts in the current school
year versus 651 in 2000-01.
At first glance, this may not appear to be a major problem for proponents of alternative school calendars.
But according to data examined by Time To Learn, a national organization of parents, teachers and
business people that advocates following a traditional school year, the newest numbers appear to
be a sign of the increasing unpopularity of alternative calendars.
In the 1999-2000 school year, the number of districts on year-round education was at an all-time high,
according to material culled from NAYRE reference directories.
But in the five years leading up to and including the 1999-2000 school year, almost as many school
systems had dropped the often-controversial calendar experiment as had adopted it.
There were 576 school districts on a year-round calendar in 1999-2000. But 406 school districts that
had been trying out year-round education dropped the program between 1995 and 2000. That translates
to 41 percent of the total number of school systems that were on year-round education between 1995
and 2000, or an average of 81 districts a year.
Data on how many total school districts dropped year-round schooling in 2000-01 and 2001-02 is not
available, although the NAYRE Web site shows that at least 92 districts switched back to traditional
calendars this year.
Proponents of year-round education may not have minded the losses in the past, since they more than
made up for them each year with new school districts willing to give year-round education a try. But for
the first time since NAYRE started tracking year-round education in the 1986-87 school year, the
movement has clearly lost ground.
Not that year-round education has had much popular support. There are more than 1,000 school
districts in Texas alone, yet in all of the United States, a little more than half that number were
experimenting with the concept heading into the 21st century -- nearly 100 years after year-round
education began.
As the National Association for Year-Round Education begins its annual conference, this may be a
good time to look at the popularity, and effectiveness, of alternative school calendars.
The promise of year-round education has been that it will translate into better learning. But under
almost all year-round calendars, students don't receive any more days of instruction. The calendar
doesn't make teachers do a better job, or give schools more money to improve their resources.
Taking into account heating and cooling bills from increased use of school facilities and higher
transportation costs, year-round education often costs more.
"We know from the stories of frustration we hear from parents and teachers that year-round education
is hurting our communities," said Tina Bruno, executive director of Time To Learn. "Teachers lose
precious summer months they could be spending in college courses to become better teachers.
Families lose vacation time, and teen-agers lose valuable income-earning hours and work
experience opportunities."
Schools that follow an alternative calendar may do well, but when comparing schools with similar
demographics, there is often little difference in academic achievement. Bruno notes that performance
can't be linked to calendars. It's the teachers, families and communities that make the real difference.
Note to journalists: Time to Learn examined data from reference directories published by the
National Association for Year-Round Education, and from data on NAYRE's Web site (www.nayre.org).
For some reason, there are minor discrepancies in the two sets of data. For example, the statistics
on the Web site show that 561 school systems were following a year-round calendar in 1999-2000,
instead of the 576 number cited in the reference directories.
The differences do not appear to significantly affect the conclusion that about 40 percent of schools
that tried year-round education between 1995 and 2000 stopped following that calendar.
Editor's Note: For an opinion editorial on this topic, highlighting just released research, please
call Tina Bruno @ 210-559-5277.