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- What Others Say About The Year-Round
- School Calendar's Impact On Academics
Charts on the traditional calendar side showed the 1996-1997 ABC's score
ranking in each Craven County elementary school. Brinson Memorial, a
traditional calendar school, ranked first at 90.5% and Arthur W. Edwards
Elementary, a year-round education school, received the lowest percentage
at 77.3%. (Sun Journal, New Bern, NC, 3/12/98)
Frederick County should not attempt year-round education, said the
committee studying ways to relieve crowded schools in a report. The
report stated that year-round school has no clear academic benefits
in the many school systems where it is in place.
(The News, Frederick, MD, 5/13/95)
"Even now, after four years as a year-round school, we have children who
don't come to school in summer even though they're on the summer track…"
Milicent Russell, assistant principal at Van Vlissingen School
(Chicago Tribune, Chicago, IL, 7/9/95)
"It is a fad. I think most of the things we do in education are fads. If it is the
panacea, if this is so great, why haven't we always been doing it? Why aren't
more schools doing it now?" Ray Humphrey, Teacher, Rehobeth School
(Montgomery Advertiser, Montgomery, AL, 8/4/97)
"Summer allows students to experience their special interests. They can go
to computer camps or sports camps. But essentially, they need that time to
regroup and relax and just be kids." Kevin Mack, Interim Principal, Ithaca
High School (The Ithaca Journal, Ithaca,NY, 6/10/97)
"It is still uncertain whether or not year-round school has education
advantages. Most positive reports are self-studies by corporations looking
to justify the move." Year-Round School Assessment for Goshen, Indiana
(Goshen News, 9/13/94)
"Kids should be out of school in the summer because it's better for them,
better for their families, and better in the long run for all of us. These folks
need to check what happens to students' memories in the one week,
between Christmas and the New Year. Kids forget things every time
school's out. I'm a teacher. I've devoted a good part of my working life
to academic matters. But I believe there's more to life than learning, and
there's more to learning than school." Peter N. Berger, middle school
teacher in Weathersfield, VT. (The Post-Star, Glens Falls, NY, 7/10/96)
"Presently, we don't know if the claims of advocates that such programs
have a profound impact on students both socially and instructionally are
valid. There is limited evidence to support the efficacy of multi-year
programs." Superintendent of the North Stonington School District,
Martin C. Gotowala (The Westerly Sun, RI, 1/28/96)
"There were no great educational improvements. [Year round]Schools
were pretty much at status quo." Cheryl Donelan, Board Member,
Jacksonville Schools (Florida Times, Jacksonville FL, 11/15/97)
"The [year round calendar] experiments that have happened in Florida
have not been satisfactory." Alan Stonecipher, Co-Director, Governor's
Commission on Education (St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg. FL, 8/21/97)
The Lincoln County school board is considering going back to its original
calendar for several reasons. For one, it's too costly to operate two schedules
under one roof, officials said. Also, year-round students did not score higher
than their traditional counterparts on an evaluation test conducted by a school
improvement team and educational experts from UNC Charlotte. Nine schools
in North Carolina have reverted to a traditional calendar year after trials with
year-round programs. (Charlotte Observer,Charlotte NC, 11/19/97)
"As an educator, I am not convinced nor has anyone shown me research to
prove that the time saved in re-teaching is substantial. Teachers must re-teach
after any break and this appears to me to make the re-teaching task much
more cumbersome." Elizabeth Corish, Educator, Falls Church, VA.
(Arlington Journal, Arlington, VA, 2/4/97)
The task force has determined that time in and of itself will not enhance
learning. None of the changes will matter unless we change the attitudes
about education." Linda Arnold, member of the Calendar/Clock Task Force
(Shelton-Mason County Journal, Shelton, WA, 4/25/96)
Superintendent Martin Eaddy says test scores have shown no noticeable
difference between students who attend school year-round and those
attending school under the traditional September to June calendar. "After
five years the purpose of a year-round school has not been substantiated,"
Eaddy said. Only one out of six testing areas saw improvement in scores
for students in the year-round program compared to students in the
traditional calendar year. (Gaston Gazette, Gastonia, NC, 10/25/97)
According to "One year later: An Evaluation of the Alternative Calendar at
College Hill Elementary School," a report by the school district after a one-
year pilot project, the students at College Hill scored lower than students
in comparable grade levels in the district as a whole.
(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Little Rock, AR, 2/5/96)
Buncombe County Schools Superintendent Frank Yaeger says that students
in the year-round program are not scoring higher than students in the
traditional program on state and national reading and test scores. In fact,
they're scoring lower. (Citizen Times, Asheville, NC, 10/27/95)
The Seminole County school district spent about $1.6 million more running
multi-track schools than it would have spent if the schools were on a
traditional schedule. An overall evaluation of the system showed that
standardized test scores of multi-track students were worse than those
of students on any other schedule. (Orlando Sentinel, Orlando, FL, 10/11/95
A study of Phi Delta Kappa, the national education fraternity, showed that
traditional-calendar students consistently outperformed year-round third
and sixth-grade students in math and reading.
(Palm Beach Post, Palm Beach, FL, 1/15/95)
The head of Canada's, B.C. Teachers' Federation says the provincial
government can go ahead and try out year-round schooling but there's
no research to prove that the system saves taxpayers' money or that it
benefits students. (The Vancouver Sun, 8/18/94)
"I'm very cautious. If I was a superintendent, I would not get up in front of
my constituents and guarantee better results from year-round education."
Tom Payne, State Coordinator, California year-round schools
(The Columbian, Vancouver, WA, 5/14/97)
Schools considering the multi-track-year-round education program to
relieve overcrowding are seeing the problems with students on different
school schedules: (Multi-track) drastically impacts student government
and other student activities. The numbers and kinds of courses offered
would be sharply reduced while operating expenses would drastically
increase. Forecasts predict it would only work for three years. Then
enrollment numbers would force another change.
(White Mountain Independent-Navajo Edition, Show Low, AZ, 10/18/96)
"It's considered a real quick fix for the overcrowding issue. Year-round
schedules are very hard on everyone. The school's priority becomes
scheduling. Academically, we have suffered because of going on year-
round." Rosemarie Avila, Vice President, Santa Ana School Board
(Los Angeles Times, Costa Mesa, CA, 10/23/98)
After five years of year-round schools at Catawba Springs Elementary, test
scores have not gone up. The principal and faculty presented a five-year
survey of their year-round schooling program and found the alternative
calendar does not seem to have much effect on how well students do in
school. (Gaston Gazette,Gastonia, NC, 4/19/97)
Ron Gardner, President of the Arizona Association for Year Round Education,
is pushing YRE for a Lake Havasu elementary school. When questioned,
however, Gardner said there was no firm data to prove that year round
programs were the cause of the increased student achievement, which
some schools have experienced. Often there have been other changes
as well, such as curriculum changes and increased participation by
parents and the community. (Today's News Herald, Lake Havasu City, AZ, 1/30/97)
"Year-Round school fails to produce." Year-round schools are not making
the impact educators had hoped for in Rowan County. The school board's
curriculum committee recommended the full board eliminate the year-round
school at North Rowan Middle School. Students are not achieving the higher
test scores they hoped to get by going to school year-round. This marks the
sixth year the Rowan-Salisbury schools have had year-round schools.
(The Independent Tribune, Concord-Kannapolis, NC, 10/28/97)
"It's not effective, and it's more expensive to operate. It's been proven
nationwide that it (year-round school) doesn't improve test scores."
Dr. Alan Forshey, Newton-Conover Board of Education
(The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, NC, 11/5/95)
"I don't see a lot of improvement in the students' performance, it's not justified
to continue the year-round calendar." Preston Ford, Parent
(The Glendale Star, Glendale, AZ, 9/24/98)
"Year-round school has been the most devastating issue to hit Cypress-
Fairbanks. We have been at civil war. There are too many breaks. Once the
kids would get into a rhythm, then they'd have to stop." Charlotte Lampe,
founder of a parent group that forced the Cypress-Fairbanks district to retreat
from its year-round expansion. (Austin American-Statesman, Austin, TX, 11/8/96)
The research on instructional time and how it is used in the classroom
revealed that 30-55% of actual class time was used productively for students.
Most of the remaining time the students were not doing productive things.
Randal Smasal, teacher and co-author of an article about lost instructional
time (Coon Rapids Herald, Coon Rapids, MN, 1/6/95)
Superintendent John Dell said, "he would not recommend a multi-track
schedule because it was not "educationally sound" since it limits several
course offerings, substantially increases budgets and &endash;in some cases-
reduces teaching positions. (Kingsport Times-News,Kingsport, TN, 4/14/98)
A local task force has concluded special summer schools would improve
academia performance better than changing the school year to shorten
everyone's summer vacations.
(Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Williamsport, PA, 8/21/97)