Q: Dear Educating Mom: What’s up with year-round schools? Do they help students retain what they learn?
A: It’s about this time of year when I start thinking about the benefits of year-round education. I’ve already heard “I’m bored” a couple of times and it’s only July!
Year-round school isn’t exactly what the name implies. Students don’t stay in school all year. With most year-round schedules, students attend school the same number of days as kids in traditional schools (180), but have more breaks or “intersessions” as they’re called. The school year is divided into four nine-week terms. Students get four three-week vacations along with holidays off. Another name for this kind of school year is a modified calendar.
Sunnycrest Elementary in the Federal Way School District adopted a modified schedule in the 1990s. Tom Capp, Sunnycrest’s principal, says year-round education has been a “huge success” for his school population which includes a larger number of transient students than most schools. The elementary school has students from four homeless shelters in the area.
“For some of our students, a conventional program would be tough because they might be home alone for the long summer days,” says Capp. “Our school is somewhat of a safe haven for them. Students’ achievement increases with consistent, year-round instruction.”
Educators benefit, too. Teachers don’t have to waste a lot of time getting kids up to speed after a two-month summer break. They also don’t get “burned out like many of their counterparts,” Capp says. “We have a very low turnover rate with staff because teachers get more frequent breaks to rest and recharge.”
Despite the advantages, year-round schools are not common. A handful of Washington schools have year-round schedules: Wallace Elementary in Kelso; A.J. West Elementary in Aberdeen; Union Gap School near Yakima; East Valley in Spokane; and Truman High School and Sunnyside Elementary, both in the Federal Way School District. Of the 1 million students in public schools in our state, fewer than 3,000 are in year-round schools. Nationwide, there are about 2,700 year-round schools, enrolling just over 2 million students.
The number of year-round schools in our state is down from a peak of 20 eight years ago, and that mirrors a national decline. Among the reasons why year-round education isn’t catching on: Parents and teachers are more comfortable with the summers-off system we grew up with, and research on whether year-round schools are better is inconclusive. You can find more information on the subject through the National Association of Year-Round Schools’ Web site: www.nayre.org.
Linda Thomas loved school when she was a kid and begged her teachers for worksheets to do during the summer months. Now the parent of two, her children did not get the “let’s do school work just for fun” gene.
