ISTC+Students'+Opinions

YOUR OPINION COUNTS! ==Now that you've worked in your groups to research your focus of the Year-Round Education topic and you've listened to the other group presentations, this is the place to post your opinion. Is YRE a good idea? Should school districts seriously consider moving to a YRE schedule? Is YRE a good idea for some school districts more than others? What do you think the research indicates about the efficacy of YRE? Post your opinion below. To obtain credit, identify yourself by typing your name, then continue with your opinion. ==

**Erica Gyimesi**- Considering all the different aspects of Year-Round Schooling, I think that changing the way schools run would not prove to be beneficial, in the grand scheme of things. One of the main points that I base my opinion on is the money aspect of year round schooling. It just seems impractical to completely rework the schooling systems when there is not necessarily a problem with them to begin with. Changing the way schools work would mean that we would need to spend more money to keep schools running: by paying the teachers to teach and by keeping the actual school buildings functioning (water, electricity, providing lunches, etc.). I don’t believe this type of schooling should seriously be considered by every school district or school, but it may be beneficial for certain schools. I think this type of schooling should be geared more towards specialty, vocational, or academy-type schools. The efficiency of year round schooling is still highly questionable and something that I am quite skeptical about. 


 * Stephanie Robbins**- I think that YRE is not a good idea. I think it is harder on a parent with more than one child to send them to school if they are on separate schedules. I also think the YRE would not be a positive effect on extra-curricular activities, sports in particular. Running a sports team with everyone on different schedules and trying to set up games with opposing schools on a normal, or different YRE schedule would be very difficult. It also shortens your summer vacation and it would prevent you from getting a summer job. Schools would need to gain a lot more money to support YRE and most parents already complain about increased taxes every year, this would greatly increase their taxes. Schools would need to install air conditioners for the summer months, hire more teachers, and it costs more money to keep the building up during the months that the school is normally closed. I don't think any school district should have YRE. YRE doesn't benefit the students anymore than regular traditional school schedules, so why change something that doesn't need to be changed.


 * Emilee Petti**- With the information provided by each group, I'm increasingly decided against year-round schooling. From almost every standpoint, the switch just seems illogical. Costs to keep the entire system flowing properly would grow exorbitantly. The broken up and frequent breaks would disrupt the the schedules parents have for their children over the summer months. Children from the same family on different schedules would cause problems for working parents seeking day-care. And most importantly, this would all happen without the promise of significant benefits to most students. Administrators and government officials are under the misconception that radical changes, such as emergency-certifications for teachers and a switch to YRS, are an easy fix to educational problems. In reality, the process is slow and about depth, not speed. The only students I would recommend YRS for would be at-risk students in small settings.


 * Megan Walker**- I think that YRS is more trouble than it is worth. Teachers would have to be paid more because they would be working longer hours and there would need to be funding for air conditioning schools in the summer. Most schools do renovations in the summer because it is such a long break. When would they have time to do this in YRS? The different schedules would be confusing for the students, families and teachers. If families have children on different schedules it can be very difficult to plan vacations or find childcare. YRS could cause students and teachers to become burnt out because they get less of a break. In, addition it could be pretty impossible to plan extra curricular activities with all the students on different schedules. If students performance is about the same then in YRS and traditional schooling then it should be optional and up to the parents. It should also be up to teachers if they want to work in YRS because they might not like or be able to handle all the exta hours.


 * Stephanie Fuller**-- I feel that in theory, YRS is a good idea. If we had ample amounts of resources to contribute to the switch, then it might be something to consider. However, for it to be mandatory for every school to switch would cause upset, especially when finances are tight. I do think that switching to YRS would be beneficial for certain districts that are particularly underprivileged. Making this switch would allow for young children to have access to good resources as well as a place to be as opposed to on the streets. This may also create a chain reaction, reducing crime and poverty levels and ultimately improving other areas that require tax funding.I feel that YRS is something better decided on case-by-case basis in order to cater to the needs and desires of specific districts.

__**Nicole Makowski**__- I think year-round schooling is not a good idea. From the wikis the subject matter doesn’t seem to be effective. The only reason a school should use the YRS system is for academic achievement. If the school has a high amount of students that come from poverty stricken homes, at-risk students, and many bilingual students than the school should consider it. Also, I think that sports teams are very important for the students. I played field hockey and ran track and both helped me meet new friends and get involved. With YRS, having sports teams becomes an issue since scheduling games is very difficult. Also, parents find it hard to find child care, plan vacations, and have time for their children to have a part-time job. In addition, the cost of YRS is very expensive. The costs come from teacher’s salaries, maintenance, buses, utilities of the school and much more. Overall, YRS is not a very effective system for students, teachers and parents.

**Sarah Nordland** – I believe that YRS would not be beneficial to most students and school districts. While it may help at-risk students in some aspects, the costs greatly outnumber the benefits that it might have. Taxes would increase, causing many families to move because they can no longer afford to pay their taxes. This could lead to more poverty stricken towns and therefore more at-risk students and drop-outs. Teachers would be more stressed after not getting a break from having a classroom full of students and trying to finish teaching everything by the dead-lines given. The cost of supplying meals to students year-round will skyrocket, and the cost of running air conditioning in every school will become ridiculous. The schools that I attended back at home refused to turn on the heat until the temperature in the school reached 45° (or so it felt) and would hardly ever turn on the air conditioning even when the school was boiling because it was too expensive even for that short amount of time. My parents were already stressed from school, so much that my dad ended up in the hospital for a week in his last few years as a teacher. Teaching takes a big toll on those who do it, and having them do it year-round seems terrible. Not to mention the fact that millions of teachers are being cut because schools cannot afford to pay them. If we can’t afford to keep our teachers during the current school calendar, how will we afford to keep schools open year-round? 

**Mark Burchick** - Based on everything we learned in class and from our own studies, I believe that no, YRS should not be implemented in the school system. They were shown to have minimal benefits for the average student and didn't show any real increase in cognitive ability or academic performance. The students that need it would be younger students with minimal attention spans, who lose information over the summer break. Also, as mentioned in class, English as a second language students suffered from the lack of use of the language over the summer. A step my school took, and I'm sure many other schools have, was to mandate summer packets for students to complete. This forced students to have to retain some semblance of knowledge as they entered the summer break and provided a better kick start for the fall semester. Therefore, we can avoid the costs and the extended year system merely by reinforcing better study techniques and packets for the summer break.


 * Evan Kowalewski**- With the information provided, I believe that YRS is not beneficial towards students, teachers, and parents. Students will be effected because their won't be time for extracurricular activities which is important to most students. Also, students have jobs over the summer and YRS wont allow that. YRS will have shorter breaks throughout the year and since students are used to long summer breaks, they will have less motivation and attention span. Schools will have to higher more teachers and air conditioning units for the summer which will increase the cost and taxes. Families are already struggling with paying taxes, YRS will make things worse. Finally, parents with several children will have difficulty because it will be difficult for families to have a vacation since children may have different schedules at different schools.


 * Maggie Decker**- I do not beleive that YRS would be anymore benefitial to students than our schedual now. Based on the findings of my groups research and the research of others, there does not appear to be any improvement in the test scores of students when YRS is inplace. There was no drop in the level of dropouts or improvement in the number of graduates either. Having more shorter breaks will just disrupt the focuss of students even more during the school year. Summer break allows people to have jobs, and catch up on what needs to be caught up on. Students do not have to be bored they can attend camps or practice schooling workbooks at home. YRS has to do with opinion and opinion only, there are no studies that show it makes any kind of difference in the academic acheivement for students.


 * Jillian Miller**- At first I thought YRS sounded like a good idea, but based off research there is really no reason to make the switch. Although, sesearch showed that YRS is beneficial to at-risk students and students who are from low income families, I believe the costs are way too much. To find and hire teachers for the summer and to buy air conditioning to keeps the schools cool all summer long will cost way too much. This means that taxes will increase as well and some people already have trouble finding ways to pay them. People feel that students forget a lot of information they learned over the summer and YRS will prevent that. Yes, students might forget information to some extent, but they'll also forget information over their two to three week breaks that are provided by YRS. Students found to like YRS because of the more frequent breaks, but there was serious difference in their academic achievement. Researching YRS really changed my opinion on it and I do no think it is a good idea at all, plus it will save our economy a lot of money in the long run.


 * Brittany Lewis**- YRS help reduce the number of students who forget material over long breaks. They also save teachers from spending class time to review already learned material. At risk students and families who are at or below the poverty line really benefit from YRS. However, I do not think implementing YRS is a good idea for all areas. Inner city schools, where most students are eligible for reduced priced lunches will most definitely benefit from YRS because not only are the students able to have more access to books, computers, and other necessary learning tools, but they are also able to stay in school longer and thus preventing them from spending hours home alone until parents are home from work. Schools in middle class to upper class neighborhoods should remain on the traditional school calendar. Case studies have shown that there is no significant difference in academic achievement in traditional school systems and YRS. My question is why change the calendar if it isn't necessary to do so?


 * Claire Leyton**- Without looking at any research, I had believed that YRS would be an effective teaching schedule. However, looking at the gathered information I am opposed to YRS. The only students that were academically benefited by the YRS system were high-risk students and even then, their test scores were not drastically raised. The effort involved from students, parents, and teachers in changing a school from the traditional calendar to a YRS calendar would not be worth the results (or relative lack there of). As for low-risk students, the is absolutely no need to switch their school system to a YRS calendar. Even though researchers and teachers say that students in YRS systems have higher rates of retention, it is not worth the costs of switching all the schools to that system as well. In general, students are taught in order to pass tests. If low-risk students in traditional school systems are passing the tests just as well as the YRS system children (even with the time traditional school system children spend catching up) then there is no need for change


 * Kelli Hishon**- I believe that Year-Round Education is a good idea to an extent, however, I think that the costs outweigh the benefits. The research shows that students do not improve in school or are significantly more successful if they are on a year-round or traditional school schedule. I do not think that schools should seriously consider changing to a year-round school schedule because it will not only be a drastic change for students but trying to find the necessary funding for air conditioning and teachers could be more trouble than anything. Also, parents trying to plan summer vacations and have their older children as babysitters while they work, could be at a disadvantage as YRE does not guarantee that all children will be on the same schedule. YRE could quite possibly be better for some school districts than for others because of their financial situation. Although some schools might have more sufficient funding than others, research still shows that the success rate of YRE is not any higher than a traditional schooling, therefore in my opinion it is not worth the trouble. I definitely believe that the efficacy of YRE according to the research is true because out of all of the research I did for the wiki, nothing showed that YRE schooling made a noteworthy effect in the education system. I am still in the support of the traditional school year because, along with the research I did, I think that YRE is not worth the trouble for such an insignificant improvement in education. I also believe that all children should have a summer break and have a chance to relax and rejuvenate before each new school year.