By: Emilee Petti, Hannah Achilles, Nicole Makowski, and Evan Kowalewski
Average, On-track Students
Year-round schooling is a proposition several schools throughout the United States have experimented with, but few studies on the switch have provided concrete data on whether or not it's actually beneficial for students academically. Shields and Oberg (1999) found that year-round schooling either positively affected student academic outcomes, or did not affect them at all. While there were benefits to many year-round students, the most noticeable benefits were detected in at-risk children who generally struggle the most to retain information over long summer breaks. The specific reasons for increased academic achievement among YRS students has yet to be determined. However, the assumptions that schools adjust their programs with the changing calendar and that students forget less over shorter breaks are often attributed to the progress made within year-round schools. In a study by Palmer and Bemis (1998), the academic achievement of students of year-round schools was measured with a group of 75 pupils. Out of this group, 27 students were recorded as having been positively affected, 42 were found to not be affected at all, and 6 were negatively affected by year-round schooling.
A review from Education Week Online (Year-round, 2004) summarized several studies on YRS and found some contradicting conclusions. In a study of three traditional-track schools and three YRS, students reportedly performed better on tests from the YR schools. A different study of API scores in California found YRS students' grades lower initially, but the students progressed at a faster rate than regular-school students in the long run. A third study showed no significant benefits at all (Year-round, 2004). It was determined that students retain less information on mathematics than reading curriculum over long summer breaks, and when the school year is broken up into multi-track systems, valuable time isn't wasted reviewing forgotten material with children.
At-Risk Students
Does Year long schooling benefit the disadvantaged students?
The disadvantaged children are less likely to have resources such as computers and books in their home and having them in school year round enables them to maintain their abilities.
Students with learning disabilities may be benefited more by YRS because when a student is given a summer vacation, usually about three months, their knowledge retention is usually decreased.When the students are going to a YRS they are given shorter breaks throughout, therefore, it gives the child the chance to retain more information that they've previously learned.
Summer vacation can actually be damaging, especially to one with a disability.
(California Department of Education, 2010).
The studies on YR education that have noted advantages for students often cited that at-risk children benefit more from YRS than on-par learners. At-risk children such as special education students, ESL students, and poverty-stricken students find advantages in YRS. A study of three schools containing a significant proportion of at-risk children showed considerable gains attributed, at least in part, to the implementaion of year-round schooling (Year-round, 2004).
Another category of at-risk students is bilingual students. A study was conducted in Texas on both year-round and traditional elementary schools, where the traditional school was used as a comparison group (Mohajer & Opheim,1995). One of the researcher’s hypotheses was if year-round schooling will increase student achievement. To test their hypothesis, the researchers conducted a survey. They surveyed the attitudes of elementary school principals in Texas of both a traditional 9-month school and a year-round school. 61 of the surveys were returned to the researchers who collected the data to support their hypothesis (Mohajer & Opheim,1995). The researcher’s data was not conclusive. However, they found that year-round schools created fewer retention problems and benefits to at-risk children, especially bilingual students. Bilingual students tend to benefit in a much higher degree then average students. One main contributor to this finding is that when bilingual students go home over the summer, they are not exposed to the English language as much as they were while they were in school. Some bilingual students leave school for summer vacation and are exposed to little or no English since their parent’s language of choice their native language. Having a year-round school would benefit bilingual students greatly since they would be exposed to more of the English language and would not fall as greatly behind the other students (Mohajer & Opheim,1995).
Contradicting Opinions
A large amount of data available on year-round schooling is either inconclusive or conflicting. While many studies cite small, insignificant gains for certain students, others cite negatives. This link leads to a comprehensive analysis of several studies on year-round education, most of which conclude the benefits are not overwhelming enough to make the switch of schooling to be worthwhile.
From an academic standpoint, year-round schools do not provide significant enough benefits for average students to make the switch worthwhile. If the motivations were geared toward at-risk students, YRS would be an intelligent option. One of the main reasons why many schools are making a system change is to address the problem of the summer learning loss theory. The summer learning loss theory is a term used to describe the negative effects the summer has on students. By using the year-round system, the students are not exposed to such a big break in their education. It is than assumed that the students' academic outcomes would be higher which is not true for all students (St. Gerard, 2007).
References
Mohajer, K. & Opheim, C. (1995). Evaluating year-round schools in texas. Education, 116(1). 115. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier/Ebsco
database. Palmer, E. A., & Bemis, A. E. (1998) Year-round education. Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement. Retrieved from http://www.cehd.umn.edu/carei/reports/docs/Year-round.pdf Shields, C. M., & Oberg, S. L. (1999) . Urban Education, 34(2)125. Retrieved from http://uex.sagepub.com/content/34/2/125.full.pdf+html St. Gerard, Vanessa. (2007, April). Year round schools look better all the time. Education Digest, 72(8). Retrieved from Academic Search Premier/Ebsco database. Yeager, F. (2010, September 16). Year-round education program guide. Retrieved from http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/fa/yr/guide.asp
Student Academic Outcomes in Year-round Schools
By: Emilee Petti, Hannah Achilles, Nicole Makowski, and Evan KowalewskiAverage, On-track Students
Year-round schooling is a proposition several schools throughout the United States have experimented with, but few studies on the switch have provided concrete data on whether or not it's actually beneficial for students academically. Shields and Oberg (1999) found that year-round schooling either positively affected student academic outcomes, or did not affect them at all. While there were benefits to
many year-round students, the most noticeable benefits were detected in at-risk children who generally struggle the most to retain information over long summer breaks. The specific reasons for increased academic achievement among YRS students has yet to be determined. However, the assumptions that schools adjust their programs with the changing calendar and that students forget less over shorter breaks are often attributed to the progress made within year-round schools. In a study by Palmer and Bemis (1998), the academic achievement of students of year-round schools was measured with a group of 75 pupils. Out of this group, 27 students were recorded as having been positively affected, 42 were found to not be affected at all, and 6 were negatively affected by year-round schooling.
A review from Education Week Online (Year-round, 2004) summarized several studies on YRS and found some contradicting conclusions. In a study of three traditional-track schools and three YRS, students reportedly performed better on tests from the YR schools. A different study of API scores in California found YRS students' grades lower initially, but the students progressed at a faster rate than regular-school students in the long run. A third study showed no significant benefits at all (Year-round, 2004). It was determined that students retain less information on mathematics than reading curriculum over long summer breaks, and when the school year is broken up into multi-track systems, valuable time isn't wasted reviewing forgotten material with children.
At-Risk Students
Does Year long schooling benefit the disadvantaged students?
The disadvantaged children are less likely to have resources such as computers and books in their home and having them in school year round enables them to maintain their abilities.
Students with learning disabilities may be benefited more by YRS because when a student is given a summer vacation, usually about three months, their knowledge retention is usually decreased. When the students are going to a YRS they are given shorter breaks throughout, therefore, it gives the child the chance to retain more information that they've previously learned.
Summer vacation can actually be damaging, especially to one with a disability.
(California Department of Education, 2010).
The studies on YR education that have noted advantages for students often cited that at-risk children benefit more from YRS than on-par learners. At-risk children such as special education students, ESL students, and poverty-stricken students find advantages in YRS. A study of three schools containing a significant proportion of at-risk children showed considerable gains attributed, at least in part, to the implementaion of year-round schooling (Year-round, 2004).
Another category of at-risk students is bilingual students. A study was conducted in Texas on both y
ear-round and traditional elementary schools, where the traditional school was used as a comparison group (Mohajer & Opheim,1995). One of the researcher’s hypotheses was if year-round schooling will increase student achievement. To test their hypothesis, the researchers conducted a survey. They surveyed the attitudes of elementary school principals in Texas of both a traditional 9-month school and a year-round school. 61 of the surveys were returned to the researchers who collected the data to support their hypothesis (Mohajer & Opheim,1995). The researcher’s data was not conclusive. However, they found that year-round schools created fewer retention problems and benefits to at-risk children, especially bilingual students. Bilingual students tend to benefit in a much higher degree then average students. One main contributor to this finding is that when bilingual students go home over the summer, they are not exposed to the English language as much as they were while they were in school. Some bilingual students leave school for summer vacation and are exposed to little or no English since their parent’s language of choice their native language. Having a year-round school would benefit bilingual students greatly since they would be exposed to more of the English language and would not fall as greatly behind the other students (Mohajer & Opheim,1995).
Contradicting Opinions
A large amount of data available on year-round schooling is either inconclusive or conflicting. While many studies cite small, insignificant gains for certain students, others cite negatives. This link leads to a comprehensive analysis of several studies on year-round education, most of which conclude the benefits are not overwhelming enough to make the switch of schooling to be worthwhile.
From an academic standpoint, year-round schools do not provide significant enough benefits for average students to make the switch worthwhile. If the motivations were geared toward at-risk students, YRS would be an intelligent option. One of the main reasons why many schools are making a system change is to address the problem of the summer learning loss theory. The summer learning loss theory is a term used to describe the negative effects the summer has on students. By using the year-round system, the students are not exposed to such a big break in their education. It is than assumed that the students' academic outcomes would be higher which is not true for all students (St. Gerard, 2007).
References
Mohajer, K. & Opheim, C. (1995). Evaluating year-round schools in texas. Education, 116(1). 115. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier/Ebscodatabase.
Palmer, E. A., & Bemis, A. E. (1998) Year-round education. Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement. Retrieved from http://www.cehd.umn.edu/carei/reports/docs/Year-round.pdf
Shields, C. M., & Oberg, S. L. (1999) . Urban Education, 34(2)125. Retrieved from
http://uex.sagepub.com/content/34/2/125.full.pdf+html
St. Gerard, Vanessa. (2007, April). Year round schools look better all the time. Education Digest, 72(8). Retrieved from Academic Search Premier/Ebsco database.
Yeager, F. (2010, September 16). Year-round education program guide. Retrieved from http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/fa/yr/guide.asp
Year-round schooling (2004) Education Week. Retrived from http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/year-round-schooling/