Benefits Of Year Round School

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For more than twenty years the educational and economic benefits of year round schooling have been debated in the United States. Experts agree that year round schooling may not be the answer to the problems of all school districts. However in more than 205 districts nation wide, problems have been resolved by year round schooling.
First I need to explain that this is different from extending the school year; on a year round schedule, students attend school the same number of days-180-as students on the traditional nine-month calendar. The difference is that year round education (YRE) students have several short vacations rather than one three-month summer break. Most year-round schools operate on a multi-track calendar, and group students in three or four tracks with different vacation times. While one group is on vacation, another track is using the building.
There are many benefits to year-round schooling. One positive aspect of this type of schooling is better retention for children. After a short break the children are refreshed and ready to start again without having to review what has been lost over the summer. At traditional schools, teachers spend weeks reviewing to bring children up to presummer levels. Kids on a year-round calendar learn faster, better and retain more. With shorter breaks, teachers have a much better chance of maintaining their academic skills. Not only do the children come back refreshed and ready to learn but the teachers themselves are refreshed and energetic. There's no meltdown in the spring when the three-month summer vacation is about to begin.
Better retention results in improved academic performance. Studies have repeatedly shown that American high school students score well below students fr...

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... programs and other teachers (Blackman,99).
Year-round education will become more prevalent for several reasons. First, the American lifestyle is changing. We no longer need the children out of school during the summer to tend farms and help out with family needs. Secondly, there are educational pressures to change the structure of the school year. As we build up documentation showing that there is such a thing as summer learning loss, and that a way exists to curb that loss, the burden will be on schools and educators to take corrective action. I think the public will demand that.
And finally, there are societal changes as well. People are questioning the wisdom of that long summer vacation. Social workers and law-enforcement officials don't like the idea of kids having very little to do for up to three months, there's too much chance for them to get into trouble.

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