Year Round School Research Paper

Believe it or not, year-round schooling uses the same number of school days as the traditional school calendar does! The days of year-round schooling are more spread out and some schools find this to be more beneficial. A few schools already use the year-round schooling technique and found it to have a larger educational advantage to students than the traditional school calendar does. Therefore, all schools should have year-round schooling instead of using the traditional schooling calendar.

One of the first reasons we should have year-round schooling is because of summer. Summer is the part of the year that every student looks forward to. Why? Because summer is the time of the year where kids can slack off and have fun. But, during this

time, children lose all their knowledge from the previous school year. You can call this a summer slump. Summer causes a decline in academic skills which is non-beneficial to a student’s education. Studies from the NSLA show that 66 percent of teachers spend 3-4 weeks re-teaching course material at the beginning of the year, and 24 percent spend 5-6 weeks re-teaching student’s academic skills at the beginning of the year (Klein, 2013). Also, “research spanning 100 years shows that students typically score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer vacation than they do on the same tests at the beginning of the year” (NSLA, 2013). Not only does summer cause learning loss, but it also decreases the chances of students burning out in the middle of the year due to long breaks. An increase in shorter breaks benefits both students and teachers. Most schools that use the year-round schooling calendar use the 45-15 plan. This is where student have 45 days of learning, and 15 days off for breaks (National Education Association, 2015). Frequent breaks benefit students more than longer breaks because they don’t forget the techniques that they previously learned. Also, impoverished children benefit the most from year-round schooling because breaks keep them out of trouble since wealthy family’s can afford summer camps and nannies, while low-income family can’t and leave their child alone at home which isn’t good for their educational life. Not only do students benefit from frequent breaks, but teachers do as well. Some teachers work over the summer but with year-round schooling, they don’t have to work extra summer jobs because their yearly income increases. In addition to that, teachers aren’t constrained by time so they have more time to teach lessons. Year-round schooling eliminates summer learning loss and long non-beneficial breaks.
Another reason we should have year-round schooling is because it eliminates stress.

When you think about stress and school, one of the first things that pops up to your mind is homework. Teachers pile on homework for students because they have a limited amount of time to teach each lesson, but want the students to understand the concept of what they’re teaching. With year round schooling, teachers don’t have to worry about trying to cram lessons into short periods of time (Priday, 2008). The year-round schooling technique gives teachers the opportunity to teach freely without having to rush lessons. This means they have more time to teach kids, and kids will better understand what they are learning. Because of this, students won’t need as much extra help, and homework will decrease which would decrease the amount of stress a student has. But homework isn’t the only thing that causes stress. One of the most stressful days of school is the first day of school. Not only are students worried about entering school on the first day, but parents and teachers are also concerned on the first day of school. Actually, 70 percent of students are stressed on the first day and nearly half the teachers reported feeling daily stress, especially at the beginning of the year (Klein, 2017). It is scary entering a new grade with new people because you might not know what you’re doing or where you’re going. But, inside a teacher’s mind, they’re panicking too because they need to make sure their lesson plans are correct, their first day impression goes well, and make sure they stay organized throughout the day. Year-round school eliminates the suspense of how the first day will go. Due to this you will be less stressed. Year-round schooling helps eliminate stress by not having as much homework and losing the anxiety for the first day of

school.
In conclusion, all schools should have year-round schooling. Having year-round schooling can help with long unnecessary summer breaks, and can eliminate stress. What you can do is talk to the school board or the government and suggest the idea of year-round schooling. If a few schools already use year-round schooling, why don’t we? Year-round schooling can help benefit everyone including, students, teachers, and parents.