Students appear to benefit

Year-round schools

Harris Cooper is a professor of psychology and director of the Program in Education at Duke University.

A few years back, my colleagues and I launched an exhaustive review of year-round schooling to answer three questions: What is the effect on students' academic achievement? What arguments emerge in communities considering the change? What are the reactions once the year-round calendar is adopted?

Our findings might have meaning for Wake County, in that it operates a modified calendar for some schools and is planning more. These schools will remain open year-round as students follow multi-tracks with alternate vacation sequences. Not surprisingly, such modified calendars have been adopted in many school districts throughout the United States where there is a great need for space.

What do studies that compare year-round and traditional calendars have to say about the effect on student learning?

First, I have to point out that the evidence is far from optimal. It is difficult to get the carefully controlled studies that rule out all the alternative explanations for why a result might favor one calendar over another.

That being said, we found comparisons of student achievement in 39 school districts. The evidence suggested that in two-thirds of the districts, the modified calendar had a small, positive effect on student learning. We don't know whether the effect accumulates over time. If it does, then over the course of a student's years in school the effect could be impressive.

Also, we found that the positive effect of the modified calendar was larger for students from poorer communities. Many educators think that modified calendars most benefit students who are struggling in school, whether they are slow learners, have learning disabilities or have limited English skills. This might be because the shorter breaks reduce memory decay compared with one, long summer break.

In addition, some schools on modified calendars make remedial classes available to struggling students during the multiple breaks. Many schools also make enrichment and acceleration classes available during breaks.

There are hidden costs to the multi-track modified calendar that go beyond the academic. Family and friendship patterns can be disrupted if siblings or friends in the same neighborhood are not on the same track. Employees who have 12-month contracts can suffer burnout. Teachers have to keep their materials in storage closets and often must change rooms when they return from vacations.

And, perhaps most seriously, some evidence suggests that multi-tracked schools can end up with pernicious forms of de facto segregation. Over time, particular tracks can come to overrepresent students from different ethnic or economic groups or ability levels.

Opposition always forms when communities consider changing the school calendar. Some teachers worry about burnout. Advocates of calendar change counter that teachers working on modified calendars report that the more frequent but shorter breaks actually prevent burnout rather than cause it.

Surveys found that teachers, parents, students, administrators and staff members who were living with a modified calendar overwhelmingly described the experience as positive. We looked at surveys from more than 50 school districts that had some schools on a modified calendar. More than 80 percent of responses were on the positive side of the scale. The respondents also felt the modified calendar had a positive effect on student achievement.

Surveys of attitudes after the calendar was implemented were more positive than before-implementation ones. However, much of the before-implementation concern disappeared if schools planned activities for students between sessions. Also, attitudes were more positive when parents could choose their child's track.