In Defense of ... Year-Round Schooling

Have you ever considered what would be different if we threw out schooling as we know it and started over today? What if we started a school system from scratch and built it anew from the ground up? 

The American educational model was developed centuries ago, in a mostly agrarian society with little research on learning theory and developmental psychology. Looking at our culture today and what we know now, how would school be different? Drop all your preconceived notions and past schooling experiences and simply ask yourself ... what is best for students, teachers, and learning?

I imagine that we'd look at all aspects of education very differently if we had the freedom to start over ... In fact, I actually wonder what, if anything, would remain the same.

One area that I'd like to consider in this blog is the school year calendar.

Having a nine month school calendar and summers without school comes directly from an agrarian society that needed children to work on the family farm, but is this model best for learning?

In this blog, I'd like to propose a "year-round schooling" model for education today. Below are listed a few points in defense of year-round schooling.

The Proposal:

Schools should follow a Year-Round Calendar with the following elements ...

• Approximately 180 days of school (same as the current American school year)
• Four days of school each week (Tuesday through Friday)
• A week of vacation in each season ... Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer
• Two additional weeks off for students in August for school staff to wrap up one year, transition, and launch the next year.

Here are some of the reasons why ...

1. Year-Round Schooling Would Reduce the Hectic Pace of School.

It has been said that "schools begin the year with 'the pedal to the metal' and just pick up speed from there." While hyperbolic, this quote does represent the feeling that many educators have about the pace of the school calendar. Most school systems are on a crazy, breakneck pace leaving many educators exhausted at the end of the year, thus needing two months in the summer to recover. 

Imagine a car speeding down the road and then abruptly crashing into a concrete wall; schools are designed like that, and we spend the summers rebuilding the car to do the same thing the following year. It is truly go ... go ... go as fast as you can until you come to a complete stop at the end of the term/year. Who ever thought that was a good idea?

Today, teachers are on a frantic pace to get through material before the next break or end of the term; this causes additional stress and pressure on everyone which inhibits learning. A year-round calendar would allow teachers to go as slow or fast as needed for the students, knowing that the learning will continue rather than come to a complete stop.

Instead of five days a week for nine months and zero days a week for three months, a healthier option would be to have a four day school week with every weekend being a long weekend. This would allow students and staff to spend a long weekend with their families, relax/recover from the previous week, and prepare for the week ahead. Most of educators and students cherish our long weekends and the consistency of every weekend being a long weekend would allow families to plan on and count on this time together.

    Why Mondays Off?  Some schools are moving to four day school weeks, and most have selected to

    take Fridays off. My proposal has Mondays off instead for a few reasons: 

• Most national holidays are on Monday, so schools that take Fridays off lose two days of learning on holiday weeks.
• If you are a Christian, the Bible calls us to a sabbath rest on Sunday. This is difficult for educators and students if they have to prepare for classes Monday.
• Friday (not Monday) is typically the night for school events, like Friday night football, school dances, and concerts.

A year-round school calendar will also allow schools to be more flexible in how they spend those four days each week, building in extended time for enrichment blocks, wellness activities, social emotional learning, and faith formation. Slowing down the pace of schooling by extending the school year to twelve months will help everyone's social-emotional and physical wellness.

2. Year-Round Schooling Would Help Families in Financial Need.

Many schools provide a lifeline for families in financial need, and a year-round calendar would help cover the difficult summer months and extended breaks during the year.

• School Lunch Programs: Over 21 million students received free school lunches, a service provided to those families who struggle financially. According to the 2021 census data cited in the article, "National School Lunch Program still an Important Part of Safety Net" (Dongo & Monte 2022), this translates to over 38% of all households with school age children receiving free lunches and over 50% of households who struggle financially relying on this service. What happens to these students/families during the summer months? A change to year-round schooling would help to support these families with food needs.
• Summer Day Care: Many families who struggle financially are hit especially hard during the summer months as they have to find day care for their children while they work. By moving to a year-round school calendar, these days off are limited to Mondays, and schools can provide day care / day camps on these days in a more consistent fashion.
• HVAC: While much of the country swelters in the summer months and freezes in the winter, families who struggle financially are less likely to have sufficient HVAC systems. Having school during the summer months would ensure children have access to air conditioning during these months; the same is true with only a one week break during the winter (instead of two), students would have a warm place to go in case they do not have sufficient heat in their homes.

3. Year-Round Schooling is Better for Learning.

 

Learning loss happens during the summer as students take an extended brain break. Each fall, teachers spend a good amount of time reviewing and re-teaching due to the time spent away from school during the summer. A year-round school calendar would help students maintain and retain their learning from the year. Active brains are healthy brains, and during the summer months far too many student brains are spent in "off" mode. 

Also, school calendars have become more random and choppy with a couple days off here and a couple days off there, longer breaks for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring, with extended weekends around holidays. Students need consistency in learning, especially for learning maintenance, extended units, and lessons that build upon each other. A year-round calendar would provide more weeks of four days of learning and educators and students can plan on those weeks.

In most subjects, deep learning is a "slow-cooking" rather than a "microwaving" process. Students often need time to sit with a concept for it to "stick" and could use a long weekend to reflect on their learning. In fact, reflection is key to student learning, as John Dewey said, "We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience." 

 

4. Co-Curricular Activities Continue Through the Calendar Year.

Powerful learning happens outside the classroom in music, theater, athletics, and clubs. Often these activities are dropped during the summer months, especially for families who cannot afford private lessons and club sports programs. 

Each co-curricular program at the school would benefit from a year-round calendar. A student just beginning to play a musical instrument could continue through the summer months with an expert teacher by his/her side. An athlete could pick up an additional sport to play during the summer, creating a fourth season ... one state (Iowa) actually has a summer sports season already (baseball and softball). A calendar change to four seasons may also allow a rest week between seasons for athletes involved in multiple sports. 

5. Year-Round Schooling Prepares Students for Life.

Education should prepare students for life, teaching them healthy rhythms that become lifelong habits. One of the unintended and detrimental lessons being taught by the structure of the current American educational system is that there is an end to learning; this message is communicated through the school calendar and our assessment practices. Instead, the message we want to portray is that learning is a continual life-long process; one lesson builds upon previous lessons and leads to future learning. A year-round school calendar promotes a lifelong learning paradigm, and hopefully will help students embrace continual learning.

Learning within a year-round calendar also parallels the biblical model of discipleship education. This is found in both the Old Testament, Hebraic model of "training up a child in the way he should go" and the New Testament model of Jesus doing life with his disciples ... walking, talking, living and learning together. The discipleship education model portrays an ongoing, lifelong learning experience ... one that doesn't end.

Finally, a year-round calendar also more closely resembles a normal work schedule. Very few professions (especially outside of education) have two months off during the summer . Full-time work with limited vacation days tends to be a shock for recent college graduates who have spent 16+ years in schools with "summer vacation." Although the year-round model that I presented doesn't exactly resemble a 50 weeks-a-year job, it would prepare students better as they transition to full-time employment.

6. Year-Round Schooling Could Increase the Total Number of School Days.

In my proposed model, I kept the total number of school days the same. For American schools that number is approximately 180 days. However, a new model would allow educational leaders to have a conversation about increasing the number of school days. Is there correlation/causation between the number of school days and the quality of education? This is a more complex debate than can be addressed in this blog, but America (with 180 school days) is on the lower end of countries with developed educational systems.   

• According to THIS REPORT from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), American states vary on the number of required school days from 160 (Colorado) to 185 (North Carolina) with the majority of states requiring 180 school days.
•  According to THIS REPORT from the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE), countries with developed educational systems have between 175 (Estonia) to 220 (South Korea) school days per year.

It would not be too difficult to increase the number of school days (e.g. add 1 or 2 Mondays a month), thus, moving us closer to the top of the list of nations in regards to number of required school days.

Regardless if you agree or disagree with my assertions in this article, now is the time to have these conversations about how we "do school differently" in the 21st Century. 

What would you change if you were building a school system from scratch?