A three-year trial of a voluntary quinmester plan for extending the school year began in June 1974 in five Knox County, Tennessee, schools. Curriculum revision, K-12, was the principal thrust of the ESY (Extended School Year) project, but administrators also hoped to relieve overcrowding in the schools and to effect more efficient use of professional staff and physical facilities. During the first two years of the program substantial progress was made toward standardizing curriculum goals and objectives and providing teachers with current instructional resources. However, with summer quinmester attendance on a voluntary basis, 13% of the students attended during the 1974 summer quinmester, and only 11% during the 1975 summer quinmester. Thus, overcrowding during the remaining quinmesters was not substantially reduced, and the additional expense of operating a summer program was not offset by economies effected during the regular school year. Reacting almost exclusively to financial considerations, the local board voted to cut short the extended school year experiment. (Author/MLF)