In the face of school crowding and fears about inequality-inducing summer learning loss, many schools have started to adopt multitrack year-round school calendars, which keep the same number of school days, but spread them more evenly across the calendar year. This change allows schools to support a larger student population by rotating which…

The National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL), an organization dedicated to redesigning and expanding school time to improve opportunities and outcomes for high-poverty students, has again teamed up with the Education Commission of the States (ECS), whose mission it is to foster the exchange of ideas on education issues among the states, to…

With decreasing enrollment, decreasing funding for public school education, changes in family and societal needs, and the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act, policymakers and school leaders are wrestling with reforms to the school calendar and instructional time spent in the classroom, with the goal of increasing student achievement.…

Legal and financial aspects of year-round schools; recommended legislation for program implementation. (LR)

Year-round schools are not a new phenomenon in American education. During the 19th century, cities such as Chicago, Boston, Washington, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Detroit held school sessions of 48 or more weeks per year. The traditional calendar is a misnomer; it came about primarily as a compromise between urban and rural legislators. Renewed…

An assistant superintendent describes the background and economic advantages of a continuous school year plan in which students attend school for 45 class days and vacation for 15 days. Students are divided into four rotating shifts -- three groups are in class while the fourth group is on vacation. (MLF)

Cost issues associated with year-round schools (YRS) are examined in this paper, which asserts that the cost of operating a YRS program depends on a district's classroom space and student population. YRS is recommended if there is a need to utilize classroom space or school facilities more efficiently to accommodate a student population that…

Interest in extending the school year to make more efficient use of school facilities has been long standing. The most popular method of extending the school year is the summer session. Although widely popular with administrators, teachers, parents, and students, the summer session suffers from the same limitation as other extended school year…

Year-round schools have a place in the urban education process. However, the many fiscal pressures facing large city school systems may prohibit them from instituting the rescheduled school year. Only if State governments make fundamental reforms in their educational finance systems can urban school districts participate in the benefits of…

This review surveys documents, previously announced in RIE, that are concerned with the year-round school (staggered vacation periods) concept. The literature indicates that the year-round school plan should not be considered a panacea for the economic and learning problems in education. Most of the authors agree that schools should weigh…

The 45-15 plan in this California school district is educating four youngsters in a space designed for three with no overcrowding, is eliminating double sessions, and is relieving taxpayers of the immediate need to build more schools by making fuller use of schools that already exist. (Author)

Lists the standard arguments for and against the extended school year and looks at experimentation with various types of year-round schools. (DE)

Chula Vista Elementary School District, California, joins the ranks of those trying a plan that might solve one of education's thorniest problems. (Author)

This survey, generated in planning sessions for the 5th National Seminar on Year-Round Education, puts into usable form needed information important to the year-round education movement. The document contains tables with data by State on number of programs, status of the programs, funding sources, grade levels, type of project, purpose of…