Presenting a brief overview of the historical development, philosophy, programs, and facilities of the Battle Creek Public Schools' year-round outdoor education center, this document also details four current programs as follows: (1) a 30-week resident outdoor school program for fifth and sixth grade students; (2) a 25-week farm-garden program for…

Studied the site-based design and implementation of a modified year-round calendar in two Ontario, Canada, elementary schools. These case studies show the importance of choice and voice in the change process. Interviews with a superintendent, the 2 principals, 31teachers, and a number of parents show the large impact a small structural change may…

Three elementary schools with very different characteristics extended their school years to approximately 223 days, with concomitant changes in funding and salaries. All three demonstrated increases in academic achievement, parent and teacher satisfaction, and cost-effective use of facilities. Implications for reform and year-round schooling are…

Results from the first year of implementation of year-round schools in a school district that educates students from a medium-sized city and the surrounding county are presented to add to the body of knowledge about year-round schools. Two single-track, year-round elementary schools (kindergarten through grade 5) were established in Durham (North…

The Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) (North Carolina) first introduced year-round education in 1989. By 1994, the program had expanded to seven elementary and middle schools. Of the seven current year-round schools, six have solely voluntary magnet enrollment and operate on a multi-track system. The other is a single-track year-round…

This study, the third in a series of reports, is limited to an analysis of the energy use and cost implications of nine school calendars proposed by the New York State Department of Education. These calendars are characterized as (1) traditional; (2) ten-month school year; (3) mid-August start, two semesters; (4) four-day week; (5) four-day, 7.5…

Describes a principal's frustrating, but ultimately successful 3-year effort to convert a Virginia elementary school to a year-round schedule. Now in its third year, the school boasts students with higher standardized test scores, better attendance, and fewer discipline referrals than their traditional-calendar counterparts. (MLH)

Four dissimilar schools each respond to a learning challenge by questioning set-in-stone thinking and taking risks. A K-8 school in Toronto bypasses the traditional--and problematic--long summer vacation to follow a balanced calendar model. Students attend school year-round with two-week breaks scattered throughout the year; both remedial and…

Studies in three Canadian schools indicate that implementation of a year-round school calendar served as a catalyst for innovations in teaching and learning and for school-level capacity-building by facilitating teachers' planning, formal and informal talk about teaching and learning, team teaching, philosophically-based programmatic changes, and…

Outcomes of the Orchard Plan, an experiment designed to reorganize funding to support new models of instructional delivery, are described in this report. Basic elements of the program include an extended school calendar; a reorganization of categorical funding into intersession enrichment courses for at-risk students; a reduction in class size…

The costs and benefits of Year Round Education (YRE), a system in which students have short, staggered vacation periods, so that only a subgroup of students are attending school at any one time, were explored by the Provo (Utah) City School District. In an effort to accommodate a growing number of students without building additional classrooms,…

Evaluation of year-round education (YRE) in a rural North Carolina school district found disruption to "sense of community;" positive attitudes among participating teachers, students, and parents (primarily based on personal scheduling preferences); but no advantages in attendance or achievement. Results suggest that decisions to use YRE…

Describes a cooperative project between several year-round elementary schools in Indianapolis (Indiana) to promote reading, based on the National Education Association's campaign using Dr. Seuss books. Discusses planning with library media specialists, activities that included writing about reading, volunteers and funding, and evaluation. (LRW)

This cost analysis reports on a year-round education program in the Oxnard School District, California. Twelve of the district's 15 K-8 schools are maintained on four staggered year-round education tracks; a fifth track offers the traditional calendar to two schools. Year-round education was implemented in 1976 to accommodate a sudden increase in…

Effective schools research, as elaborated by R. R. Edmonds and others, gives a picture of what successful urban schools look like and helps identify the characteristics that led to success. This paper offers the proposition that looking at a school as a caring community provides a way to show effective schools by providing a framework to make…