Year-Round School Vs. Traditional Schooling

Year-round Schooling vs. Traditional Schooling

Each year, school districts face a growing population of students. The issue with this is that many districts have an inadequacy of school facilities, and they are limited to the amount of finances they can spend on each of these facilities. To resolve this issue, school districts around the world have adopted a year-round school calendar to ensure they are utilizing these existing school facilities to their full ability. Year-round schooling arranges the breaks differently, requiring students to be in school throughout the year, rather than experiencing three months off in the summer. In addition to maximizing the use of the school facilities, year-round schooling improves student learning and

LeighAnn Lyttle argues that with year-round schooling, “teacher opportunities are greater, provide a better working environment, and promote more cohesive teacher-student coerciveness in the year-round system” (“Year-Round versus Traditional Schools”) In other words, Lyttle believes that teachers will gain more experience from their job, because their opportunities will increase, and they will begin to form more personal relationships with their students, so they can truly understand what teaching methods work for each individual in their care. With an improved working environment and breaks scheduled throughout the year, teachers are less likely to be absent from school. This saves the school systems from being required to spend extra money on substitute pay. Another way year-round schooling helps facilities save money is by taking away the need for summer schools. Remediation will continue to occur throughout the entire school year, rather than just a few weeks during the summer. Without the need for summer school, districts are not compelled to pay teachers for the additional time required for the summer remediation program. Thus, the school facilities will be saving money all year

Depro and Rouse state, “parents [have] a preference for the [year-round school] calendar because it can be a more cost-effective alternative to raising taxes to fund new school construction” (“The Effect of Multi-Track”). Hence the facilities are being used year round to alleviate overcrowding, construction funds for new buildings are unnecessary. Additionally, tax payers will save money on maintenance costs. Since the schools will operate year round, the utilities will be accustomed to running and will not have the three month period of settling, preventing them from a higher risk of error. Maintenance work will take place more often, since year round schooling has expanded breaks, and utilities are less likely to malfunction. With traditional schooling, parents who work full time are required to find someone to watch their child during the summer, compelling them to spend additional funds. Year-round schooling assists parents in saving money by providing care for their children during the summer months. If their child has failed, parents are not required to spend extra money for summer school because remediation services are provided year-round, and teachers are not tutoring during the numerous breaks, so the additional teacher compensation is not required. Overall, year-round schooling provides a cheaper learning environment and is cost beneficial to most members