South is gearing up for summer vacation, anxiously counting down the last few days until three blissful months of freedom. Most students don’t think about what they lose in these three months, however.
A study by Oxford Learning shows students lose about three months of math skills and two months of reading skills over the summer. On average, the first six weeks of school are spent relearning curriculum from the previous year. This phenomenon is known as Summer Learning Loss.
Education experts have long been looking for a way to lessen the effects of Summer Learning Loss. There are summer learning academies, summer school, library run reading programs, and countless apps to keep students engaged in academics.
There is simpler way to avoid this. A study at Duke University suggested year-round schooling will help prevent learning loss. Year-round schooling creates shorter, but more frequent, breaks which stops students from losing information, as well provides them with more opportunities to catch if they fall behind.
The basic idea of having school all year round is enough to strike fear in students’ hearts. All most can imagine is a year straight of sitting in a stuffy classroom, no end in sight. What they don’t know is that in the end, students are left with more breaks.
The most popular form of year schooling is 45-15. This means you go to school for 45 school days, totaling to about three months, then get 15 school days off, totally to almost an entire month. In addition to these month-long breaks, you get spring and winter vacation, and of course the occasional three-day weekend.
Put into those terms, year-round schooling doesn’t seem as intimidating.
Year-round schooling can help in more than just academics. Students in low income areas often relay on schools for health care and food. Summer can be a terrifying obstacle for these families who need the schools so that their children can have one to two decent meals a day. Having school all year long allows these students access to these programs year-round.
In highly populated areas, schools can create a multitrack system that allows two sets of children to be in school at alternating periods. This allows for smaller class room sizes, making it easier for students to get the attention of teachers.
A big argument against year around schooling is the inconvenience it would cause as parents and buses are forced to adjust schedules. However, across America, 3,181 schools have switched to a year-round schedule, showing that while it takes thought, the adjustments are possible.
The America school system has been under construction for years. Sitting in the middle of this rebuilding period is the perfect to make the push for this modern system.