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Year Round School

bmoneydeac

bmoneydeac

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What are everyone's thoughts on YRS? My wife's school system is taking a vote tonight on moving to YRS starting next year and she's been asked to speak a few minutes on her thoughts. Based on talking with parents whose kids are currently in it, reading some studies on it, and drawing on her own teaching experience, she's strongly in favor of it. Some parents are bitching about it, though I think their reasons are much more political than simply being against YRS in theory.

I know Malcolm Gladwell talks about the inefficiency of summer breaks and how it disproportionately affects lower income families as their kids typically don't get as many enriching activities over the break, causing them to almost forget how to learn (if that makes sense). This has been my wife's observation, but again, it's obviously unscientific and anecdotal. In theory, I really like the idea of the more even school year which includes ample summer break still (roughly 5 weeks IIRC) and shorter breaks to recharge in between quarters. I think the stupidest thing was whoever decided to call it "year round school" as the name has always had a negative connotation of folks thinking it meant more days or no summer break.

I'd be curious to hear from some of you that have either attended a YRS or have kids that do.
 
Summer was always too long as it is. And I say that as someone who loved going to the pool as a youngin, but there's only so much to do during such a long period of time and there's still plenty of time to play in the late afternoon/early evenings
 
I thought you started a parenting thread for this kind of stuff...?
 
There was talk of my HS going to this back in early-mid 90s, but we never did. I'm sure there are a lot of arguments for an against that don't enter into my thinking since I don't have kids and so this would never have any effect on my life, but I think it sounds like a good idea and I was for it when I was in HS. I personally think a 2-3 month summer vacation is too long, and I would imagine it's fairly tough on parents who both work.
 
leftcoastdeac said:
I thought you started a parenting thread for this kind of stuff...?
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eh, was looking for more broad audience, including folks that were just well-informed on the topic with or without kids.
 
My aunt taught in both systems, and preferred year round school. She felt the spacing worked better with the semesters, and preferred having smaller breaks throughout the year rather than one large break in the summer. It allowed the parents more flexibility with vacations.
 
Does YRS inherently include more days in school, or just more evenly spaced out breaks?
 
wfudkn said:
Does YRS inherently include more days in school, or just more evenly spaced out breaks?
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My SIL teaches at a YRS and from my understanding it's just more evenly spaced breaks.

I never went to one but I think it sounds like a good idea. It would be hard for teachers who pick up a second job during the summer but I think a lot of those do that in schools where they don't get a paycheck every month. It also might be harder in HS for students who get summer jobs.
 
same number of days, just broken into 4 quarters with 3 week breaks between them except for after the 4th quarter, there is a 5 week break.

if i understand it correctly, you'd start in mid-july, go until end of september, have a 3 week break, go until christmas, have a 3 week break, go until mid-march, have a 3 week break, and then go until the end of may and have 5 weeks off. or thereabouts.
 
awakeandready said:
My SIL teaches at a YRS and from my understanding it's just more evenly spaced breaks.

I never went to one but I think it sounds like a good idea. It would be hard for teachers who pick up a second job during the summer but I think a lot of those do that in schools where they don't get a paycheck every month. It also might be harder in HS for students who get summer jobs.
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teachers getting summer jobs has been voiced as a concern. YRS is not being looked at as an option for high school in my county for the time being.
 
bmoneydeac said:
same number of days, just broken into 4 quarters with 3 week breaks between them except for after the 4th quarter, there is a 5 week break.

if i understand it correctly, you'd start in mid-july, go until end of september, have a 3 week break, go until christmas, have a 3 week break, go until mid-march, have a 3 week break, and then go until the end of may and have 5 weeks off. or thereabouts.
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As a kid, I'd be pissed about this, but as a parent, I think it would be awesome. Combine that with some serious math/science concentration and I think the US could get back on track.
 
TWDeac said:
As a kid, I'd be pissed about this, but as a parent, I think it would be awesome. Combine that with some serious math/science concentration and I think the US could get back on track.
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This is exactly how I feel. As a kid I would be pissed but as a parent, I think it would be great. As long as the kids could have the experience of summer camps and things like that. Offer more variety in family vacations.
 
As a father of kids who used to attend year-round schools and a husband of a teacher in a formerly year-round school, I can say that I loved everything about it and so did the family. Unfortunately the school system did away with the year-round option, citing budget problems. I think it was the best for the kids, MrsNF and I loved the schedule, and when given the option, "better students" choose the year-round option, therefore elevating the learning environment/test scores for that school. I'll let others theorize why "better students" choose the year-round option, but will testify that they do.

Personally I loved the option of taking a week-long Spring or Fall vacation that the schedule allowed.
 
I think one of the concerns that has come up before was the issue of kids who get reduced/free lunch. Many of them get their only meals of the day at school, and there was some concern with switching from one system to the other, but I dont remember the details.
 
I work in yrs here in Raleigh. All the kids seem to like it because they know they're out of school every 9 weeks. Parents love it because a) kids don't spend the first month or two re-learning the previous grade's material, b) vacations are easier to plan and happen more frequently, b) they still get normal holidays off, like Christmas break, b) much more consistency at school.
 
bmoneydeac said:
teachers getting summer jobs has been voiced as a concern. YRS is not being looked at as an option for high school in my county for the time being.
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I think the kids not getting summer jobs would also be a big concern. I probably learned more busting my ass for 12-hour days at my summer jobs than I did in school, and more importantly it taught me that I did not want to be stuck doing those jobs after school.
 
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