Year-Round Schooling: The Case for Year-Round Schooling

Laure Schulders

Students learn in a classroom lead by Amy Boynton. Year round schooling could have benefits for both her and her students.

Tyler Moore, Staff Writer
February 18, 2022

About 4% of public schools nationwide run year-round schooling schedules, and that number has been growing in recent years. Why are people considering this alternative to the traditional school year?

The current school calendar was established in the 1800s. Students were given the summer months off so that they could help at their parents’ farms.

 This reasoning is obviously outdated, with very few Americans working in agriculture and even fewer needing help from their children. Not only does the reasoning behind the traditional school year no longer make sense, but the several advantages year-round schooling offers are worth considering.

For one, the long summer breaks in most school schedules can be harmful to learning as students may not remember a lot of what they learned last year. Think of all the times you as a student have completely forgotten about something in one of your math classes that you had been taught the year before. Because of how much students forget over the summer, teachers have to spend lots of time just reviewing old material from the year before.

Year-round schooling does not mean no summer break, however. Summer break would be shortened, while other breaks would be extended. There is also a chance for additional breaks and days off in general. This could help with student burnout by giving them more opportunities to take some time off from school during the academic year. Reducing burnout in this way could help to increase grades and attendance while decreasing stress. 

Students who rely on school lunches go for months without that support during summer break, but would have shorter periods of time without it in a year-round school. For families with younger children, year-round school would mean that they will not need to spend as much on child care and teens would not have to worry about caring for their younger siblings over the summer. 

Teachers would also benefit from year-round schooling. With school being year-round, teaching becomes a year-round job. This could make teaching a better paying job with more benefits. Teachers would also benefit from the extra breaks, giving more chances to work through burnout.

Overall, year-round schooling could result in many benefits for both students and staff. These advantages make this option a possible alternative to the traditional school year.