Praises of Year-Round Schooling Sung : It’s More Than a Cure for Overcrowding, Educators Are Told

Year-round education started as a remedy for overcrowded schools but is flourishing in California and other states now because of its many other advantages, speakers at an Anaheim convention said Monday.

“Schools that have changed to year-round education like the results,” said Charles Ballinger of San Diego, executive secretary of the National Assn. for Year-Round Education. “There are many benefits. . . . Attendance on the part of both teachers and students is higher (nationally) in year-round school. . . . Summer learning loss is reduced.”

Ballinger was among the speakers as the association opened its three-day national convention Monday at the Anaheim Hilton and Towers hotel. About 700 educators from throughout the nation are attending.

Several Vacations

The association is composed of advocates of the 12-month school year. On a year-round schedule, there are several breaks, or vacation periods, during the year rather than one three-month break.

One class of students can be starting in a school just as another class is taking a vacation break, allowing larger numbers of students to use the facility.

Ballinger, in an interview Monday, said that most of the push for year-round schools came from overcrowding. But he said the “solution” of year-round schools has been so beneficial that he knows of no school district that has dropped it, even when an overcrowding situation has ended.

“Year-round schools started in San Diego County in 1972,” he said. “The districts there that have used it have been very happy with it. In fact, all districts seem happy with it. There are about 400 schools in the United States that have year-round schools now, and none has gone down in test scores as a result. This seems against the odds because you would think one or two would have decreased just as a (result of the) law of averages.”

Benefits in Santa Ana

In Orange County, Santa Ana Unified School District has been the major user of year-round schools. “We started with year-round schools in Santa Ana Unified in 1980, and we now have 13 schools and more than half of our elementary students in year-round education,” said Michael McLean, deputy administrator of Santa Ana Unified’s Elementary Division.

McLean, who was assisting with registration at the convention, said Santa Ana Unified turned to year-round schools because of rapid enrollment growth. It has been growing by about 1,000 students a year for the last decade, and most of the new students are non-English-speaking immigrants from Mexico and Asia.

McLean said that Santa Ana Unified soon found a major side benefit of the year-round schools: Students retained more of their education without a summer break. He said this has been especially beneficial for students learning English as a second language.

Chester Finn, assistant secretary for educational research and improvement in the U.S. Office of Education in Washington, told the convention delegates that there are many other benefits to year-round education.

19th-Century Holdover

Among them, he said, are better use of expensive school buildings and property, better pay for teachers and help for working parents. He said the last of those factors is especially important in a nation where growing numbers of families have both parents working all year. Finn noted that the three-month summer vacation causes serious child-care problems for working parents.

Said Ballinger: “We started schools with the summers off for students so that the students could help with the farm work. That was back in the 19th Century, when we had a farm economy. But I like to point out that now we are just 13 years away from the 21st Century, and here we are, still trying to cope with an education calendar that was geared to the 19th Century.”