Debating the Year-Round Curriculum

The realities of school overcrowding have slowly been eroding a onetime guarantee for students--summers off.

The year-round calendar, which was rejected by most Los Angeles Unified School District schools two years ago, is making a comeback. Last week, the school board received a proposal to switch to that schedule for North Hollywood, San Fernando, Francis Polytechnic and Monroe high schools in the San Fernando Valley.

Administrators at Van Nuys and Grant high schools are also considering it. But while some argue that the traditional September-through-June calendar is pointless in modern society, others say that it is more cost-efficient than air-conditioning schools in the summer.

Is a year-round schedule a good idea?

Mark Slavkin, Los Angeles Board of Education president:

“In the LAUSD, a multitrack, year-round calendar is a necessity for 190 schools which cannot otherwise accommodate their local student enrollment. The calendar allows more students to attend their local school and thus reduces the need to bus kids to other areas, a real positive benefit. I have not seen evidence that suggests this calendar itself has a significant effect on student achievement, one way or the other.”

Julie Korenstein, LAUSD trustee:

“The year-round calendar is kind of a stopgap measure. I’m hoping that with state or local bond construction money we can begin building new schools. . . . I happen to like [the traditional] calendar better. . . . I represent an area of the city that is extremely hot in the summer.”

Carolyn Ellner, dean of the school of education at Cal State Northridge:

“I really think there is an advantage to a year-round school because the way we plan school years now is based on an agrarian concept when high school students were needed for the harvest. Now we know there is no reason for that, especially in Los Angeles. It makes more sense for students to go year-round with short breaks in between. They retain more. They become more involved. . . . There is difficulty with the kids who need jobs, but it would be good if kids could have jobs year-round [when school is not in session].”

Anne Falotico, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles High School principal:

“A change, a bit of uprooting is good for everyone, and it is particularly good for students. For years the Advanced Placement students of the West have been at a disadvantage in taking the AP tests. Western schools are only two-thirds of their way through the semester when the test is given, while the Eastern brethren are at the close of their semester. . . . In a year-round school, the students may choose the track which allows them a full semester of the course prior to taking the examination. . . . Other research shows higher student rate of attendance, fewer discipline problems in high schools and a lower drop-out rate. . . . Which is not to say that schools become dreary, woe-begotten dens for nerds, for wherever there are young people, there is fun.”