Summer Vacation Slide
Research Shows Loss Of Knowledge Over Summer Months
History
How did the school calendar evolve? Juliet Lapidos investigated the history of the school calendar and discovered why students get June, July and August off for vacation. The school calendar has undergone many changes.
The 180-day school calendar with three months off in the summer did not come into being until the early 20th century. The original school calendar was year-round with short breaks between quarters. That is similar to some year-round schools today.
Urban vs. Rural
Schools ran differently in the rural areas than in the cities. Lapidos states that in 1842 cities ran long school years.
- Chicago 240 days
- Detroit 260 days
- New York 245 days
However, school attendance was not mandatory so many students were only there for half the days. Schools were hot, ventilation was poor, some believed that hot weather spread disease, but school was in session for those that wanted to attend.
The rural areas had different schedules. Farm families depended on the children for farm labor. The spring was planting time, summer was cultivating, and fall was harvest. Rural children attended school for approximately 5-6 months in the winter.
Doctors State Opinions
Doctors also played a role in the school calendar. It was a popular belief among doctors in urban areas that children’s brains were overtaxed by going to school all year. Children were fragile. However, the opinion of rural doctors was that children were undertaxed by only attending school for 6 months.
By the early 20th century, everyone seemed to get on the same page and adopt similar calendars. Cities cut school days and rural areas increase the school year. [Juliet Lapidos, slate.com, July 12, 2007]
Why 180 Days Now?
More and more schools are adopting year-round calendars. Adding days to the school calendar does make sense but it costs money. Teacher contracts are based on days worked. While some believe that teachers get paid for summer vacation days, that is not true. Teachers are paid for 180-190 days of work divided by twelve months. In addition, homework correction for hours at home and summer planning is done without pay. The crushing workload is why many leave the profession early. If 10-20 days would be added to the school calendar, salaries would increase 5-10%. That stops many legislatures from pursuing year-round school.
University of Missouri Research
Harris Cooper, Professor of Psychological Sciences at the University of Missouri, states that summer loss in knowledge is approximately one month overall. So, taking three months off in the summer cuts the school year down to 8 months. In math, students lose 2.6 months. [Center for Summer Learning, jhu.edu]
Johns Hopkins Research
Karl Alexander and Doris Entwisle, sociologists at Johns Hopkins University, found that there is a difference between lower income students and middle class students with knowledge retention over the summer. While both groups improve at similar rates during the school year, low-income students lost more knowledge over the summer. By the end of 5th grade, low-income children fell more than two years behind middle-class students in verbal achievement and 1 ½ years behind in math.
We no longer need children to work in the fields and many schools are air-conditioned. A nine-month calendar may very well be obsolete. The "real world" functions on a 12-month calendar. Perhaps, a two-week break between quarters would be a workable format.
Related articles: Future Look of Education and Paradigm Shift in Learning by Thomas Frey,
Read previous articles on Educational Issues.
Copyright article 2007 Barbara Pytel. All Rights Reserved.
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