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Credit: Mariana Veraza
The Hechinger Report
Is it finally time for year-round school?
Districts around the country are considering the model as a way to
combat the ‘Covid slide’ and ensure kids can more reliably access free
meals and other services
By Darcy Sprague
August 19, 2020
The Hechinger Report is a national nonprofit newsroom that reports on
one topic: education. Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get stories
like this delivered directly to your inbox.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — When Harlandale Independent School District in
south San Antonio shuttered its doors in March amid the coronavirus
pandemic, Melissa Casey’s first thought about her students was, “How
are all of their basic needs going to be met?”
In the small district, 88 percent of schoolchildren are economically
disadvantaged and almost 75 percent are at risk of dropping out.
Harlandale administrators tried to smooth the transition to remote
learning, lending students tablets, parking WiFi-enabled buses
throughout the district and partnering with food banks to give out
groceries and school supplies. Still, Casey, a Harlandale alum turned
assistant superintendent, worried that the school shutdowns would lead
to educational setbacks and add more instability to her students’ lives.
The pandemic has raised awareness of the many roles schools play —
providing everything from free meals to Internet access and caring
adults — and also of the learning losses that kids experience when
they’re out of school. Even in a normal year, many educators see
a “summer slide,” as students return to the classroom with
diminished knowledge after the long break.
In April, the NWEA, a nonprofit assessment organization, published
research showing some students could start school this fall nearly one
year behind where they would normally be, part of a phenomenon referred
to as the “Covid slide.” Not all students will be affected equally:
Other research predicts that the losses will probably be greatest for
low-income and Black and Hispanic students.
Nationally, educators and officials have floated one possible solution:
year-round school. Under this model, which has existed in parts of the
country for decades, schools operate with shorter, more frequent breaks
throughout the year, rather than one lengthy summer vacation. While
research on the model’s effectiveness is mixed, proponents argue that
it keeps vulnerable students from falling farther behind and ensures
that students benefit more consistently from school meals and other
services.
In May, the Texas Education Agency advised schools to consider the
model. The next month, Harlandale became one of the first districts to
take that step when its board approved the move. However, a surge in
coronavirus cases pushed back the district’s start and made the
year-round schedule untenable for this year.
District leaders elsewhere in the country, including Richmond,
Virginia, and Cincinnati, Ohio, have also talked about making the
shift. Some states have made it easier for districts to modify their
calendars to a year-round system: In Michigan, for example, Gov.
Gretchen Whitmer recently included a measure allowing schools to move
year-round in an executive order.
The year-round system began gaining popularity in the 1980’s, according
to David Hornak, executive director of the National Association for
Year-Round Education and superintendent of Holt Public Schools, in
Michigan. In addition to mitigating learning loss, it was seen by
school leaders as a way to ease overcrowding by enabling different
groups of students to attend at different times, he said, and to help
with teacher burnout through more frequent breaks. About 4 percent of
K-12 students, or roughly 3 million, attend year-round schools,
according to Hornak.
Schools use the additional breaks, called intersessions, to provide
enrichment activities such as fine arts camps and field trips, or
tutoring and other academic support designed to catch up students who
have fallen behind. Some year-round schools require students to attend
intersessions if they need the extra help, while in other places the
programs are voluntary and open to all students.
Hornak said the shorter summers mean children do not lose as much
knowledge between school years. Teachers can focus on teaching new
material, instead of trying to catch students up, and kids who need
extra help can receive it.
José Espinoza, superintendent of Socorro Independent School District in
El Paso County, where year-round school has been in place since the
1990s, is a proponent of the calendar, but he said it is not a perfect
solution.
In 2012, Socorro, a low-income district, was lagging behind other
districts in Texas on new state assessments of academic readiness,
despite using the model. Espinoza realized the district needed to
better take advantage of the year-round calendar. Over the next few
years, Socorro revamped its intersessions, creating the WIN Academy, a
program that identified students who were struggling and helped them
catch up through extra math and reading instruction. Students typically
stayed with the same teachers for a period of years.
Last year, Socorro was given an “A” rating by the state.
Garland Independent School District in North Texas voted in June to
approve the year-round system for two years. Susanna Russell, its chief
leadership officer, said the model will help alleviate some of the
lasting effects of the pandemic. It also creates flexibility if a
student misses many classes because of illness or a loss in the family,
or if a school has to shut down temporarily because of a coronavirus
outbreak.
The district will offer remediation such as tutoring and other
services, but it will also help students prepare for Advanced Placement
and college entrance exams. There are plans for camps, possibly for
fine arts, robotics or coding.
“We know our kids are going to be hit harder and they’re going to come
up at a disadvantage,” Russell said of the district, where more than 60
percent of students are low-income. “And if our district’s core value
is that we remove obstacles and barriers to provide access and
opportunity, then we have no choice but to explore this.”
Tara Kristof, a parent of a sixth grader in the Dallas Independent
School District, took note when nearby Garland made the switch.
Kristof said she has long been curious about the model because of the
expense of summer camp and child care. She saves all year for the
summers and leverages a flexible spending account through her job, but
she said it would be easier if school breaks were spread out.
“Summer is 11 weeks,” Kristof said. “It is a big, big chunk of money all at once.”
Some districts use the year-round schedule creatively to ease the kinds
of challenges parents like Kristof face. At year-round schools in
Hornak’s district, for example, parents can opt to send their students
to school during intersessions. It costs $100 a week, but that’s
cheaper than local childcare options, according to Hornak.
The model can also help ease childhood hunger, which tends to rise
during summer months as kids lose access to free school meals. When
schools are open throughout the year, children can rely on these meals
more consistently, a particularly urgent matter now given that the
pandemic has left more families hungry.
But there are drawbacks. One concern with the system is the expense:
Most teachers’ contracts don’t cover them to work during intersessions,
and school facilities cost money to keep open. However, Hornak said
districts are typically able to cover the expenses through federal
funding for high-poverty districts, or by charging small fees for
students who opt in to intersession.
Administrators for Socorro and Garland said they’ve been able to pay
for the program with federal funds as well as dollars the state
allocated in the last legislative session for districts that are adding
extra days.
When districts consider going year-round, they sometimes face pushback,
most of it focused on the disruption to summer traditions. Families
plan reunions or vacations, schools host band or athletic camps, and
teenagers and teachers take summer jobs.
But while some Harlandale parents and teachers initially bristled at
the idea of going year-round, Casey said they warmed up to it after
learning more about the model. Russell said a parent survey showed
significant support for the move. Espinoza said people in his community
are happy with the year-round system.
While Harlandale won’t be going year-round this fall, Casey said the
model is under consideration for next year. After all, the full impact
of the “Covid slide” likely won’t be felt until students return to
face-to-face instruction – and when that might happen is a big unknown
in much of the country.
In Harlandale, students will start the school year online. Later in the
fall, if cases drop, families will be able to choose between virtual or
in-person classes for the rest of the semester.
Casey said that once her teachers are face-to-face with students, the
learning losses will become clear. “We’re going to know,” she said. She
expects it will be difficult to see students struggling to read the
same material or perform the same equations they learned previously.
“That reality is going to be very profound for people,” she said. “I hope that’s not the case, but I think it’s likely.”
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