Definition of Year Round Education
By Melissa Kelly
Definition: Year Round Education is when schools operate on a 180 day system, yet they spread these days out
across the year with shorter breaks between each term as opposed to a longer summer break. In America,
schools typically operate on a 10-month system as established when the United States was still a largely
agrarian nation. However, year round education would change this so that instead of 10 months in school with a
two month vacation, students would go for shorter periods of time and have longer breaks interspersed. The
most popular example of year round education is the 45-15 plan. This has students attending school 45 days and
then getting three weeks (15 days) off. The normal breaks (holiday, spring) are still built into this calendar.
Many others ways exist to organize the calendar, including the 60-20 and the 90-30 plans. Implementation of
year round education is sometimes done using a multi-tracking system. There is a debate in America over the
effectiveness of year round education.
Kelly, Melissa. "Definition of Year Round Education." About. About.com (an IAC Company), n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
Calendar Comparisons
The charts below compare the distribution of days in school and days on break on the nine-month traditional calendar vs.
the distribution of school days on a balanced or modified calendar. Weekends are excluded form the charts, with both
models detailing a typical year of 258 work days (Monday through Friday). Both charts represent a standard school year of
180 days.
The traditional calendar
features a long summer
vacation of 12 weeks followed
by a long period of in-session
days, with the first break
coming at Thanksgiving. The
winter holidays are followed
by 55 in-session days before
a short spring break. Spring
break is followed by 40 work
days before the end of the
school year.
The balanced calendar
reduces the long summer
break and simply apportions
those days throughout the
school year, producing more
frequent breaks and thus
limiting long periods of insession days, as well as
longer vacations. Both
calendars feature 180 days
of instruction, with the
modified calendar balancing
the frequency of in-session
days with days on break. The
winter holiday and
Thanksgiving break can be
the same on both calendars.
"Balanced Calendar vs. Traditional Calendar." Balanced Calendar vs. Traditional Calendar. Ed. Sam Pepper and Charles
Ballinger. National Association for Year-Round Education, 21 Apr. 2009. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
Carpenter Year Round Elementary School
Address
2290 Flintridge St
Lake Orion, MI 48359
(248) 391-3500
Profile
Grades: K - 5
School Type: Public
Student Enrollment: 450
Students Per Teacher: 16
MEAP Test Results
Test Year: 2013
Carpenter Year Round Elementary School (1st bar)
Lake Orion Community Schools (2nd bar)
Michigan (3rd bar)
Orion Oaks Elementary
School
Address
1255 Joslyn Rd
Lake Orion, MI 48360
(248) 393-0010
Profile
Grades: K - 5
School Type: Public
Student Enrollment: 600
Students Per Teacher: 17
MEAP Test Results TestYear:2013
Orion Oaks Elementary School (1st bar)
Lake Orion Community Schools (2nd bar)
Michigan (3rd bar)
Paint Creek Elementary School
Address
2800 Indianwood Rd
Lake Orion, MI 48362
(248) 814-1724
Profile
Grades: K - 5
School Type: Public
Student Enrollment: 480
Students Per Teacher: 12
MEAP Test Results
Test Year: 2013
Paint Creek Elementary School (1st bar)
Lake Orion Community Schools (2nd bar)
Michigan (3rd bar)