Year-Round School: Is It Time for a Change?

For Carroll County Public Schools, the school year starts at the beginning of September and ends June 9. This ensures that there are 180 days (about nine months) left in the school year, but that also leaves us with two and a half months of no school! While great for some, for others, this can be detrimental to their learning and mental health. 

There are several clear benefits to year-round school: combatting learning loss, access to resources, and scheduling. Many students struggle with learning loss over the summer, forgetting the material they learned the previous school year. If school were to be year-round, there would be no time for students to lose the material they had learned, combatting the learning loss problem. 

Not only does having school year-round combat learning loss, but it also helps students who rely on the resources that school provides. Some students do not have access to the same resources as others, such as food, shelter, and counseling. Taking these resources from students during the summer not only hurts them but negatively impacts their chances of becoming successful adults in the future. 

Also, having school year-round gives the school district an opportunity to fix scheduling conflicts. While the current school schedule has students going to school five out of seven days a week, eight hours of the day until either a holiday or summer break comes around. Changing 

this, so instead of having a summer break, having shorter, but more frequent breaks give students time to settle down and process what they had learned throughout the learning week, providing a more positive and structured environment for school. 

With that being said, they’re many reasons why having school year-round could positively impact the lives of students, and teachers alike.