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Gone are the days when "summer" for school kids meant Memorial Day until Labor Day. In an effort to help kids learn more and stay safe, more and more Chicago-area schools are cutting back and starting school as early as this week. Last year, 18 schools opened at the beginning of August. This year that number is up to 41. Said Chicago Public School Chief Education Officer Barbara Eason-Watkins, "We're going to the year-round calendar in many school communities because we feel that it will eliminate the summer learning loss that many of our students have experienced." Students won't be going straight through until with Christmas without a break, though: they'll have a two-week break in October.
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This will help them practice their all-important standardized test taking skills.
I like year-round school actually, the notion of taking 3 months off is archaic. Shorter breaks, spaced throughout the year are easier on parents (saving on child care) and help maintain a continuum of learning.
Though I confess it was my greatest fear growing up that we'd go year round.
Though I confess it was my greatest fear growing up that we'd go year round.
So true, so true. Same with school uniforms.
But yeah, year-round school is definitely a better structure for education. Also, my college always had a week off in October, and a random break in the fall is awesome.
As a parent with children in CPS, I have to disagree with the commenters. I think year-round school is horrible. It saves no money on daycare, because the number of days in session doesn't increase. Breaks are simply spread out, so daycare actually becomes much more complicated, and in some cases more expensive. There's been no actual evidence that year-round school improves performance, no evidence that retention is improved. Costs go up, though, due to increased air-conditioning expense ... assuming the school even has air conditioning, which many here don't.
Which leads to a side rant ... why are people in Chicago so averse to air conditioning. Don't you people realize it's hot?
When did summer EVER mean Memorial Day through Labor Day? Certainly never for me, and I'm in my 30s. We always went through early June and were back sometime in late August.