Examining the Effectiveness of Year-Round School Calendars on Improving Educational Attainment Outcomes Within the Context of Advancement of Health Equity: A Community Guide Systematic Review

Abstract

Students may lose knowledge and skills achieved in the school year during the summer break, with losses greatest for students from low-income families. Community Guide systematic review methods were used to summarize evaluations (published 1965-2015) of the effectiveness of year-round school calendars (YRSCs) on academic achievement, a determinant of long-term health. In single-track YRSCs, all students participate in the same school calendar; summer breaks are replaced by short “intersessions” distributed evenly throughout the year. In multi-track YRSCs, cohorts of students follow separate calendar tracks, with breaks at different times throughout the year. An earlier systematic review reported modest gains with single-track calendars and no gains with multi-track calendars. Three studies reported positive and negative effects for single-track programs and potential harm with multi-track programs when low-income students were assigned poorly resourced tracks. Lack of clarity about the role of intersessions as simple school breaks or as additional schooling opportunities in YRSCs leaves the evidence on single-track programs insufficient. Evidence on multi-track YRSCs is also insufficient.

Views on Modifying the Traditional School Calendar for a Post-COVID World: Could a Balanced Calendar Model Mitigate COVID-19 Slide?

“…Graves’ 2011 study showed YRE had negative effects on standardized test scores of various student subgroups. Finnie et al (2019) analyzed and summarized the most recent YRE research and concluded that, although Graves’ results were not the only statistically significant negative findings, the majority of existent literature suggests only minimal positive results on academic achievement. They also note what numerous other researchers have also concluded that the body of research yields insufficient evidence to definitively claim YRE will consistently benefit disadvantaged students.…”

“…An issue this paper examines, that could be addressed with YRE and ESY, is persistent achievement gaps between high and low SES—often intensified by long summer breaks (Finnie et al, 2019). The standard summer break in TCS often accounts for learning loss that can lead to cumulative academic deficiencies, especially prevalent among low-income and low-achieving students (Tiruchittampalam et al, 2018; Lenhoff et al, 2020).…”

Evidence-Based Education: The (Not So Simple) Case of French-Speaking Belgium

“…A last example is the one of the school calendar change. While its intentions are laudable and it can be said to have psychobiological foundations (FAPEO, 2008; Mouraux, 1992; Testu & Fontaine, 2001), the reform of the school calendar is not based on any evidence of its educational effectiveness in terms of academic achievement (Finnie et al, 2019).…”

The Learning Sciences Framework in Educational Leadership

“…Educational leaders and learning scientists often see similar problems but articulate their research questions differently, leading to distinct ways of both measuring progress toward objectives as well as the choice of appropriate activities. For example, both learning scientists as well as educational leaders are concerned about the curriculum (e.g., Glatthorn et al, 2018;Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2019), the school calendar (e.g., Farbman et al, 2015;Finnie et al, 2018), and teacher training (e.g., Allen and Penuel, 2015;Darling-Hammond et al, 2017), but they approach these issues differently based on the words they use to state their objectives. The literature suggests at least 30 questions for which both educational leaders and learning scientists have conducted research and sought answers (see Table 1).…”