A list of studies and Web
sites
on school calendar issues
This site is continuously updated. Watch for new
postings
Hand
out this list to parents and teachers; include
this list in materials for information meetings and school board
presentations. A website resource list by state is also on this
page.
Here are some WEB SITES with particularly good information:
http://www.SummerMatters.com
This site is an important
resource for grassroots groups and people new to school
calendar issues. It was designed
to provide the reader quick overviews of the issues and quick summaries of the research
on and experiences with year-round school around the nation. It also provides
up-to-date accounts
of new research and news from around the nation on school calendar
reform and issues related to it. On this site you will find a list of hundreds
of school districts representing thousands of schools
that either tried and rejected year-round schools or considered
year-round school and then rejected the idea. The site, compiled by a
journalist, contains several commentaries that can be included in calendar
presentations.
http://www.bctf.bc.ca/education/yrs/
The British Columbia Teacher’s Federation website
provides
excellent reviews of the research
on the year-round calendar related to learning and cost
effectiveness. The site also explores other options to school
overcrowding. It was compiled by Charles Naylor, an experieand
respected education researcher.
http://www.auburn.edu/~enebasa
This site was developed by a grassroots committee, Stop Year-Round School Citizen's
Group. The contributors include several professors from Auburn University, whose children would have been impacted by a switch to
a year-round calendar.
good report format to follow for
your community's opposition presentation.
http://www.geocities.com/weswalker99/
This comprehensive website was developed by Wes
Walker, a father of seven who lived through the nightmare of year-round
school. The many excellent links to
research studies and other websites makes this site the most valuable one-stop source of
information. Here you will also find strategies for stopping
aggressive efforts to implement year-round school and great
commentaries contributed by many people around the nation who have become
part of Walker's NOYRE network. Be
sure to check links on this site to papers by Robert Rosenfeld, Ross E.
Mitchell and the North Carolina Department of Education.
The second web address is a page with flyers on the issues that you
can download and distribute.
Wes Walker will soon have a website for Spanish
speaking parents up and running.
See: http://www.geocities.com/weswalker99/spanish/
http://hometown.aol.com/donohoyrs/index.htm
This Anniston,
Ala., site posts excerpts
from and links to many current articles on year-round school issues.
http://schoolyear.info
This site is by Time To Learn, a not-for-profit
organization, opposed to school calendar change.
More Web Sites by
State
Check out these other Web sites built by individuals
or grassroots groups around the nation.
If you would like your website included
on this list, please send an e-mail to bussardre@aol.com
with your web address.
Alabama:
http://www.auburn.edu/~enebasa
This site was developed by a grassroots committee, Stop Year-Round School Citizen's
Group. The contributors include several professors from Auburn
University.
http://hometown.aol.com/donohoyrs/index.htm
Anniston,
Ala., site posts excerpts
from and links to many current articles.
www.savealabamasummers.org
Site by a state coalition opposed to year-round school.
Arkansas:
http://tiger.nwsc.k12.ar.us/technol/mwidder/mwidder.htm
(Mark Widder's web page-Prarie Grove, Ark.)
http://www.geocities.com/weswalker99/pearce/pearce.htm
Site by a parent
Arizona:
http://www.geocities.com/weswalker99/
This comprehensive website was developed by Wes
Walker, a Phoenix father of seven.
http://www.savearizonasummers.com/
Group examines changes for school start
dates.
California:
http://www.geocities.com/noyreatbohn/noyreatbohn.html
grassroots group in Tracy, Calif.
Canada:
http://www.bctf.bc.ca/education/yrs/
The British Columbia Teacher’s Federation website
Florida:
http://cayre.homestead.com/Welcome.html
(Citizens Against Year Round Education - Polk County, Fla.)
http://www.SummerMatters.com
This site is provides research compiled by a Florida journalist.
Georgia:
http://www.geocities.com/floydcountysos/
Provides stats that show dramatic declines (down 78 points in 2 years)
in SAT test scores of high school students after the Trion City School
District switched to a year-round calendar.
http://www.geocities.com/balancedschoolcalendar/
Thomasville, Ga., grassroots opposition website
www.GeorgiansNeedSummers.com
Website of a coalition opposed to school calendar change
Hawaii:
http://www.pixi.com/~mysc/multi_track.html
Minister
in Hawaii outlines the calendar change problems
Illinois:
www.tsfacts.org
Family Action Committee for Traditional Schooling
www.fatefor41.com.
Another Illinois group opposed to school calendar reconfiguration
Idaho:
http://sites.netscape.net/par3.qw/sosmeridian
SOS Citizens Group - Meridian Idaho
Kansas
http://www.geocities.com/bonneragainstyre@sbcglobal.net/bonneragainstyre.html
Kansas group opposed to calendar change.
Kentucky:
http://www.kentuckyconnect.com/heraldleader/news/mon/n14year.html
New Jersey:
http://stars.csg.org/spectrum/1998/fall/fa98spec25.pdf
Excellent article by Dorothy Rubin, professor, The College of New
Jersey
New York:
http://albany.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/1999/03/29/focus4.html
Excellent case made on the impact of year-round school on
tourism industry
North Carolina:
http://www.wakeedx.org/documents/CSYR_Position.html
Parents in Wake County, N.C., organized and wrote this report
outlining the detriments of switching to a year-round calendar.
Ohio:
http://whetstonepays.virtualave.net/
grassroots group in Ohio
http://www.geocities.com/balancedcalendar/
Toledo, Ohio, Parents Against a Balanced Calendar
Oklahoma:
www.saveoursummer.org
Oklahoma group opposed to early school start dates
Tennessee:
http://www.wcscalendar.com/
Williamson County Schools (Nashville area) parent opposition website.
This site does a great job of providing counter arguments to proponent
claims of the benefits of school calendar change.
http://pages.preferred.com/~ikenmt/GreenevilleAgainstYRS.html
Greeneville, TN Parents and Teachers Against Year-Round School
http://www.ttra.com/pub/uploads/004.pdf
Report outlines the detriment of
year-round school to 180,000-plus seasonal
workers in Tennessee who rely on income from summer jobs at tourist spots.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Village/8205/index.html
(Williamson County ,Tenn., "School for All Seasons" Information
Web Site)
http://www.geocities.com/knoxvillepays/index.html
Knoxville group opposed to calendar change
http://www.sosjc.com/
Save
Our Summers Johnson City, Tenn.
Texas:
http://www.traditionalschoolyear.org
Texans
For A Traditional School Year
www.schoolyear.info
This site is by Time To Learn, a not-for-profit organization.
Virginia:
http://home.earthlink.net/~traditionalschoolyr/
Suffolk Parents for a Traditional School Year
West Virginia:
http://www.geocities.com/kanawhayre/
Government Studies
http://nces01.ed.gov/pubs98/condition98/c9805a01.html
summer activities
http://stat.bls.gov/news.release/youth.nws.htm
summer employment
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs/digest97/d970002.html#schools
school data
http://www.asd.wednet.edu/yre.htm
Links - Studies, Reports, Media Accounts
http://www.mccarver.net/kerryed/columns/101303.html
Cheatham County, Tennessee, journalist Kerry McCarver captures well the
long-term and larger financial and education consequences of experiments
with school calendar change. This is a must read for all parents whose
school board members just don't seem to comprehend the larger and
long-term economic and educational implications of even just
experimenting with a year-round calendar, balanced calendar or any of the
other aliases used to disguise a move to a year-round calendar and
eventually a longer school year.
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/00/29/features-blume.php
A must-read for any community considering a year-round calendar. This
comprehensive report paints a frightening portrait of the
consequences of year-round school in Los Angeles.
http://www.wakeedx.org/csyr/
A parent group in Wake County, N.C., put together this report
and petition in opposition to year-round education. It could be a good
format for other opposition groups.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/2001/20010803/104442.html
This school was built to take the pain out of rotating teachers out
of their classrooms multiple times a year that is part of the ritual of multi-track Year-round, yet teachers still find
the moving a hassle.
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/doc/1047/1:METRO76/1:METRO760421101.html
Details some of the reasons why the year-round calendar is
fading fast in Texas, which once had the second largest year-round school
district in the nation.
http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/print.cgi?story=
http://www.dallasnews.com/metro/stories/394368_yearround_15me.html
Another story on why the year-round calendar is
fading fast in Texas.
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010828/3581278s.htm
"School day is long enough" by Deborah Meier, a recipient
of a MacArthur Fellowship and the author of "The Power of Their Ideas" and
"Will
Standards Save Public Education?" The author makes a strong case
against expanding the school year, saying more of the same won't improve
schools.
http://www.dallasnews.com/metro/stories/448115_ninthgrade_19m.html
The nine-grade schools being used in Texas and elsewhere might offer
an alternative to placing overcrowded middle schools or high schools on a
year-round calendar, and might even be better educationally.
http://www.forensicsonline.com/Members/Education/files/PDFs/YearRoundBad.PDF
Pro and Con arguments on school calendar reconfiguration.
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Jul-30-Mon-2001/opinion/16638769.html
An insightful article about "education opportunism"
and school reform.
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/080801/opl_6889525.html
Some of you faced with proposals for an early school start date might want to download this letter to the editor
by Billee Bussard, editor, SummerMatters.com, and include it in your packages of information to school officials and the community.
It was published August 8, 2001 in The Florida Times-Union.
Summertime Learning Experiences
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A51889-2002Jan15.html
Respected education researcher Gerald Bracey looks at the research on
summer learning experiences. The Washington Post op-ed piece shows the
importance families vacation experiences make in a child's education
performance.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/05/education/05ED15T.html?pagewanted=print
Some of the important summer learning experiences for young people
today are featured in this article. The traditional school year provides
the wide window of opportunity for these and other kinds of summer
learning experiences.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A2312-2003Jun16?language=printer
Valuable summer learning experiences afforded by the traditional
school calendar are recounted by some of the nation's education
leaders and college admissions officials.
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/08/07/fp12s1-csm.shtml
The experiences in this six-week summer dance program returned
children to school with better concentration and listening skills.
http://www.educationnews.org/jacksonville_jaguars_foundation_.htm
At-risk children respond positively and their school performance
improves when communities get involved, as illustrated in this
inspiring story about a program by the Jacksonville Jaguars
Foundation. School districts concerned with the so-called summer
slide of at-risk kids might learn a lesson or two from this program.