List of a few of the Year Round Schools

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the schools include: Ashe, Avalon Park, Barnard, Beethoven, Ronald Brown, Brunson, Calhoun North, Carroll, Cather, Clark , Cook, Cuffe, Dett, DePriest, Drake, Dunne, Earhart, Edwards, Ellington, Esmond, Fernwood, Frazier Magnet, Goldblatt, Harvard, Hay, Hearst, Hefferan, Herbert, Herzl, Higgins, Hoyne, Charles Hughes, Irving, Jensen, Kellman, King, Kohn, Kozminski, Libby, Lovett, Lowell, Mann, McDowell, McNair, Melody, Morgan, Nash, National Teachers, Ninos Heroes, Nobel, O’Toole, Peck, Penn, Piccolo, Pope, Prescott, Randolph, Ryder, Ryerson, Sherman, Shoop, Smyth, Till, Walsh, West Pullman, Williams Prep, and Zapata.

Solution/Remedy

With the number of schools that were changed in the past year, Chicago Public Schools seem like they can mange converting over the rest of the other schools to the same program. The initial suggestion needs to come from a higher top position political leader. When the school district learns of this the School Board can petition for the addition of the other schools within CPS. The initial decision then is made by the Chicago Board of Education. The addition of year round schools should be done yearly. By transitioning yearly this allows for the opportunity of adjustment, not only from the students and their parents, but also for the teachers. When schools begin to change over it will spark interest among other communities of why there children aren’t going back and before one knows it all schools will change over to the year round program.

CPS Year Round Video

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/video?id=6957397

Minimizing Violence

Another advantage to changing all schools within CPS to year round, is it would minimize youth violence. The City of Chicago has faced many deaths of young ones due to the violence within their neighborhoods. There is a trend to see more deaths among children during the summer months than the school year. And by eliminating the long summer vacation, there is hope to eliminate children being the victims. The Chicago Public Radio interviewed a woman who is happy to see her younger brother in a year round school. “The neighborhood is getting really bad. And I’d rather [have] him in school than to be out here doing nothing and hanging around with kids he shouldn’t be hanging around with.” Changing all the schools would offer a safe place for children. The summer months only bring boredom and trouble to children. At least when they are in school they are being supervised and constantly have something that is occupying their minds. The CPS website states that an advantage of year round schools is that it “provides children with a safe environment.”

City Room™ - Education - Chicago Public Schools Move to Year-Round Calendar

City Room™ - Education - Chicago Public Schools Move to Year-Round Calendar

Special Needs Students

Working as a special needs teacher’s assistant I think the idea of year round schooling would benefit children who are in these types of programs. Children especially with autism need a structured schedule and a year round school schedule would be beneficial for these children. Working with children with autism I see the struggles that are faced on a daily basis, when they come back to school after only a night. When they return from summer vacation it is very difficult to get these kids back on track where we left off the year prior. I have to admit that it is difficult to get their focus back after a week break but there isn’t as much struggle as there is after the three month vacation. Year round schools would allow for more time to focus on the needs these children face. Some children with special needs face the difficulty of retaining information and if they were in a year round school concepts could be reiterated a number of times and there may be some hope of some retention. Unlike in a traditional calendar school, there is all this focus on concepts, then there is a break, the children come back and the cycle starts all over again until another break occurs and then before you know it the kids are off for the summer. If teachers and assistants were allowed more time throughout the year to work with them more of these children would gain independence and retention of daily life skills. A recent example that I can think of is we are potty training a second grader. While he is at school there is tremendous progress. A few weeks ago he was out of school for a few days and in that time all his progress of using the bathroom regressed. The sense of gaining independence is like children doing exceptionally well on a standardized test. It is important to keep children on a regular school schedule, but even more so children within the special needs program.

Preperation for the Future

Children who do attend year round schools beginning with elementary school are better prepared for college and further for the world of work. Year round schools prepare children for higher education. Many colleges and universities semesters and trimesters follow a similar schedule as a year round school. There are frequent breaks, but throughout much of they year students are in classes. Having children follow a Track E calender better prepares them for the work world, when you begin a job you have only holidays off and a few occasional breaks here and there. When children are a summer off year by year, it will come as a shock to them when they enter the working world, because they summer vacation will vanish. The schedule of a year round school will help in their adjustment when they do enter college or when they begin a job in the work world.

CPS announces the addition of 67 more Track E schools to start in August

I found an article on the CPS website from April 22, 2009. The article discussed the addition of Track E schools (year round). "Chicago Board of Education members are expected to vote today on increasing the number of schools that will operate on a “Track E” calendar from 65 to 132. Under the Track E calendar, schools open the first week of August instead of after Labor Day." It also discussed how children will attend the same number of schools as a school on a traditional calender. The only difference between traditional calenders and Track E calenders are that the breaks are shorter and frequently placed rather than a long vacation. In August of 2007 CPS increased the number of Track E schools from 18 to 41, than later in march added another 24 schools to follow the Track E schedule. And this past April they added another 67 elementary schools.

The article also pointed out the benefits of a Track E program

• Minimizes “learning loss” for kids who otherwise would be out of school an entire summer.
• Allows teachers better time management to design more meaningful lesson plans in shorter bursts, which can contribute to enhanced instructional programming and improved student achievement.
• Minimizes teacher burnout by providing for regular and better-spaced time off.
• Provides children with a safe environment.
• Regular scheduled time off allows for better student and staff attendance.

Year-Round Fact Sheet

Multi-track, year-round

• Students attend 180 days on each track
• Students stay with the same teacher the entire school year
• The year is divided into four quarters with 45 days of instruction followed by 15-day breaks
• Students and their teachers attend one of four tracks, each with its own 45/15 calendar
• At any given time, three tracks of students and their teachers are in school and one track is on vacation
• Each time students and their teachers return from a break, they move to another classroom
• Teachers have the same number of planning days on year-round as traditional calendar
• Students and teachers have the same holidays on year-round as traditional calendar
  

Benefits of Year-round calendar

• Multi-track schools can accommodate 20-33 percent more students in a building
• Saves on construction costs by better utilizing available space
• Saves on operating costs (for example, 6 classes of students can share 5 sets of textbooks, equipment, furniture)
• The 15-day breaks provide a time for enrichment and remedial opportunities for students
• For every three schools on a multi-track year-round calendar, that's one school you don't have to build

My Topic

The topic I choose for my final paper is the issue of Year round schooling and how it should be implemented among all the Chicago Public Schools. In the past year there CPS changed a number of schools to follow the Track E calender. I believe that all the schools within CPS should follow the same calender, frequent breaks spread throughout the year seem to be more benefiting for the children and teachers. There are many benefits to schools following the year round calender versus the traditional school calender. Children are in schools the same amount of time but the breaks for the students are placed more sporadically throughout the year rather than a long summer vacation.