Shift to year-round school calendar

The Detroit News is highlighting ideas from various groups to promote discussion on reform, restructuring government and the economy.

Shift to year-round school calendar

Idea 36: Free Michigan's schools to set up a year-round calendar.

Why: The 10-week vacation from mid-June through the end of August hurts learning and doesn't make students competitive globally with counterparts who have a longer school year. Students tend to lose a month's worth of learning during the summer, according to a Duke neuroscience professor. Students from low-income or second-language families can lose even more learning. The practice is an outdated tradition that traces back to when children were needed on the farm in the summer. More schools are embracing the a year-round school calendar -- about 3,000 nationally teaching 2.1 million students in 2006-07, according to the National Association for Year-Round Education.

Benefits: Students and teachers will stay fresh, learn better and forget less if their breaks are spaced out rather than lumped into June, July and August. Some year-round calendar schools provide supplemental learning opportunities during their breaks for interested students.

How: Rescind a state law that prohibits schools from opening before Labor Day. Don't require schools to get a special waiver from the Michigan Department of Education. Schools could then set up several, shorter breaks from the classroom -- a multiweek vacation in the summer and one-week to two-week breaks at other times.

Obstacles: Tourism and other interests lobbied for the state law that prohibits schools from opening before Labor Day. Teachers often use 10-week summer break to take classes to earn master's degrees, which ensure higher pay at public schools. Coordinating specialized services with educators on a traditional school schedule may be difficult.

Source: Center for Michigan