The number of students in schools using year-round calendars is up for the 15th-straight year, a report by the National Association for Year-Round Education says.
More than 1.4 million students now do without the traditional summer vacation, the annual survey found. In the current school year, 366 districts in 32 states offer classes on a year-round basis.
The survey also makes clear, however, that the movement for year-round education is still concentrated among elementary schools, which make up 85 percent of the buildings on such a schedule.
But while the numbers are lopsided toward elementary schools, some states are showing new interest in moving high schools to the new schedule, according to Charles Ballinger, the executive director of the association.
In Texas, for example, 12 high schools moved to year-round calendars this year, he said.
The report also found:
- The most popular year-round calendar schedules students for 60 instructional days, followed by a 20-day break.
- Beyond public schools, 34 private schools are now operating on a year-round calendar.
- Eighty-two high schools and 171 middle schools have opted for the year-round schedule.
The survey also found that multiple-track calendars are the most popular for schools under the year-round concept. By alternating student breaks, such schedules enable schools to increase their building capacity, since a portion of the enrollment is always on hiatus.
Nearly 60 percent of year-round schools use the overlapping calendar.
Fast-growing states in the Sun Belt continue to be the greatest users of the year-round calendar. California is home to 1,212 year-round schools, followed by Texas with 220, Florida with 105, Utah with 90, and Nevada with 37.
L.A., San Diego Top Users
States added to the year-round map for the first time this year were Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Kentucky, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.
The Los Angeles school district is the largest single user of the calendar, with 268,000 students on the continuous schedule in 208 schools. San Diego is the next-largest user, with 47 schools and more than 40,000 students.
Copies of the report, “20th Reference Directory of Year-Round Education Programs for the 1993-94 School Year,’' are available for $20 each from the N.A.Y.R.E., P.O. Box 711386, San Diego, Calif. 92171-1386; (619) 292-3765.
