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The goal of "Research into Practice" is to interpret and understand the work done on the Learning through the Library Task Force. This group was charged with identifying and disseminating successful practices in school library media centers that support school reform efforts to improve student learning and achievement. Task Force members included Violet Harada (chair), Debbie Abilock, Carolyn Cain, Sharon Coatney, Bill Deny, Mike Eisenberg, Carol Fox, Mark Gordon, A. James Jones, Carol Kroll, Carol Kuhlthau, Vivian Melton, Carol Nelson, Donna Peterson, Denise Rehmke, and Sheila Salmon.
The Research
Year Round Education
by Nancy Everhart
Over the past fifteen years there has been a 544 percent increase in the number of public schools that have implemented year-round education in the United States.1 For the 2002-2003 school year, 46 states, 3,181 schools, and more than 2.3 million students are participating in year-round schools.2 Year-round education breaks up the traditional three-month summer vacation and provides smaller intersession vacations throughout the year. Students usually attend school the same number of days as their counterparts in schools with traditional schedules. Teachers and school library media specialists (SLMSs) may work more days, depending on the type of year-round schedule employed.
There are variations of year-round schedules based on how school and vacation days are divided and whether the school is on a single- or multi-track. With single-track scheduling, the whole school operates on one calendar with simultaneous breaks. For example, classes are in session for forty-five days and then are off for a fifteen-day break (or sixty-twenty; ninety-thirty). Multi-track schools operate with several calendars to accommodate groups, or tracks, of teachers and students who alternate breaks to maximize use of school facilities every day of the year.
The capacity of year-round schools to accommodate larger numbers of students without the need to construct new school buildings is attractive to administrators and taxpayers and is the main reason for their popularity. But another advantage that proponents of year-round education point out is that it makes the most of learning time for students-especially at-risk students, gifted and talented students, and students with disabilities.3 The Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University has conducted several research studies on modified school calendars, noting the significance of "summer learning loss" and the merits...