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Steven Greenfield

Steven Greenfield, Board Member
Currently a private equity investor, Steven Greenfield holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and has held executive-level positions at several companies. Steven is involved with several New York-based charities, in addition to TeachersCount.

Year-Round Schooling

New York, March 28, 2007— According to the National Association for Year-Round Education, more than 2.1 million children around the country were enrolled in year-round schools as of 2006. In most cases, this means students are in school for the same number of days per year (180), but the schedule is spread out more evenly over the calendar year rather than there being an extended summer vacation. In an informal online poll that took place in February and March, 2007, visitors to TeachersCount.org were asked their opinion on the practice of year-round education.

In all, there were 356 respondents, of whom 191 described themselves as educators. Overall, 47.5% said that both students and teachers benefit from year-round schooling; 22.5% said that neither teachers nor students benefit; and 20.7% reported mixed feelings. Additionally, 7.6% said that students but not teachers benefit, and 1.7% said the converse.

The opinions of educators and non-educators largely lined up with each other. The most prominent difference was that more educators (50.8%) than non-educators (43.6%) said that both teachers and students benefit from year-round schooling.

Considering that year-round schooling remains a relatively uncommon practice, it is quite striking that nearly half of the poll’s respondents said that both students and teachers benefit and that fewer than a quarter said that the system is beneficial to neither group.

The poll invited respondents to comment and many of them did. Below is a sampling of comments arranged by response. (As very few respondents said that teachers but not students benefit, comments pertaining to that response are omitted.)

“I believe that both students and teachers benefit.”—47.5%
  • “I love it! School should not be centered around vacation time. Vacations should be centered around school.”
  • “I have been teaching at a year-round school for 5 years and I think that year-round schools help students retain information longer. When students return to school after a break the review period is not as long. Also, it helps teachers not get as burned out throughout the year.”
“I believe that students benefit, but teachers do not.”—7.6%
  • “I think this system is great! It'll benefit the students because they will retain more of what they learn. But, how will the teachers benefit? I think it'll only benefit [them] if there were some sort of higher pay or something equally satisfying.”
  • “Teachers need the time in the summer to plan next year’s lessons.”
“I believe that neither students nor teachers benefit.”—22.5%
  • “Summer vacation is a definitive end of the school year. It provides much needed time for teachers and students to rest and be refreshed for the following school year.”
  • “Who wants three weeks off in November or February? It also would create childcare dilemmas for working parents.”
“My feelings are mixed.”—20.8%
  • “Our public schools in Minnesota generally do not have air conditioning, which would be a must to extend the school year into the summer. Since most of our schools are cutting budgets because of lack of funding, I doubt if the state would ever pay for AC, so from a practical standpoint, I don't see this ever being implemented successfully.”
  • “I think this is a great idea for elementary students. But in secondary schools it's too much conflict with extracurricular activities.”