Perceived benefits and satisfaction of year -round school in Maury County, Tennessee

The purpose of this study was to identify benefits of and satisfaction with year-round school. It examined perceptions of teachers and students who had participated in both a year-round school setting and a traditional school calendar in Maury County. Through the years, school calendars have reflected the needs of families and communities within each school district. For many years, that calendar was designed to serve a rural, agrarian society. As our nation become more industrialized, the calendar changed with it. Many reforms have been implemented to improve the quality of learning. Year-round schooling is one such reform. There is disagreement in the educational arena as to the effectiveness of year-round school. Proponents say it eliminates learning loss over the long summer months. Opponents say it disrupts family life and extracurricular activates. They also say the repeated starting and stopping of school is detrimental to student learning. This study examined responses to a Year-Round School Survey that addressed both perceived benefit and satisfaction. The sample data consisted of 521 students and 546 educators from Maury County Public Schools and Columbia Academy. Hypotheses were designed to test the information generated. A one sample t-test and an unpaired t-test were used as statistical analyses to measure responses. Results of the study suggested there to be both a statistically significant perceived benefit and satisfaction of year-round school among students and faculty members surveyed. When comparing perceived benefit and satisfaction between Maury County Public Schools and Columbia Academy, no statistically significant difference was measurable. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that Maury County remain with a form of year-round school due to the perceived benefit and satisfaction of the students and faculty members. It is further recommended that a study be conducted comparing the test scores of the traditional school calendar with those of the year-round school calendar