Why year-round schooling is failing in Utah

However year-round schooling has recently seen a massive decline, and is being phased out in almost all Utah schools. There isn’t one single reason for this, but many argue that while year-round schooling does work well to keep students busy, and focused on learning, it struggles to account for students’ outside lives. 

For example older students, in year round school schedules struggle with being able to get jobs because there is no summer break to work through. 

Another thing that those who oppose year-round schooling also point out is that it has little effect on students' learning retention.  The disadvantages of Year-round schooling don’t just affect students; they affect teachers and parents as well. Teachers are often able to also get a summer job to supplement their income when schools are closed, in a traditional schedule. However, teachers at year-round schools are not given this opportunity. They instead often compensate for this by budgeting, their daily spending, and losing quality of life advantages. Another disadvantage year round schooling presents teachers is that they feel like there isn't a good break from the heavy workload that teaching presents. Many teachers leave their jobs in a year round school schedule due to burn out caused by  the lack of a rest on top of the challenges faced in a traditional system, but  the disadvantages don’t end there.  A study by Jennifer Graves into the ability of maternal parents to retain employment showed that year-round schooling negatively impacted maternal parents. Jennifer Graves found that “ redistributing child care days available through school into shorter intervals over time negatively impacts maternal employment. Among those women with school-aged children, those who have pre-school-aged children have the hardest time adjusting to differences in existing availability.”

Overall, the decision to cut year-round schooling can be attributed to the schedule having more negative than positive impact on its students and teachers, making it harder to separate their schooling and personal lives.