The extensive body of research into summer learning loss and the expanding achievement gap is a well-known issue in education. Summer learning loss has been shown to significantly contribute to the achievement gap and have a more noticeable effect on students from a low-SES household when compared with higher income peers. The effects of summer…

The effects of long school breaks, such as summer vacation, on students' achievement has been an area of interest among educators and researchers for many years (e.g. Austin, Rogers & Walbesser, 1972; Ballinger, 1987, 1988; Borman, Benson & Overman, 2005; White, 1906). Research specific to children and youth with disabilities and the…

Schedule redesign is only one small part of the much larger approach to turning around low-performing schools. Even so, most states' No Child Left Behind waiver applications show a disappointing lack of detail on learning time. While they've done some careful thinking about schedule redesign, states must continue to think critically and…

The Summer Enrichment Camp (SEC) at Pequea Valley School District was developed to provide an extended school year for at-risk, Title I, students. This study compared the learning growth of the SEC students with similar students who did not attend SEC. The 36 students in the SEC group were compared to 18 non-SEC students using district and state…

This study compared the academic math achievement of two homogeneous classes of gifted and talented sixth graders, with one group attending year-round school (N=22) and the other group following the traditional school calendar (N=26). Both groups were taught the same pre-algebra math program in the 1991-1992 school year, and data were gathered…