{"id":5718,"date":"2023-02-09T17:07:30","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T17:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agileedstg.wpengine.com\/?p=5718"},"modified":"2024-04-23T13:35:14","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T19:35:14","slug":"flexible-school-year-calendars-provide-relief-retention-and-renewal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agile-ed.com\/resources\/flexible-school-year-calendars-provide-relief-retention-and-renewal\/","title":{"rendered":"Flexible School Year Calendars Provide Relief, Retention, and Renewal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">There is a growing trend amongst public K-12 schools throughout the country, and it is a shift in scheduling. Flexible school year calendars are a happy medium between a traditional school year calendar and a year-round calendar, providing relief, retention, and renewal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed alignright is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Educator Perspective: Flexible School Year Calendars Provide Relief, Retention, And Renewal\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/922683570?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&nbsp;<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The verdict? Teachers approve, and so do students and their parents. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A flexible school year calendar typically has a starting date a week or two weeks earlier than the traditional one. This seems early at first, but it still gives teachers and families six to seven weeks of summer break, and most agree that is plenty.&nbsp;<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">By beginning the school year earlier, this time is now given back into more frequent and more prolonged breaks during the school year. This new schedule gives educators and students much-needed breaks during the school year, resulting in fewer absences from students and teachers.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&nbsp;<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">With a flexible calendar, teachers tend to take fewer personal days during the school year because they schedule dental appointments and similar outings for the various breaks the flexible calendar affords. Doing so limits reliance on substitute teachers, a chronic shortage for years. Families can also plan vacations that will no longer cut into school time and throughout different times of the year rather than just the summer, which will accommodate varying work schedules and family budgets.&nbsp;<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Summer break is a little shorter, but most agree that\u2019s ok because by the time August comes around, everyone is ready to get back to school anyway, and most would rather have time off during the school year instead. A shorter summer break also means there is less time for \u201cbrain drain\u201d from students, and it helps them retain and recall what they\u2019ve learned in the previous year.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0When Gulfport School District in Mississippi began considering a year-round school, in addition to student-centered benefits around retention and learning, they also hoped it would help reduce teacher burnout. Teachers who get summer jobs sometimes worry that a year-round calendar will take income away by preventing them from obtaining summer employment. However, they can earn extra money by working through intercession and supplement their income right out of their classroom because they will be paid additional funds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i.ibb.co\/p0RHs4q\/2-Slide-1-copy-2.jpg\" alt=\"Relief, Retention, and Renewal\" style=\"width:418px;height:auto\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&nbsp;<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Intercessions are provided during the additional time off for academically struggling students who need extra help. Teachers can work with these students in small learning groups during the intercession time and are paid extra income.&nbsp;<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Flexible calendaring, by default, provide greater economic support to education companies and organizations, as resources will be needed nearly year-round between the school calendar, intercession breaks, summer school, and planning for the next school year.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&nbsp;<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Change can be difficult at first, especially when something has been in place for such a long, like a traditional school year calendar. However, be mindful of Grace Hopper\u2019s wise words\u2026 \u201cThe most dangerous phrase in the language is, \u2018we\u2019ve always done it this way.\u201d <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Not all change is bad. Some of it is very much needed. In this particular instance, change was and is required. The proof of that is in the feedback from educators and their students, who are seeing great benefits in this new flexible calendar becoming more popular throughout K-12 schools in the country.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Written by: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/meredith-brown-biesinger-m-ed-ldt-b2858563\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Meredith Biesinger<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong data-rich-text-format-boundary=\"true\">Professional Writer\/ Education Specialist<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">We specialize in serving up value that drives positive change throughout your organization. <a href=\"https:\/\/mktg.agileedstg.wpengine.com\/Contact-Us-2022Landing-Page\">Reach out today to get started<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is a growing trend amongst public K-12 schools throughout the country, and it is a shift in scheduling. Flexible school year calendars are a happy medium between a traditional school year calendar and a year-round calendar, providing relief, retention, and renewal.\u00a0 &nbsp;The verdict? Teachers approve, and so do students and their parents. A flexible [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":5719,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2526,1574],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-posts","category-educator_perspective"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agile-ed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agile-ed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agile-ed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agile-ed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agile-ed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agile-ed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agile-ed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agile-ed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agile-ed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agile-ed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}