Impact of Year-Round Schooling on Academic Achievement

This essay analyzes the impact of year-round schooling on academic achievement based on the article, ‘The impact of year-round schooling on academic achievement: Evidence from mandatory school calendar conversions’, by McMullen and Rouse (2012). The study has used mixed methods to reach at the conclusion and has addressed its objective effectively.

Running head: EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
Educational Administration
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
In this particular essay, an analysis of educational administration shall be provided on the
basis of the article, ‘The impact of year-round schooling on academic achievement: Evidence
from mandatory school calendar conversions’, by McMullen and Rouse (2012). The article on a
controversial education policy by the name Wake County Public School System (WCPSS), that
was passed in the United States of America, in the year 2007. Keeping in mind the cost factor
induced by the reduction in the education budget, a change in the education system was being
effected which called for distributing the working days all throughout the year by cutting down
on the long duration of the summer vacation. Basically, it called for a revision of the scholastic
calendar. An estimated 46 schools in the country had switched over to the new system.
Controversy erupted in the year 2007 when this Year Round School (YRS) Policy was criticized
as divisive. The article is centered around this issue.
In this paper, we exploit the natural experiment created by the controversial WCPSS
education policy initiative using a unique, restricted-use panel dataset from the North Carolina
Education Research Data Center (NCERDC) to evaluate the impact of YRS on student
achievement.
This particular statement sums up the research question of the article. Though the
number of Year Round Schools have increased over the years, but there have been no evidence
which shall confirm the benefits of it. Instead it has caused debates in education policy whether
to retain it or not.
Compared with students who are observed in only a traditional calendar school, students
observed at least once in a YRS have both statistically significant higher average math and
reading test scores.

2EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
This quotation sums up the importance of the research paper. This is reflective of the
fact that a thorough and impartial research had been conducted to reach at the conclusions by
comparing two different sets of data.
Our results imply that dividing a long summer break into more frequent shorter breaks
does not have a positive impact on achievement as measured through standardized test scores.
This quotation sums up the benefit of the study. This particular inference, which is on an
overall basis can be used to justify either the retention of the traditional schooling system or to
switch over to the new, Year Round School system. This shall be of great help to the policy
makers while deciding upon the ideal schooling system.
The primary drawback of these early studies, however, is their failure to account for non-
random student and school selection.
This quotation hints at the gap in the existing literature. The previously conducted
studies had failed to take into consideration the heterogeneity in the demographic composition of
the students. The article which is being analyzed, has provided the conclusion that economically
and academically backward students had definitely benefitted out of the new, revised routine,
while the previous researches had provided an extremely generalized account, by taking the body
of students as a homogenous organic whole.
Consistent with the existing literature, our results suggest YRS has essentially no impact
on the academic achievement of the average student. Moreover, when the data are broken down
by racial sub-group, the evidence indicates that, contrary to some previous studies (Graves
2011), disadvantaged racial groups neither benefit, nor are harmed, by YRS.

3EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
This quotation is reflective of the attempt the study has made in filling the gap in the
literature. On one hand it reinforces the inference drawn from the previously generated studies
on an overall basis, but at the same time it also adds a new dimension to the body of literature in
the field of enquiry by providing an account of the possible benefits and to which particular
sections of the America has it reached, which was missing in the previous researches. This has
benefitted the policy-makers to adopt a profound approach to reach at some decision.
With regard to the methodological aspect used in conducting the research, it can be
deduced that it is mixed method. Both the quantitative and qualitative methods have been
employed in reaching at the conclusion. The quantitative method accounts for the survey
conducted by comparing the data, and the usage of qualitative aspect is evident in the mention of
the inferences drawn from previous researches, and also of the gap in literature.
The study has indeed succeeded in living up to its objective. It is owing to the
specificities that the study has attempted to harp upon and then reach at a generalized conclusion.
Though the overall result matches with that of the previous results, that does not mean the study
is useless. One can find both the negative and the positive aspects of the year round school
system in this particular study, hence it can be concluded that the study has addressed its
objective effectively.

4EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
References
McMullen, S. C., & Rouse, K. E. (2012). The impact of year-round schooling on academic
achievement: Evidence from mandatory school calendar conversions. American Economic
Journal: Economic Policy, 4(4), 230-52.