Nationwide Studies

Nationwide Studies

Why Taking Exams After Winter Break is Best for Students
Reviews of material with longer time elapsed between the first and second review (spaced) yield more learning than reviews with less time elapsed between the first and second review (massed). Review of material increases long-term memory best when there is more time between introduction and review of material.
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Smart States Start Late, Avoid Winter Break Blues

Students in states that follow a more traditional school calendar rank among the best on college-entrance exams and standardized tests. Schools in these top-rated states also tend to administer end-of-semester exams after the Winter Break – a fact that stifles a major argument for early school start dates. (Read More)

State Academic Achievement As Related To School Start Dates

States with highest test scores in the nation for 2003 began school late August and early Septemer. (Read More)

Study Finds That No Child Left Behind School Transfer Provision Improving Education for Low-Income and Minority Students
WASHINGTON, DC -- On the eve of 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, a clause that provides transfer opportunities under the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is creating new opportunities for minority and poor children, despite resistance and lack of compliance by many states and school districts, according to a study released today by the Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights. (Read More)

Choosing Better Schools: A Report on Student Transfers
This report by the Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights (CCCR) tells the story of early efforts to implement the new NCLB public school choice provision. Because data has been difficult to come by there are some holes in the narrative. But we have amassed sufficient information to reach some conclusions about the current efficacy of NCLB choice and about its potential. (Read More)

South Carolina Early School Start Dates and the South Carolina Travel and Tourism Industries

An Analysis of Economic & Tax Revenue Impacts
Report for:
Uniform School Start Date Task Force
South Carolina Department of Education

The purpose of this report is to examine the effects and impacts of early school start dates in South Carolina on the Travel and Tourism economy of the State.

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Saving Summer: Lessons Learned

The benefits of stretching the school year have not been proved; what we do know—it’s costing Texans $790 million annually.

Over the last fifty years, additional student holidays have artificially stretched the school year by more than two weeks, from early to mid-August to late May or early June, at a cost to Texans of $790 million annually.

The academic benefits of stretching the instructional year have not been proven, but the economic and societal costs are known. Each extra holiday that school districts add to school calendars is potentially costing parents, teachers, students and businesses $67.8 million per day, statewide; each extra calendar week has a price tag of $395 million.

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Early School Start Dates in North Carolina and the Affect On North Carolina’s Hospitality and Tourism Industry:
An Estimate of the Potential FINANCIAL and ECONOMIC Impact

The start of the public school year has crept ever earlier into the “traditional” summer vacation months of June, July and August. For the past two years, 92% of North Carolina’s county school systems have begun their public school year between July 30and August 12. The purpose of this study was to examine the potential financial and economic benefits to North Carolina’s hospitality and tourism industry of delaying the start of the public school year until after the Labor Day holiday.

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United States Department of Education
Guidelines, Regulation and Law Excerpts

In the case of a school identified for school improvement under this paragraph, the local educational agency shall, not later than the first day of the school year following such identification, provide all students enrolled in the school with the option to transfer to another public school served by the local educational agency, which may include a public charter school, that has not been identified for school improvement under this paragraph, unless such an option is prohibited by State law. (Read Report)

Year Round Education Fails Test in South Carolina

The latest example of the calendar experiments' failure is in South
Carolina, where 26 percent of public schools on a traditional calendar
were recognized for high academic achievement based largely on
student passing rates on the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test,
or PACT. Compare that to the 13 percent of South Carolina schools
following a year-round calendar receiving the Palmetto Gold and
Silver Awards. (Read More)