Trimester Schedules – Consider Competency Based Promotion (CBP) in a Year-Round School System

CBP in a year-round school system with trimesters would solve so many issues! Schools should not close for the summer. We are no longer an agrarian society where farmers need children’s summer help with planting and harvesting crops and managing livestock. Our school buildings are equipped with air conditioning. Working parents must find and pay for costly summertime daycare for their children. School buildings need not sit vacant and idle during the summer months. 

With students moving through school Leveling Up at their own pace, families can schedule vacations and trips at their own convenience or when children are between levels of learning.  Students might be motivated to “finish up” in a set of standards if the family has something planned. Teachers would earn more wages because they will be working year round. Students will have more time to master their grade level standards or to move ahead if they so desire. 

Summer learning loss is no small concern. Students lose ground on their learning paths throughout long summer breaks. Teachers spend weeks at the beginning of every school year reviewing what the students “learned” in last year’s classes. According to a study of students in grades 1 through 6 over five summers, the American Educational Research Association reports that “students in this group lost an average of 39 percent of their total school year gains during each summer.”  As might be expected, the study reports nearly twice as much loss in math skills compared to English language arts.  We are wasting time and money in trying to reteach the skills that our children should have learned the previous school year. 

With the change to trimesters along with CBP, students will retain much more of what they are learning and be able to apply it at the next level. Subject levels will replace Grade Levels. Because students don’t learn at the same pace in every subject, they could be at level 3 in math or third grade math, and at level 4 in reading or fourth grade reading. The summer trimester will provide time to catch up or move ahead. Students will enjoy leveling up as fast as they can, just like they do in video games!

The Cost of Adding 18 Weeks is Worth It

Not enough teachers is a big issue across the country. A huge problem exists with attracting teachers and keeping them. The teaching profession needs to become attractive enough to draw in the people we want.  One big barrier for college students who are choosing a career is the low annual salary for teachers.  On the other hand, teachers are criticized for wanting higher salaries while they don’t work all summer. The truth is that many teachers find second jobs during these “summers off” to make ends meet. 

Full-Time Employment Opportunities

Teachers and other school building employees should be able to work full-time like other professionals who have traditionally worked 8-5 with an hour-long lunch break. Provide paid vacation days and sick leave as in other professions. Teachers and school staff would earn more money because they would be working similar schedules to others. More people would be attracted to the teaching profession if they could earn higher salaries, and our children will benefit greatly from the increased learning opportunities! 

Stop throwing more money at schools and expecting different results. 

Fund the change! 

K-12 public schools should switch to a full-time, year-round trimester schedule using a CBP system for our students. Many states have already made changes in law that support CBP and Level-Up schools.  

Students would benefit from this schedule in many ways:

• Longer lunch breaks and more time between classes. Students are rushed for time during their lunch break as they walk to the cafeteria, line up to get their food, eat, take a restroom break, and get back to class. In my experience, they often don’t eat at all. 
• With a longer work day for teachers, more after school activities and clubs could be available for the students.  Just as they do now, students could be dismissed from classes before the teachers leave and attend sports practices, clubs and other after school activities or go home.  Students would have more options for academics as well as their other interests.  
• Summer learning loss resulting in time wasted for re-teaching would cease to exist. 
• School schedules in this format would solve many issues for working parents by scheduling shorter breaks instead of long idle summers. Families will not spend as much money on summer daycare.
• The above is an excerpt from Chapter 7 of my book:   “SAVING OUR FUTURE with LEVEL-UP SCHOOLS! A Common Sense Path for Our Children’s Success through Competency Based Promotion” 

By Merry L. Sillitoe M.E.