As future teachers we have an obligation to know all recent trends in education. Inmy research, I found three of the newest topics in education are year-round education,school uniforms and computes in the classroom.Year round educationTraditional nine months school calendars were developed more than 2 centuriesago to benefit an agrarian society in which young people were needed to work on thefamily farm (Roellke 1998). Because Americas society is no longer dependent on anagrain society, calls for improvement in Americas school calendar.Year round education is divided into two categories, single track andmulti-track. Single track year round education is a plan in which all students attendschool on the same schedule of instructional sessions and vacations. The most popularsingle track calendar is known as the 45-15 schedule. Students attend school 180 days.these 180 days are divided into five nine week blocks. After the nine weeks is up, thestudents are out of school for three weeks (Roellke 1998).On the other hand there is a multi track year round education. The main differencebetween multi-track and single track is that students are divided into three, four, or fivegroups. Each group has a different schedule of instructional and vacation time. Multitrack systems are most popular in schools which are known for overcrowding.The two major benefits of year round education are alleviation of overcrowdingand improved student outcomes. By alleviating overcrowding, multi track schools reportbetter utilization of facilities and equipment, fewer discipline problems, and increasedstudent meal participation (Roellke 1998). Jefferson County Schools in Colorado, with anenrollment of 78,000 students in 1989, operated under a multi task schedule for 14 years,resulting in real cost savings of $87.7 million in bonded indebtedness (Roellke 1998).Year round education also has improved student outcomes, too. Declines in thedropout rate and improved ...
