While kids across the Tristate romped in swimming pools Monday, hundreds of students in Cincinnati Public Schools' year-round school headed back to class.

        Douglass Elementary in Walnut Hills tacked on 16 days to its school year for a total of 194 days, becoming the first school in the district to adopt an extended-year calendar. The rest of the district returns to class Aug. 26.

        Douglass' new calendar includes longer mid-year breaks but a shorter summer vacation to diminish the learning lag that experts say occurs when school is out for long periods.

HOW IT WORKS

The year-round calendar at Douglas Elementary breaks down this way:   • School resumed Monday, Aug. 5.   • Students get 11 school days off in October.   • Another 10 school days are taken off for Christmas.   • There is an 11-day break in April.   • The school year ends June 26.   • There are assorted days off throughout the year, including Labor Day and two days at Thanksgiving.

        “If you look at a typical summer, where kids are off 10 weeks or more, there is a regression factor,” principal Scott Hornblower said. “Kids will lose some of the knowledge they gained from the year before. But if you have more time in a learning environment with children, there's a greater likelihood of improving student achievement.”

        Year-round schools have spread from 16 to 44 states since 1985, and their numbers have grown from 410 to more than 3,059 during the same period, according to the National Association for Year-Round Education. In 2000, W.E.B. DuBois, a Cincinnati charter school, opened with a 230-day calendar.

        However, most year-round schools don't add days to their calendars, as Douglass and W.E.B. DuBois did. Part of the reason is the cost. In Douglass, paying the salaries of teachers, a visiting librarian and teacher aides for the additional days - in addition to extending the principal's contract - will cost the district $160,000.

        Most schools with year-round calendars are trying to reduce overcrowding by staggering students' mid-year breaks and summer vacation. Modifying the calendar allows districts to use building space all year long.

        Many educators say the entire summer break is outdated. Children are no longer needed to help on farms during harvesting season, as was common when society was predominantly agrarian.

        Education researchers also say the summer break can cause children, especially poorer students, to fall behind.

        Research shows students experience little or no academic growth over the summer and some students lose one to three months of learning, said Marilyn Stenvall, director of the National Association for Year-Round Education.

        That means educators spend weeks at the beginning of the school year going over old material.

        “Most kids forget how to do simple things like starting a sentence with a capital letter,” said Douglass teacher Jennifer Trice, adding that teachers often spend about two weeks reviewing at the beginning of the year. “I believe the calendar will benefit kids because it will allow them to catch on to everything they have to consume throughout the year.”

        Harris Cooper, a psychology professor at the University of Missouri who has conducted studies for the U.S. Department of Education on school calendar variations, said modifying the calendar helps students recoup knowledge they might lose over the summer.

        Ms. Stenvall agrees.

        “This is a fairly cheap or almost no-expense way of enhancing student achievement by cutting down summer learning loss and providing tutorial help for students throughout the year,” she said.

        Several Northern Kentucky districts have modified their calendars with that in mind. In Campbell County Schools, students started school a week early and will break for summer about a week later - but have longer breaks in between.

        “This will help to keep the staff fresh and students fresh,” district spokesman Chris Gramke said.

        Douglass Elementary is taking the modified calendar a step further by adding school days and will offer an optional two-week enrichment program during the monthlong summer break. The program will replace Crest Hills Year-Round School, a Cincinnati Public School that had a modified calendar.

        Plans have been in the works for several years to transfer the Crest Hills program to Douglass, which has air-conditioning, said Rosa Blackwell, the district's deputy superintendent.

        “We saw this as an opportunity to create a true year-round program,” Ms. Blackwell said. Student achievement was improving under the modified calendar at Crest Hills but not fast enough, she said.

        Not everyone welcomes the change at Douglass.

        The school lost some parents who didn't want their children attending additional days, Mr. Hornblower said.

        Tina Bruno, executive director of the Texas-based Time to Learn, said schools should consider giving teachers more time for preparation rather than simply tacking on school days. Her group is opposed to year-round education.

        Furthermore, she said year-round schooling infringes on time children spend with families.

        “There comes a time when children reach a saturation point,” she said. “They need that break. And people forget that not all learning takes place in the classroom.”

        Janice Fullman, a Walnut Hills parent with three children at Douglass, doesn't agree. “I think it's great,” she said of the new calendar. “This will keep them motivated and going for the next level.”

        Swimming pools and playgrounds seemed like distant memories for students in Ms. Trice's class Monday. Instead, they worked on lessons such as placing themselves in a line in alphabetical order by their last names.

        “I think it's fun,” 10-year-old Derrick Riggs said of starting school three weeks early. “I want to do it so I can learn.”

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