School's In For Summer -- Year-Round Schools Are Increasing In Washington State As School Districts Look For Ways To Improve Their Teaching Methods. So Far, Studies Have Shown Only Marginal Improvement In Test Scores For Students Attending School Year-Round.

Among the sea of ideas out there to improve education, few are simultaneously as appealing and as appalling to parents as the year-round school schedule.

Supporters of the plan, which shrinks summer vacation in exchange for long breaks interspersed during the year, say it lends continuity to children's academic lives and relieves overcrowding without costly construction by using existing space more efficiently.

Opponents say there's only limited proof of academic improvement, and that it rattles students' lifestyles too much. Dressing kids for school in late July just feels unnatural, they say.

Making the concept of year-round schools even more confusing, experts say, is that both sides are right.

Studies show that year-round students need less time to review material from the previous school year. Teachers say they hit the ground running in the fall.

But so far, studies haven't shown a major improvement in test scores among year-round students. Results indicate that kids perform at the same level or slightly better than students on a traditional schedule.

The year-round calendar is in use at 17 schools in eight school districts across Washington, including Tacoma, Edmonds and Federal Way. And opinions are mixed among the participants.

"It's the pits," said Shannon Templeman, whose two children attend Sunnycrest Elementary School in Kent, one of three year-round schools in the Federal Way district.

Templeman's children, who are in school this term until July 24, get several weeks off in November and December, when most kids are in school.

"It's usually raining then, and there's no activities for my kids because all the other schools are in session," Templeman said. "We're the oddballs."

During summer, her family can't visit friends and relatives in July because the kids are still in school.

But in the Edmonds School District, parent Dave Logan praises what the year-round schedule at Cedar Way Elementary does for his family.

Logan, a single parent, says his two elementary-school daughters have better skills and need less time to review at the beginning of the school year.

As do most year-round schools, Cedar Way Elementary, in Mountlake Terrace, also offers academic and enrichment programs during extended vacations. Logan says that keeps his kids busy when he can't be with them at home.

Vacation time is easier too.

"We plan vacations in April when everyone else has school. There are no crowds and I can spend quality time with my kids," Logan said.

Nationwide, more than 1.7 million students attend year-round schools in 39 states, according to the National Association for Year-Round Education.

That's only 3 percent of all public-school students in the nation - but it's an increase of almost 400 percent in the past decade.

Despite the lack of major test-score improvement, educators here say the year-round schedule makes better students and makes better sense.

The most important reason for the change is to eliminate learning loss during the summer that requires time-consuming review in the fall, said Terry Linquist, superintendent of the Puget Sound Educational Service District.

"I think over the next five years, a lot of districts in the region will be looking very seriously at how they can use year-round schools," he said.

Earlier this year, Linquist gave a presentation to school superintendents from King and Pierce counties on the benefits of year-round education. Many told Linquist of their interest in exploring the schedule for their school systems, he said.

About half of all year-round schools in the nation adopted the calendar for space reasons rather than academic reasons.

It's a space-saver when school administrators divide the student body into different groups, and then spread those groups out over a calendar year.

For instance, an overcrowded high school with 1,000 students can create four groups of 250 kids and modify the school schedule so that only three groups are in school at any one time - effectively reducing the student population by 25 percent and erasing the overcrowding.

In Washington state, however, all the existing year-round schools were fashioned with education - not space - in mind.

Several districts, such as Monroe in Snohomish County, Issaquah, and Bethel in Pierce County, have seriously considered using the multitrack system to make room for their surging school populations.

Monroe passed a construction bond this year and canceled its year-round schedule. In Issaquah, officials formed a committee to explore year-round schools, perhaps in the next five to 10 years, and Bethel could implement the system at two of its schools in 1997.

"Year-round schools were something that appeared to have educational benefit, so we studied it, liked it and then gave each school the chance to adopt it," said Gail Pierson, president of the Federal Way School Board.

In 1993, three of Federal Way's 34 schools decided to give it a try. Similarly, in Edmonds, two schools became year-round after the district gave its 34 schools the option.

"I examined the research and looked at our community, and felt that it was good for our school because it was a better learning program," said Jeanne Smart, principal at Cedar Way Elementary in Mountlake Terrace.

After two years, Smart said, her students increased their test scores, and the community has rallied around the schedule.

But many other schools in both the Federal Way and Edmonds districts failed to stir interest among parents. The reason, many say, is that you can't mess with summer.

"The American public has essentially built its lifestyle around the public-school calendar and the lazy, hazy days of summer," said Charles Ballinger of the National Association for Year-Round Education.

In the Los Angeles Unified School District, which has had year-round schools since 1974, officials say that at first the novel schedule scared and annoyed a lot of parents, but now many would never go back to a traditional calendar.

"We found that, in the beginning, people were very resistant, but once they gave year-round schools a try for a few years, they really liked it," said Dale Braun, a district spokeswoman.

The Los Angeles school system is the nation's second largest, with 650,000 students, about one-third of whom attend year-round schools.

"The big challenge is that we need to convince parents and the community that this makes good educational sense, and help change that summer mentality," said Allen Glenn, Dean of the University of Washington's College of Education.

Glenn believes the benefits of year-round education outweigh the negatives for a variety of reasons.

Too many kids perceive summer as a time to stop learning, he said. With a school year spread out, kids will keep their minds working and learning from January through December.

Glenn also believes that year-round schools give kids more time for enrichment and remedial work. During the more frequent and longer vacations, many year-round schools set up classes for struggling students.

There are also academic programs for gifted students.

At Sunnycrest Elementary in Kent, summertime school looks a lot like regular school but sometimes feels different. On warm days, teachers put on fans and open all the windows.

Occasionally, Principal Judy Springer will cancel all outdoor activities on those really sunny days.

"Just like during the winter, we have `rainy days' when the kids play indoors, it's the same thing on hot days," she said.

For many teachers, year-round schools make their time in the classroom more productive and enjoyable.

"I can keep up my energy level for the whole year," said Linda McKeller, a sixth-grade teacher at Sunnycrest.

On a traditional calendar, many teachers get that "burned-out" feeling when May rolls around, she said. Students, sensing summer, often lose interest in school.

As a result, lessons lose their zip, and learning slows almost to a halt, said McKeller, a 27-year-veteran of the classroom.

She said the intermittent vacations in the fall and the spring help to sustain everyone's intensity.

Sunnycrest sixth-grader Christal O'Malley said the schedule makes going to school a lot more tolerable.

"Every time you get sick of school, it's time to get off, and every time you're bored of being on vacation, you come back to school," she said.