CROSWELL, Mich. – About 30 traditional and charter schools in Michigan have decided to break with tradition and pursue year-long academic calendars.

And it turns out parents like the idea, despite the obvious loss of extended summer vacation time.

The turnout for the yearlong program has been great in the Crowell-Lexington school district, according to an article in Bridge Magazine. The original first-year plan was for the district to offer the program to K-4 students, but popular demand prompted school administrators to open it up it up to grades K-6.

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Crosswell-Lexington Superintendent Kevin Miller said officials were hoping to enroll 100 students and were pleasantly surprised when 262 children signed up.

The district plans on expanding the option to 7th and 8th graders next year.

Students in the district have the option of choosing year-long schooling or traditional schooling. Those who choose year-long schooling have class for nine weeks at a time with three-week breaks.

The goal of the program is to reduce summer learning loss for students.

Although the state does not keep exact statistics on the effectiveness of year-long schools, some studies indicate that “summer learning loss” is a major cause of the achievement gap between high-income and low-income students, according to the news report.

Students can lose about two months of grade-level equivalency in math over the summer, the report said.

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This is especially disastrous for low-income students who are not offered the same type of summer learning opportunities that wealthier classmates may have available to them.

The learning loss is a main reason why  Superintendent Miller believes strongly in the 12-month school calendar.

“Our calendar is sadly outdated,” he told Bridge Magazine. “We’ve known for years it was the right thing to do.”