Year round schools are popular in many areas of the country.  Traditional schedules have students begin the year around Labor Day, with a long break at Christmas, and finish the first part of June, giving the students and teachers a two month summer vacation.  Year round schools also begin their year around Labor Day and are typically in session for nine weeks and out for two to three weeks, repeating this pattern throughout the year.  Why is this non-traditional schedule so successful?  There are several reasons. The nine-weeks in/ three-weeks out schedule gives teachers and students the opportunity to work really hard for a short period of time to reach their goals.  Students can often appreciate the short-term reality better than they can the 180 day trudge to June.  In a lot of areas, the three weeks out gives teachers the opportunity to have remediation with small groups before the students are completely lost.  Students can come in for one, two, or three of those weeks for extra help so that when the next session starts they are on par with the other students. Many teachers love this approach, too.  They feel that they can better prepare for their nine week sessions and for the individual students with these extended breaks in between.  Those teachers who typically spend six weeks of their summer break teaching summer school now have the option to teach one, two, or three weeks during the interim.  Teachers also enjoy being able to have time off at different times of the year.  In addition, teachers who enjoy taking students on extended field trips can do so without having to sacrifice all of their vacation or valuable classroom time.