A descriptive study of instructional pacing in reading and mathematics in a year-round and a traditional calendar school

The purpose of this study was to describe the pacing of the scope and sequence of third grade reading and mathematics instruction in one year round calendar school and one traditional calendar school from a Southern city school district for the 1999--2000 school year. Both schools were comparable in student population, demographic location, and low socioeconomic status. In order to compare the progress through the complexity of skills taught in the two schools for third grade, textbook page numbers, taken from teacher lesson plans, for every sixth day of instruction were recorded. Graphs depicting the progress of each class were analyzed to determine what differences existed between the two schools.; Data collection used in this research included interviews with third grade teachers concerning the amount of review time they believed their students required at the beginning of the school year and after vacations. The teachers were also asked to express their opinions of the school calendar's effect upon the amount and timing of instructional review and their personal opinions of the advantages and disadvantages of both the year round school calendar and the traditional school calendar.; The results revealed that year round teachers appeared to progress more quickly through the textbooks than did the teachers from the traditional calendar school in both reading and mathematics. Teacher interview responses corroborated the progress through the textbooks. Year round school teachers reported spending less time reviewing skills than did teachers from the traditional school, both during the beginning of the school year and after holidays. All teachers expressed a preference for the type of calendar under which they were currently teaching. Teachers from the year round school perceived less burn out among both students and teachers as the main reason for their progress and the main benefit of their type of school calendar, while traditional school teachers preferred their own calendar because of the need for a long summer break from school.; This study attempted to use lesson plans in a new and unique way: as a tool for determining instructional pacing. Future research would be helpful to pursue and refine procedures using lesson plans as analytical tools.