Student Segregation and Achievement Tracking in Year-Round Schools
Abstract
Twenty-five percent of California's elementary schoolchildren attend schools operating on nontraditional, staggered, overlapping attendance calendars collectively referred to as multitrack year-round education (MT-YRE). This case study reveals substantial differences in the characteristics of students and teachers across the four attendance tracks of eight MT-YRE schools in one large California school district. Analyses of Stanford Achievement Test data, controlling for student and teacher characteristics, reveal strong association of achievement with student demographic, programmatic, and teacher segregation within these MT-YRE schools. These findings suggest that MT-YRE readily (re)segregates students within schools and thereby inhibits access to equal educational opportunity relative to traditional and nontraditional single-track school calendars.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Mitchell and Mitchell found no difference between academic outcomes in schools with multi-track and traditional calendars.
“Mitchell and Mitchell21 found no difference between academic outcomes in schools with multi-track and traditional calendars”
Three studies comparing academic achievement in multi-track year-round schools to traditional schools reported mostly negative findings.
“Three studies, in five articles15,17,19–21 compared academic achievement in multi-track YRSs to traditional schools and reported mostly negative findings.”
Two studies reported negative effects for multi-track calendars.
“Two studies17,21 reported negative effects for multi-track calendars.”
The cross-sectional analysis of Virginia schools found benefits for specific student populations.
“but found benefits for specific student populations (discussed later).”
Three studies comparing single-track year-round school calendars with traditional schools reported mixed findings.
“Three studies, in four articles,15–18 compared single-track YRSCs with traditional schools and reported mixed findings.”
Mitchell and Mitchell found differences in resource allocation and academic achievement among tracks within the district compared with each other.
“but did find differences in resource allocation and academic achievement among tracks within the district compared with each other”
Brown and colleagues reported that subgroups of students in Virginia-mostly black students but also Hispanics and students from low-income families-showed increased achievement scores in schools with single-track year-round school calendars compared with traditional calendars.
“Brown and colleagues16 reported test scores of subgroups of students in Virginia, mostly black students but also Hispanics and students from low-income families who showed increased achievement scores in schools with single-track YRSCs compared with schools with traditional calendars.”
The cross-sectional analysis of Virginia schools reported that test scores of the general student population were similar at year-round schools and traditional calendar schools.
“The cross-sectional analysis of Virginia schools by Brown and colleagues16 reported that test scores of the general student population were similar at YRSs and traditional calendar schools,”
Mitchell and Mitchell reported statistically significant and negative results of multi-track calendars for minority and low-socioeconomic-status students, with differences that increased over time.
“Similarly, Mitchell and Mitchell21 reported statistically significant and negative results of multi-track calendars for minority and low-SES students—differences that increased over time.”
Cites
Do Better Schools Matter? Parental Valuation of Elementary Education
Black, S. E. (1999) · The Quarterly Journal of Economics · doi:10.1162/003355399556070 · Cited by 1,750 · see citing works
Answers and Questions About Class Size: A Statewide Experiment
Finn, J. D., & Achilles, C. M. (1990) · American Educational Research Journal · doi:10.3102/00028312027003557 · Cited by 546 · see citing works
Tracking: From Theory to Practice
Hallinan, M. T. (1994) · Sociology of Education · doi:10.2307/2112697 · Cited by 427 · see citing works
Teachers and Teaching: Testing Policy Hypotheses From a National Commission Report
Darling‐Hammond, L. (1998) · Educational Researcher · doi:10.2307/1176922 · Cited by 369 · see citing works
Detracking: The Social Construction of Ability, Cultural Politics, and Resistance to Reform
Oakes, J., Wells, A. S., Jones, M., & Datnow, A. (1997) · Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education · doi:10.1177/016146819709800305 · Cited by 361 · see citing works
School Choice: The Struggle for the Soul of American Education.
Lines, P. M., & Cookson, P. W. (1995) · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews · doi:10.2307/2076514 · Cited by 212 · see citing works
Choosing Tracks:“Freedom of Choice” in Detracking Schools
Yonezawa, S., Wells, A., & Serna, I. (2002) · American Educational Research Journal · doi:10.3102/00028312039001037 · Cited by 211 · see citing works
School Class Size: Research and Policy
Glass, G. V. (1982) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 206 · see citing works
Class Size and Student Achievement: Research-Based Policy Alternatives
Odden, A. R. (1990) · Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis · doi:10.3102/01623737012002213 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Carry‐over effects of small classes
Finn, J. D., Fulton, D., Zaharias, J. B., et al. (1989) · Peabody Journal of Education · doi:10.1080/01619569209538670 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Class Formation and Composition in Elementary Schools
Burns, R. B., & Mason, D. A. (1998) · American Educational Research Journal · doi:10.3102/00028312035004739 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
(1996) · Journal of research and development in education · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Organizational Constraints on the Formation of Elementary School Classes
Burns, R. B., & Mason, D. A. (1995) · American Journal of Education · doi:10.1086/444096 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Year‐Round Schools and the Politics of Time
Orellana, M. F., & Thorne, B. (1998) · Anthropology & Education Quarterly · doi:10.1525/aeq.1998.29.4.446 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
The Paradoxes of Desegregation: Race, Class, and Education, 1935-1975
Baker, R. S. (2001) · American Journal of Education · doi:10.1086/444274 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Mitchell, D. E., & Mitchell, R. E. (1999) · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Self-citationShields, C. M. (2000) · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Evaluating the Promise of Single-Track Year-Round Schools.
Haenn, J. F. (1996) · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Year-Round Education: Year-Round Opportunities. A Study of Year-Round Education in California.
Quinlan, C. (1987) · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Smaller Classes Not Vouchers Increase Student Achievement.
Molnar, A. (1998) · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Novel Approaches to Relieve Overcrowding
Herman, J. L. (1991) · Urban Education · doi:10.1177/0042085991026002004 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
A Lesson in Classroom Size Reduction.
Hymon, S. (1997) · School planning & management · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Finding Room for California's Children.
Smith, D. B. (1992) · Thrust for educational leadership · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Combination Classes: Helpful or Harmful?.
Stimson, J. (1992) · Thrust for educational leadership · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Ream, R. K., & Rumberger, R. W. (2008) · Sociology of Education · doi:10.1177/003804070808100201 · Cited by 329 · see citing works
Cooper, H., Valentine, J. C., Charlton, K., & Melson, A. (2003) · Review of Educational Research · doi:10.3102/00346543073001001 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
A Statewide Evaluation of Academic Achievement in Year-Round Schools
McMillen, B. J. (2001) · The Journal of Educational Research · doi:10.1080/00220670109596574 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Graves, J. (2011) · Economics of Education Review · doi:10.1016/j.econedurev.2011.04.003 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Multi-Track Year-Round Schooling as Cost Saving Reform: Not Just a Matter of Time
Graves, J., McMullen, S., & Rouse, K. (2013) · Education Finance and Policy · doi:10.1162/edfp_a_00097 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
School crowding, year-round schooling, and mobile classroom use: Evidence from North Carolina
McMullen, S. C., & Rouse, K. E. (2012) · Economics of Education Review · doi:10.1016/j.econedurev.2012.05.005 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Finnie, R. K. C., Peng, Y., Hahn, R. A., Johnson, R. L., Fielding, J. E., Truman, B. I., Muntaner, C., Fullilove, M. T., & Zhang, X. (2019) · Journal of Public Health Management and Practice · doi:10.1097/phh.0000000000000860 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Fitzpatrick, D., & Burns, J. (2018) · Campbell Systematic Reviews: Better Evidence for a Better World · doi:10.1002/cl2.194 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
- Authors
- Mitchell, R. E., & Mitchell, D. E.
- Affiliations
- Gallaudet University (US)
- University of California, Riverside (US)
- ORCID
- Mitchell, Ross E.
- Venue
- Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2005-04
- Volume
- 107
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 529-562
- ISSN
- 0040-0475 (ISSN-L)
- 0161-4681
- 1467-9620
- OpenAlex
- W1522664272
- Semantic Scholar
- d4faa3d5ff32d157bc90b2ce532976e51cfb9e11
- Cited by
- 33
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 7.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Teachers College Record The Voice of Scholarship in Education (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › School Choice and Performance
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Critical Race Theory in Education
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Educational Assessment and Improvement
- Keywords
- year-round schools, student segregation, educational opportunities, student demographics, Stanford Achievement Test, California school districts
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
