The American Camping Association supports the traditional school classroom calendar in conjunction with summer learning experiences that enhance academic skills, build character, provide physical challenge, promote positive behavior and healthy risk-taking and bring the family closer together. There is no empirical data to substantiate claims that year-round schooling improves academic performance or that summer vacations cause a loss of retention of academic knowledge. Most data indicate no discernable difference in academic performance between children in a year-round school environment and those functioning under traditional school calendars. Some studies conducted over the past 30 years have concluded that academic performance is improved under the traditional school calendar. These usually are the children who take advantage of the summer by reading, attending camps, etc.
Some children return in the fall knowing less.
For most, however, the loss is pretty close to zero. Analysis of foreign countries with longer school years indicates, as well, that it is not the length of time spent in school, but the quality of time spent on key subjects that makes the difference in testing results in those countries versus the United States. Schools in Canada and Korea have more school days, but actually less time in formal education than in America. France has the same school year, but devotes more time to core subjects than we do. American high school students, for example, spend half the time French and Japanese students do on core subjects.