Number of Days in School Year

My daughter's school year has been cut by 10 days, from 180 days to 170, because of the state budget. Is this likely to greatly affect her education? -- Less Class Time
Answer: When you just look at the question of whether shortening the school year affects student achievement, the answer seems obvious. You would think that the less time children spend in school, the lower their achievement would be, and that more time spent in school would result in higher achievement. Surprisingly, though, many studies have shown that this is not the case. What really affects student achievement apparently is optimizing the use of instructional time -- that is, having students and teachers spend quality time together in the classroom. The quantity of time does not appear to be as important.
Even though there may not be a significant loss in achievement from a shorter school year, the students are losing the benefits cited by The National Center on Time and Learning seen in extending school time, including:
1. Making it possible for students to spend more time on task.
2. Allowing teachers to delve into subject matter in more depth.
3. Encouraging more student engagement through project-based learning and elective courses.
4. Building in time for more teacher-student interaction.
5. Creating time for teacher planning and professional development.
At the present time, there are both countries with longer and similar number of school days as in the United States. There does not appear to be a strong relationship between instructional time and scores on international assessment tests.
The evidence just isn't in yet to tie achievement to time spent in the classroom. Achievement has a lot to do with other factors, including socio-economic status, teacher quality and actual time students are engaged in learning.