What are the differences between the single-track system and the two-track system?

Answer 1

Types of Year Round Education

Three types of year round schooling exist: single track, multitrack, and extended year. Most schools are on either a single track or multitrack system; the foremost difference between the two is that single track schedules allow all students to attend school at the same time, while multitrack systems divide students and teachers into various tracks with different instructional times and vacations.[

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Two of the most common schedule plans are the 60-20 and the 45-15, both of which can be used in either single or multitrack programs. The 60-20 schedule keeps students in school for sixty days with three twenty-day vacations, and the 45-15 plan provides students with forty-five days of instruction and four fifteen-day vacations. Variations on these schedules, such as 60-15 and 45-10, allow students one more break during the school year.[

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Single Track

The single track schedule is the most prominent of the three types.[

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These schools do not add additional days to their school year, but instead they incorporate shorter breaks throughout the year. Thus, a single track schedule simply arranges the traditional school year into different school days and break days. Critics often analyze both the academic and financial effects of this common form of year-round school, but according to Charles Ballinger, executive director emeritus of the National Association for Year-Round Education (NAYRE), a single track schedule "doesn't cost any more or less [than a traditional school schedule]…it's pretty much a wash financially."[

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Multitrack

A multitrack schedule divides students into multiple tracks so that one group goes to school while another group takes vacation.[

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Multitrack schedules reportedly bring many benefits to schools that use them. Some of these schools utilize multiple tracks to aid specific groups of students. Some schools place all grades of bilingual or gifted and talented classes on the same track so that all of these students attend school at the same time. Some of these schools utilize such a schedule for financial reasons: schools in Wake County, N.C., have four tracks in order to accommodate more students without having to build more schools. This school system reports that for every three multitrack schools, one less school must be built.[

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