Public school districts in the United States that completed feasibility studies on year-round schools during the last ten years were the population for this study. These districts were divided into three categories--those that did not implement a year-round program, those that implemented a Restricted Model, and those that implemented a Full-Scale Model--to study their characteristics. Both a Restricted and a Full-Scale Model of year-round schools required at least 220 days during the calendar year for attendance of students. Only the Full-Scale Model required the number of students enrolled in a school from its own attendance area not to vary more than ten percent at any time during the school year; the Restricted Model permitted the enrollment to vary more than ten percent.

One-hundred seventeen school districts were surveyed by questionnaire to determine if differences in their characteristics had value for predicting into which of the three categories they would fall. This study indicated that the most important predictor of whether or not a district implemented year-round schools was the attitude of teachers, administrators, parents, students, and business/industry toward implementation. It also indicated that more Full-Scale Models of year-round programs were implemented in elementary schools and more Restricted Models were implemented at the secondary level. Other characteristics of the school districts could not be used to predict their implementation category.

A list of the 117 districts categorized into three implementation groups, a list of 53 districts with studies in progress, a description of the investigation, and suggestions for further study are included.