As we enter the final weeks of fall, many students, teachers, and parents alike are starting to wonder how many weeks are left in the school year. While each school and district is different, they generally follow the same schedule for the amount of weeks in a year.

When Does School Start?

In general, schools start their year after summer. Depending on your location in the United States they can start as early as July or as late as after Labor Day. Mid Atlantic states are known to have some of the latest starts for school while the mountain states can have the earliest. Once again, I recommend checking your district or school’s website for more accurate information on when the school year begins.

How Many Days?

In general, a school year consists of at least 180 days or 26 weeks of instructional time. This is spread out between July through May and features many breaks within that time. Most schools give a week off for Thanksgiving, two weeks off for Christmas and the New Year, and a week off for a Spring Break. While this accounts for a normal school year, year-round schools feature more frequent breaks but do not have an extensive summer break. Moreover, a school year features 26 weeks of days off for students.

Private schools function a little bit differently. Since they are not mandated by the state or national curriculum, they can choose to have more or less days of instruction. They also have the freedom give students off for holidays that many state curriculums do not. Religious-focused schools are one such private school that will give more days off.

When Does it End?

This once again depends on the school. Our private school: The Tenney School ends in early May. This is considered early for many Texas schools but we also start a little earlier to compensate. Most public schools will end around late May to early June depending on the district. This is mainly due to public schools starting later. They will stagger their start and end dates depending on if it’s an elementary, middle, or high school. The reason for this is to help with traffic and to help larger families.

We recommend checking out your school’s website for all of the specific dates on when school starts and ends! If you’re looking to schedule tutoring, check out our expert one-to-one tutors! Our tutors are all private school teachers who work with students remotely on a variety of different subjects. You can schedule tutoring here.