customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support is provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios in lincoln center in new york, hari sreenivasan. this is pbs newshour weekend. >> sreenivasan: good evening, thanks for joining us. the united states has intensified its bombing campaign in iraq against fighters from the islamic state extremist group. the pentagon said the latest attacks occurred late last night on several militant positions near the haditha dam, about 175 miles from baghdad. at a news conference today, defense secretary chuck hagel explained the risks of extremists seizing or destroying the dam. >> the damage that would cause would be very significant and it would put a significant additional and big risk into the mix in iraq. >> sreenivasan: arab foreign ministers, meeting in cairo today, backed a resolution calling for action against the extremists in iraq. and several senior muslim clerics have now issued fatwas against the islamic state in an effort to stop young people from joining the radical group. that ceasefire announced friday in eastern ukraine is starting to come apart. violence erupted overnight near the cities of donetsk and mariupol. a woman died and four people were injured in the latest clashes between pro-russian separatists and ukrainian government troops. rebels said several of their fighters had been killed after ukrainian forces fired on six of their positions. we'll have more on the crisis in ukraine in a moment. a 24-year-old american, matthew miller, who has been detained in north korea since april, will be put on trial next weekend. this, according to north korea state media, which did not specify the charges. two other americans are also being held there. in afghanistan today, seven men were sentenced to death after the robbery and gang rape of four afghan women. an incident that provoked widespread protests. the victims were driving back from a wedding last month when they were stopped and dragged out of their cars by the men, who were armed and dressed as police officers. violence against women is believed to be commonplace in afghanistan. but trials of this sort are very unusual because rape victims often are considered disgraced and typically don't bring charges. in an interview broadcast today, president obama explained his decision to postpone executive action on immigration reform. >> i'm being honest now about the politics of it. this problem with unaccompanied children that we saw a couple weeks ago, where you had, from central america, a surge of kids who were showing up at the border, got a lot of attention. and a lot of americans started thinking, we've got this immigration crisis on our hands. >> sreenivasan: democratic hispanic members of congress criticized his decision. >> i'm deeply disappointed that the president hasn't acted where house republicans have failed to act. >> it's clear that playing it safe is what is going on at the white house and among democratic circles, and playing it safe means walking away from our values and our principles. >> sreenivasan: police forces around the nation are more racially balanced now than a generation ago. this, according to an associated press survey conducted following the shooting of a black teenager by a white police officer in ferguson, missouri. the survey suggests that more progress has been made hiring black officers than hispanic policemen. several officials quoted by the ap say the hiring of minority police officers doesn't guarantee an end to tougher policing of minority communities. and a new survey confirms what most sunday talk show viewers likely already suspected. arizona republican senator john mccain has been the most regular guest during the past five years, followed by south carolina republican senator lindsey graham, former obama administration strategist david axelrod and illinois democrat senator richard durbin. the 13 most frequent guests were all men. >> sreenivasan: for more about the situation in ukraine, we are joined now by kimberly marten. she is a political science professor at barnard college and columbia university. v and so putin was able to send in forces right before this cease-fire. and then create this kind of almost no man's land and there weren't any new rounds of economic sanctions this week. seems like he was in a much better position coming out of that. >> i think everyone realizes that whatever political settlement is going to be one that favors putin's interests. russia-- russia has the abilityo control as a result of the gas pipeline link. >> frozen conflict i mean in the region in georgia, and then in moldova, we found transnistra and eastern ukraine as this long standing conflict? >> people have been feeling that for the last several months that that's what the end result is going to be in putin's interest because he would like to have more interest in ukraine, he would like to have ukraine always knocked slightly off balance so they don't know what he's going to do next. he would like to demonstrate that he has more power than the ukrainians do. where ukraine never really has a definitive sense of sovereignty over its own territory. that's in putin's interest. >> putin has no incentive to keep this in status quo. >> probably being broken on both sides, the cease-fire and that's not surprising because both sides really have an incentive to try to get more from the military situation before they sign a final peace agreement. >> have the sanctions created any kind of disincentive or strong enough disincentive for putin? >> i don't think so. the sanctions probably will have long term negative effects on the russian economy. but the general sense is the sanctions were put into place because nobody could figure anything else to do. showing the united states and its european allies were angry and not going to let this pass but have very little ability to influence what russia does. >> europeans have more to lose than united states does. >> yes,. >> obviously has courtroo crimee didn't have before. a couple of days ago it is not going to recognize crimea. the west needs the oil fields and as long as there's no recognition it doesn't bring him any economic gain. he doesn't gaining in economically on this. it is more a gain of what he can say as president and so pretty much more an individual gain for putin politically than for russia as a state because over the long term russia is not going to particularly benefit for this. >> what about the russian territories that are part of nato, how do they see this? >> the other members, estonia latvia and lithuania have been concerned about the possibility of russian aggression, and putin's aggression against ukraine have made nato more focused on those areas and desirous of showing that they are nato member states that will be protected in this case by a new rapid rations force that will be a subgroup of nato member states that will rotate around the territory and be prepared to retaliate if necessary. >> kimberly marten, from bar nard university, thank you so much for being on. >> thank you for having me on. >> sreenivasan: and now to our signature segment. it's early september, and after their long summer break, millions of children and teenagers are back in the classroom for the first time in several months. but that's not the case for some students. about 4% of schools across the nation are on a different calendar. one that has them in school year-round. students in those schools get a much shorter summer vacation, but more breaks throughout the year. does it help learning? newshour special correspondent alison stewart traveled recently to charleston west virginia to take a closer look. her report is part of the american graduate initiative. >> reporter: when bryan and laura cooper moved to charleston from beckley, west virginia, two years ago with their young sons, they were apprehensive about the local school in their new neighborhood. it was on a year-round calendar, where kids start school just after july 4. >> it sounded to me like the kids were in school constantly, you know, with maybe just three- day weekends here and there. >> i wanted to stay away from a school district that involved year-round. >> reporter: why did you want to stay away? >> i thought the kids wouldn't like it. i thought that, you know, me thinking back as a child, i thought, "man, i would have hated to be in school all year round." i would have missed summer, hanging out with my friends, doing those activities >> reporter: but once the coopers-- who both work full- time-- learned more about the calendar at piedmont elementary school, they quickly became converts. here's how the schedule works: instead of one extended summer break, the same 180 days of school are divided into 9 week quarters, which are then followed by three week breaks in fall, winter, and spring. there's also about a month off for summer. it's sometimes called a modified or balanced calendar. and here at piedmont elementary school in charleston, west virginia year-round schooling has been the norm for almost 20 years. >> once we got a sense of what the schedule actually is we just thought, "man, that's great." we can go on vacation in september instead of in the middle of summer. >> they never get that feeling of, "oh, i'm so sick of being at school," because they get so many breaks that they're always refreshed and ready to go back to school. so that was the wakeup call to me, to see how different they felt about it. >> hi, have a good day. >> reporter: principal beth sturgill is a big believer. she says in addition to preventing student and teacher burnout, less time is needed for re-teaching at the beginning of the year. and for piedmont, which is a diverse inner city school with a high poverty rate, having shorter breaks throughout the year can provide more stability for at-risk students. >> there's lots of families that sometimes we have concerns about and we like to check in with and make sure everything's going well. and just to have that consistent flow without having that long, summer break helps them. >> reporter: practically, the calendar also gives the school flexibility to make up snow days during spring break before annual standardized testing, instead of waiting until the end of the year. >> i need everybody facing me and listening. >> reporter: but the biggest benefit to running on a year- round schedule according to principal sturgill and other educators we spoke to is the possibility of adding more time in school. by bringing kids back during the first week of each three week break. it's called intersession. >> reporter: what is intersession? what's its purpose? >> so it's a variety of review and re-teach for those kids that need it. a little, extra boost and it's also some enrichment activities just to give them some fun things to do. >> reporter: the extra week is optional and paid for at piedmont using federal money known as title one funds, which are designated for schools with high populations of low-income students. the coopers' kids, seven-year- old zene and nine-year-old tayan, have always attended the intersessions, which are also weeks that their parents don't have to worry about child care. >> finding childcare for them for a whole summer is a lot different than finding childcare for them three weeks at a time throughout the year. >> it makes for a very expensive summer to have three entire months straight where you're paying for child care. >> reporter: despite the benefits of the year round calendar that parents and teachers cite, it's not clear that it has helped piedmont's academic performance. in 2013, only 38.1% of children scored at or above mastery on reading. and only 38.9% scored at or above mastery at math, below the levels from a decade ago when the state first started using this standard to evaluate students. >> what the research suggests about the actual positive effect is that if it's positive, it's not great overall. >> reporter: harris cooper is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at duke university. while research has documented how long summers can cause students to lose, on average, one month of instruction, he says shifting around the calendar to be year-round is not a definitive way to increase student performance. but where it has shown an impact he says is with lower-income students. and he also suggests that it could help children with learning disabilities, and those for whom english is a second language. but cooper cautions even programs like intersessions that can add extra days to the school year are not necessarily going to boost achievement. >> we shouldn't ever lose sight of the fact that time in school is a black box. working with the school calendar can influence a child's learning. but what's most important is how you fill the time that they're in school. >> reporter: people are stuck on test scores. >> oh, they are. yes. they are. >> reporter: until a balanced calendar can say, look, we make test scores better, you're gonna have some resistance. what do you think? >> i think that's a legitimate comment. but can we say the traditional calendar makes test scores better? i don't know. i don't know that that's the case either. so i think you need the look at the whole child and the impact that year-round education can have on the whole child, and not just does it make your test scores higher. >> reporter: in west virginia there is only one other school using a year-round calendar, mary c. snow west side elementary school, across town from piedmont. there, administrators are experimenting with two week intersessions and making the extra time mandatory. and around the state, year-round schools have recently become a topic of discussion. this fall a new law went into effect that mandated 180 days of school, but granted local school districts more flexibility about how to set the calendar, so that if a district wanted to adopt year round schooling it could. but not one did. >> i think people are really saying out loud, show me how this is gonna help my school system and the students in our school system. >> reporter: christine campbell is the president of the american federation of teachers for west virginia, a teachers union. and she's not sold on the idea. in addition to the new state law granting school districts more options on the calendar, she says schools in west virginia are in the midst of other major reforms: implementing common core, new statewide testing, and a new teacher evaluation system. >> i think people are overwhelmed with all the other changes that they're just not ready to take on that that much change or one more thing until they-we-- wrap our arms around all the other things that are happening in the state and the education system. >> reporter: while campbell acknowledges that districts should have the flexibility to try a year-round calendar if they want, she says there are logistical complications such as lack of air conditioning in many schools and scheduling issues for older students. >> sports is a huge thing when you talk about a balanced calendar because if you have one county that is, you know, in the system, they all play each other in their sporting events. so what does that look like when you go from this county to play this county and their calendar is completely different? >> reporter: so for people who say, "sports will adjust," you have to think about it bigger than just-- it's not just sports. it's the social aspect... >> i mean, that's part of... >> reporter: and the importance of... >> ...a child's development is being involved in those things. and it's a big part of our culture. let's be realistic here. >> reporter: she is also concerned year-round school would mean service personnel and teachers would be unable to keep second jobs, a necessity for many in west virginia, which ranks 47th in the country in teacher pay. but one of the biggest issues is that providing programs like intersession costs money, and despite federal funding for some lower income schools, it's not always clear who would have to foot the bill. >> does the community have to provide those services? is the state department going to provide services for the intercessions? if we're gonna talk to.. talk about how to bridge that gap in student achievement, what does that look like? >> reporter: for the coopers, the lack of year-round options for older kids is a big concern. in charleston there's not a single middle or high school on a balanced calendar. is there going to be a period for you guys when one of your kids is in a traditional school and one is on this "balanced calendar"? >> yeah. i dread it. and i'm very curious to see how that's gonna work out. >> reporter: what are you concerned about? >> i just... tayan will have days that he has to school that zene doesn't. zene'll have days off that tayan has to go to school. so i'm sure there'll be, you know, animosity both ways of who gets to do what. >> reporter: one of the concerns we heard from parents was that there's no middle school to go to... >> yes, correct. >> reporter:... on this calendar. there's no high school to go to... >> right. >> reporter: ...on this calendar. what do you think about that? >> well, i would love to see...- my personal opinion is i would love to see all of kanawha county schools go to the year- round calendar. >> reporter: all of them? >> yes, i think it would be very beneficial for students. >> reporter: for piedmont students tayan and zene cooper, their first break will be next week. >> ...one thing of this year's intercession... >> reporter: and while many schools are just getting underway; they've already got nine weeks of learning under their belts. >> sreenivasan: how did the idea of summer vacation really begin? join us online as newshour debunks a long-standing myth. visit newshour.pbs.org. >> sreenivasan: while the world's attention has been focused recently on gains by islamic extremists in iraq, another radical islamic group, boko haram, has been launching new attacks in africa. to update us about that, we are joined now via skype from ghana by drew hinshaw of the wall street journal. so drew we heard just yesterday again about more attacks in parts of nigeria. you know, instead of the hit and run attacks that we've seen from these guys before now they are capturing territory and flying their flags. >> that's right. that's right. what they've been able to do here is, in an entire country side, the very far northeast of nigeria some town after town is abandoned. boko haram is able to do that constantly like you said starting with hit and run attacks and moving entire units into these towns, scaring people oil out. you hear over and over again, the only people left in the towns are basically the elderly who don't really want to move or can't move and -- don't really pose a threat no boko haram. they are raising their flags in some places not all places. they aren't sticking around and governing like you had in northern mall -- mali. they go in the gaifs and mountains and forests -- caves and mountains and forests. >> to form another caliphate or a boko haram state in africa? >> that's right, that's right. people constantly misread what boko haram is all about. i think the government still use them as you know an islamic insurgency that is bent on denying the president reelection. boko haram has done for years what they want. they want to create this islamic kingdom in the northeast of nigeria. people don't take them at their word but that's exactly what they're going about and doing on the update. >> any update on the missing girlsd that captured world's attention? >> did spot group of 70 girls in one area. and 40 girls in one field when they came back they were gone again. it's important to say this. boarm boko haram has kidnapped hundreds and hundreds of girls, not just those school girls and hundreds and hundreds of boys. they were politically important, quite early on they had something they realized was a negotiating chip. boko haram is still holding these girls as a potential negotiating tool. i talked to other girls who were kid madam, and those girls, school girls haven't been good for anything you know, they haven't gotten any political concessions from them, the girls themselves aren't made for life in the words, you know, it's a burden carrying around hundreds of traumatized school girls for boko haram. so basically they are in a stalemate. the government can't seem to get the girls out and boko haram can't get anything for girls either. >> drew is hinshaw, joining us from accra, ghana, thank you so much. >> thank you, too. >> this >> sreenivasan: you might have heard a bit earlier this week about a remarkable discovery in argentina. the remains of a dinosaur that lived nearly 80 million years ago and weighed more than a boeing 737. it took years to unearth all the remains. i.t.n.'s richard pallot has the details. >> it is the most complete large dinosaur skeleton every found. such as the size it takes a second to comprehend. this is only part of its leg. this was a toe. so this starts the tail of dreadnaughtus. >> this is part of its 30 foot tail. the dreadnaughtus lived 70 million years ago. and despite its size was a herbivore. >> when you're 65 tons you're not going to really have any enienemies. and that made me think of the opportunity of the century ships, dreadnoughts. so i thought dreadnaughtus, fears nothing. >> the dreadnaughtus measures in at roughly the same size as the thrir meters in length which marks it out as one of the longest-ever dinosaurs. abouts it is its weight that sets it apart. spends most of its life eating just to keep alive. >> the dig in argentina began almost a decade ago, uncovered two different specimens, the largest of which may not have been fully grown when it died. a meter wide, lank in your to clob err anything opponent that attacks. richard pallot, itn news. >> some late news before we leave you tonight. palestinian protesters clashed in east jerusalem. teenager had been wounded by police during an earlier incident. bruce levenson is surrendering control of the atlanta hawks. black fans scared away whites. and fans turned out for the fine ral of joan rivers. she described her services this way, i don't want a rabbi crying on, i want, political divide in colorado. that's it for this weekend and this edition of pbs newshour weekend, i'm hari sreenivasan. thank you for watching. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support is provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. 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