Customized individual and Group Retirement products. Thats 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 prorussian separatists and Ukrainian Government troops. Rebels said several of their fighters had been killed after Ukrainian Forces fired on six of their positions. Well have more on the crisis in ukraine in a moment. A 24yearold 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 dont bring charges. In an interview broadcast today, president obama explained his decision to postpone executive action on immigration reform. Im 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, weve got this Immigration Crisis on our hands. Sreenivasan democratic hispanic members of congress criticized his decision. Im deeply disappointed that the president hasnt acted where House Republicans have failed to act. Its 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 doesnt 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 ceasefire. And then create this kind of almost no mans land and there werent 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 putins 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 thats what the end result is going to be in putins interest because he would like to have more interest in ukraine, he would like to have ukraine always knocked slightly off balance so they dont know what hes 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. Thats in putins interest. Putin has no incentive to keep this in status quo. Probably being broken on both sides, the ceasefire and thats 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 dont 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 didnt have before. A couple of days ago it is not going to recognize crimea. The west needs the oil fields and as long as theres no recognition it doesnt bring him any economic gain. He doesnt 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 putins 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. Its 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 thats not the case for some students. About 4 of schools across the nation are on a different calendar. One that has them in school yearround. 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 yearround 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 yearround. Reporter why did you want to stay away . I thought the kids wouldnt 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. Heres 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. Theres also about a month off for summer. Its sometimes called a modified or balanced calendar. And here at Piedmont Elementary School in charleston, West Virginia yearround schooling has been the norm for almost 20 years. Once we got a sense of what the schedule actually is we just thought, man, thats great. We can go on vacation in september instead of in the middle of summer. They never get that feeling of, oh, im so sick of being at school, because they get so many breaks that theyre 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 reteaching 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 atrisk students. Theres lots of families that sometimes we have concerns about and we like to check in with and make sure everythings 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. Its called intersession. Reporter what is intersession . Whats its purpose . So its a variety of review and reteach for those kids that need it. A little, extra boost and its 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 lowincome students. The coopers kids, sevenyear old zene and nineyearold tayan, have always attended the intersessions, which are also weeks that their parents dont 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 youre paying for child care. Reporter despite the benefits of the year round calendar that parents and teachers cite, its not clear that it has helped piedmonts 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 its positive, its 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 yearround is not a definitive way to increase student performance. But where it has shown an impact he says is with lowerincome 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 shouldnt ever lose sight of the fact that time in school is a black box. Working with the School Calendar can influence a childs learning. But whats most important is how you fill the time that theyre 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, youre gonna have some resistance. What do you think . I think thats a legitimate comment. But can we say the traditional calendar makes test scores better . I dont know. I dont know that thats the case either. So i think you need the look at the whole child and the impact that yearround 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 yearround 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, yearround 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 shes 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 theyre just not ready to take on that that much change or one more thing until theywe 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 yearround 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 its not just sports. Its the social aspect. I mean, thats part of. Reporter and the importance of. A childs development is being involved in those things. And its a big part of our culture. Lets be realistic here. Reporter she is also concerned yearround 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, its 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 were 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 yearround options for older kids is a big concern. In charleston theres 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 im very curious to see how thats gonna work out. Reporter what are you concerned about . I just. Tay