Compressed Calendar Resources
General Information
- Sample GCCCD Compressed Calendar (2019-2020)
- California Community Colleges with Alternative Calendars
Academic Calendars
Compressed Calendar Elements Considerations
There are five major variables in play for compression:
- Length of breaks between terms (intersession)
- Length of Thanksgiving
- Flex obligations
- Use of “non-prime” times
- Finals week
Each of these can be adjusted in ways that either compresses or expands the calendar. Also, they are interrelated such that expansion of some may require compression of others and vice-versa. For example, significantly expanding the length of the break between fall and Spring may make for a longer vacation and/or intersession, but will likely make it tougher to take a full week vacation for thanksgiving.
As you can see from the academic calendars from Southwestern and San Diego, there are multiple ways to balance these variables and still compress the calendar:
Southwestern:
Fall to Spring Break = 8 weeks*
Summer to Fall Break = 2 weeks
Thanksgiving = 2 days
Flex Obligations = 2 days/yr.
Finals Week= Maintained (15 weeks instruction + 1 week finals)
San Diego:
Fall to Spring Break = 6 weeks
Summer to Fall Break = 2 weeks
Thanksgiving = 1 week
Flex Obligation = 5 days
Finals Week = None (16 weeks of instruction)
Grossmont (currently not compressed)
Fall to Spring Break = 6 weeks
Summer to Fall Break = 2 weeks
Thanksgiving = 2 days
Flex Obligation = 10 days
Finals Week = Maintained (16 weeks instruction + 1 week finals)
* Breaks are from last to first day of instruction (not factoring Flex Time meetings).