I know how much people love change as it relates to education, but I think both changes we've experienced are grounded in solid
1) Balanced Calendar - Shorter summer, longer breaks between quarters
2) Start Times - Elementary starts earlier, HS starts later.

My understanding is that the longer summer is not really great for learning. And in most cases, the summer went from 10 weeks to 8, so not like they halved it or anything. But having that two week break in October and a two week break in March (or I think I've seen a week in February and a week in April) is supposed to give enough breathing room for the students between logical sections of their year. Now the district my wife works for (and my kids go to) still do a week in October and a week in April, so not as extreme as what my wife's last district was. Part of that we'll miss, part of it we won't.

I never knew a world with our kids where the HS started first, and the elementary started last. Our district put that into effect the year our oldest started Kindergarten. But having our kids on the bus at 7:15a has been so nice.