The math on hours in school

Adding up hours, American children spend more time in school than all but three countries in the OECD, writes Mona Chalabi for Five Thirty-Eight. Only in Chile, Israel, and Australia do elementary students spend longer days in class each year than U.S. counterparts. In lower-secondary school (defined as starting six years after primary education and lasting three years, about the equivalent of U.S. middle school), the average year in America lasts 1,016 hours, or 42 continuous days, longer than in most developed countries. Combining primary and lower-secondary school hours, the U.S. ranks fourth of 34 countries. That said, OECD’s data can obscure important variations in each country’s classrooms. In the U.S., for example, not all states count what the OECD calls “required schooling” the same way. A study by the Pew Charitable Trust found that in Texas, where number of school hours per year (1,260) appears highest in America, unlike other states that total includes lunch and recess. Money might affect the syllabus, too. The 2007 schools and staffing survey by the National Center for Education Statistics found that in a typical week, third-graders in U.S. public schools spent 2.8 hours more on core subjects, but 30 minutes less on foreign languages and 30 minutes less at recess than counterparts in private schools. More

Source:  Public Education News Blast

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Los Angeles Education Partnership (LAEP) is an education support organization that works as a collaborative partner in high-poverty communities.