Statistics

Sleep

80 percent of teens don't get the recommended amount of sleep. 70% of kids ages 5-12 don’t get the recommended 10-11 hours of sleep needed.¹

Early morning sleepiness in teens is due to their circadian rhythms, not laziness. Students at schools with later start times report less depression, their teachers report that the students are more alert, and their parents report that their teens have improved moods.²

Sleep deprivation impacts brain development, cognitive functioning and increases the risk of depression, obesity and suicide.³

A majority of adolescents are averaging 7 hours of sleep per night, and one quarter are getting 6 hours or less.⁴

Time

Between 1981 and 1997 kids lost 12 hours of weekly free time while time spent in structured sports doubled. Time spent on homework increased by 50 percent. During the same period, household conversations dropped by 100 percent and time spent on religious participation for kids between the ages of 3 and 12 declined by 40%.¹

Unstructured play and downtime enhances brain development and learning.²

Nearly 40% of school districts have eliminated recess nationally.³

In a 2000 national YMCA poll of American teens, 21 percent reported not having enough time with parents as their top concern.⁴

There is a strong correlation between regular family meals (five or more dinners per week) and academic success and psychological adjustment.⁵

Homework

According to a 2001 review of more than 120 studies of homework and its effects by Professor Harris Cooper of Duke University, there is very little correlation between the amount of homework and achievement in elementary school and only a moderate correlation in middle school. Even in high school, too much homework may diminish its effectiveness or even become counter-productive.

A cross-cultural analysis of education practices found that American middle-school students do more homework than their peers in Japan, Korea and Taiwan. The study found that more homework does not correlate with higher test scores.¹

Middle school students who scored highest in math tests tended to come from countries where teachers assign relatively little homework -- including Denmark, the Czech Republic and Japan. The lowest-scoring students came from countries where teachers assign large amounts of homework, such as Iran, Thailand and Greece. Haddock Vicki. "After years of teachers piling it on, there's a new movement to ... Abolish homework"²

Testing and Tutoring

The College Board, which owns the SAT, PSAT and other tests, plans to introduce an eighth-grade college assessment exam in 2010.¹

A new study by researchers at Rice University and the University of Texas-Austin finds that Texas' public school accountability system, the model for the national No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), directly contributes to lower graduation rates.

Tutoring and test preparation is a $4 billion industry.²

Under NCLB, students enrolled in schools judged to be failing are entitled to free tutoring, paid for by taxpayers. The cost totals $2.5 billion annually. US News & World Report³

Impact on Education

Of those who enter high school, only about 70 percent will graduate—one of the lowest rates among industrialized nations. As important, however, is the fact that, of those who do receive a diploma, only half are academically prepared for postsecondary education.¹

Forty percent of all students who enter college must take remedial classes.²

Seventy one percent of the country’s school districts have reduced or eliminated music, art, social studies and/or science to make time for reading and math.³

A 2006 national Scholastic/Yankelovich study found that reading for pleasure declines sharply after age eight. The number one reason: too much homework.⁴

Research presented at a 1996 national Head Start conference demonstrated that kids attending developmentally appropriate K-2 classes scored higher in reading and math than those in academically oriented classes.⁵

In a national survey, students were asked to use 3 words to describe how they felt in school. The word most often used by students was "bored" followed by "tired". Lyons, L. (2004). Most teens associate school with boredom, fatigue.⁶

Our test and achievement driven education system contributes to higher drop out rates and rates of burn out.⁷

A recent McKinsey and CO. report showed that, while U.S. fourth graders compare well on global testing, high school kids really lag. "The longer American children are in school, the worse they perform."⁸

Research shows that playful learning leads to better academic success than does a skills-and-drills approach, but this isn’t happening in many of our school: Teens reported being bored 27% of the time that they are in class and disengaged 75% of the time.⁹

Health

One in three American children suffers from depression.¹

The number of 7 to 17 year olds who visited the doctor for depression more than doubled from 1995 to 2002, when 3.22 million kids were treated.²

Nearly one in ten 12th graders reported non-medical use of Vicodin and one in twenty reported non-medical use of OxyContin.³

In 2003, after a decade of declining rates, the suicide rate among young teenage girls rose 76 percent and for girls ages 15-19, the rate increased by 32 percent.⁴

9-13 year olds said they were more stressed by academics than any other stressor—even bullying or family problems.KidsHealth KidsPoll. (2005) How Kids Handle Stress.⁵

Since 1980, the number of overweight children in the U.S. has tripled.⁶

In 2003, more than 3.5 million injuries relating to overuse in sports were treated by orthopedic surgeons in children under 15 years of age.⁷

In the United States, a young person commits suicide every two hours.⁸

Cheating

80% of high-achieving high school students admit to cheating.¹

During the 1940's, 20% of college students admitted to cheating in high school; today between 75 and 98 percent of college students surveyed report having cheated in high school.²

When students have an extrinsic reason for performing, the internal motivation to learn is diminished. Academic cheating begins to set in during middle school. Research shows that there is increased motivation to cheat because of the emphasis on grades.³

Sleep

¹ How Much Sleep do we really need? The National Sleep Foundation.

² http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/hot-topics/backgrounder-later-school-start-time

³ National Sleep Foundation

⁴ Wolfe, P. (2005) Advice for the sleep-deprived. Educational Leadership, 62(7), 39-40

Time

¹ Changing Times of American Youth: 1981–2003, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 2004

² Kenneth R. Ginsburg and the Committee on Communications and the Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health, "The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds," Report from the American Academy of Pediatrics, 2006

³ 2007 survey, Center on Education Policy

⁴ Putting Family First

⁵ http://www.educationminnesota.org/en/community/dinner.aspx

Homework

¹ Wilde, Marian. "How Much Homework is Too Much?" Great Schools. Accessed on December, 23 2009.

² San Francisco Chronicle. October 8, 2006

Testing and Tutoring

¹ http://articles.latimes.com/2008/aug/08/local/me-test8

² http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/12/test-prep-internet

³ http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070314/14nclb.htm

Impact on Education

¹ "Paying Double: Inadequate High Schools and Community College Remediation", Alliance for Excellent Education, Issue Brief, August 2006

² Report by David Conley for the Melissa and Bill Gates Foundation

³ CEP. Compendium of Major NCLB Studies, Curriculum & Instruction

⁴ The Case Against Homework, page 260.

⁵ Sherman, C.W., Mueller, D.P. (1996). Developmentally Appropriate Practice and Student Achievement in Inner-City Elementary Schools. Head Start National Research Conference, June 1996 Associated Press 2006

⁶ The Gallup Youth Survey, January 22-March 9, 2004. Retrieved June 24, 2009

⁷ http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/feb03/vol60/num05/The_Dangers_of_Testing.aspx

⁸ The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s Schools: Summary of Findings, April 2009. Retrieved June 24, 2009

⁹ Larson, R. (2000). Toward a psychology of positive youth development. American Psychologist, 55(1), 170-183

Health

¹ National Mental Health Association

² Stanford University Medical School

³ Monitoring the Future (University of Michigan Website)

⁴ Center for Disease Control

⁵ National Association of Health Education Centers

⁶ Center for Disease Control (2004)

⁷ "SPORTS INJURIES A GROWING PROBLEM IN KIDS" American Academy of Pediatrics, October 2002. Accessed December 29, 2009