School Snippets
Average hours per night children ages 8 — 13 spend on homework: 1½ to 1 3/4
Average hours per week parents spend helping with homework: 3
Number of students who took classes through the Florida Virtual School, a service providing high-school courses online: 90,000
Percent of schools in the U.S. that reduced time spent teaching subjects such as music, art and geography after the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 tied federal funding to schools’ progress in English and math: 71
Minimal minutes of recess time per day teachers say is needed to improve children’s classroom behavior: 15
Percent of school districts nationwide that cut recess time in the wake of No Child Left Behind: 22
Percent of South Korean school children who get tutoring outside of school: 58
Percent of American children: 25
Percent of elementary-school students who eat fruit with their school lunch: 50
Percent of high-school students: 25
Percent of students who eat fruit when a cafeteria worker suggests it: 70
Percent of students who use cursive on the written portion of the SAT college entrance exam: 15
Number of British schoolchildren, some as young as 13, who were reported by their teachers to police as terrorism suspects: 200
Sources: Natural Awakenings, Education Week, The Center for Public Education, Current Events, Education Week, Nutrition Week, Newsweek, Boingboing.net
