Only 1 in 8 Children's Educational TV Programs Meet High Quality Standards

A new study by Children Now reveals substantial deficiencies in children's educational television programming and raises serious doubts about broadcasters' commitments to the nation's children. The study evaluated the quality of programs claimed as educational/informational (E/I) by commercial stations, and found that only one of every eight E/I shows (13%) is rated as "highly educational." In contrast, almost twice as many, nearly one of every four (23%) were classified in the lowest category of "minimally educational." Most E/I programs (63%) were judged to be "moderately educational." Media researchers Dr. Barbara J. Wilson (University of Illinois), Dr. Dale Kunkel (University of Arizona) and Kristin L. Drogos (University of Illinois) analyzed a total of 120 episodes across 40 program titles, evaluating each show on a range of educational criteria that are associated with children's learning from television. Their findings indicate that most programs designated as E/I offer only limited educational value for child viewers. The new study reveals that the large majority of stations (59%) deliver only the minimum required amount, with just 3 percent of stations nationally offering more than four hours per week. Furthermore, 75 percent of stations schedule E/I programming exclusively on weekends, despite the fact that children watch an average of three hours of television per day every day of the week.