While it is recommended that children receive at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day, the stark reality is that many students in the United States receive short recess breaks or no breaks at all due to educational policies that have increased instructional time. Instructional time per year can vary state to state. On average, however, you may be surprised to find out that students in the United States have ranked above average in amount of school instructional time when compared to OECD countries, second only to Costa Rica, more than Canada, Japan, Germany, or South Korea.
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Education in United States is very local and, can have variation between schools within the same school district, with laws pertaining to instructional times varying state by state. A database from the Education Commission of States shows that 38 states specify a minimum total number of hours per year, with high school hours ranging between 720 hours in Arizona to 1,260 hours in Texas. The chart below uses data from states on requires instructional time; the states with blank bars do not have requirements for instructional time.
Timetable of a Day at Primary Schools in Japan
For comparison’s sake here is a typical school schedule from a Japanese elementary school:
(source: https://www.japanlivingguide.com/living-in-japan/children/elementary-school-system/)
| Arriving | 8:00 ～ 8:25 |
| Morning assembly for the whole school, homeroom, etc. | 8:25 ～ 8:35 |
| 1st class | 8:35 ～ 9:20 |
| 2nd class | 9:25 ～ 10:10 |
| Break | 10:10 ～ 10:30 |
| 3rd class | 10:30 ～ 11:15 |
| 4th class | 11:20 ～ 12:15 |
| Lunch | 12:15 ～ 13:00 |
| Break | 13:00 ～ 13:20 |
| Cleaning | 13:20 ～ 13:40 |
| 5th class | 13:40 ～ 14:25 |
| 6th class | 14:30 ～ 15:15 |
| End-of-the-day homeroom (for 5 classes)* | 14:25 ～ 14:35 |
| End-of-the-day homeroom (for 6 classes)* | 15:15 ～ 15:25 |
* After the lunch break or the end-of-the-day homeroom (depends on the school), students clean their classroom and/or common parts of school building. In most cases the lower grade students (first and second grade) are supported by elder students.
With a start time of 8:25 am and end of school time of 3:25 pm, there is a total of 40 minutes for recess, consisting of two 20 min sessions before and after a 45-minute lunch, followed by a cleaning period where students clean their classroom and common areas. Despite having less instructional time than the average, Japan still ranks higher in PISA than the United States, proving that seat time or instructional time only sometimes translates to better student mastery.
Since the pandemic, there has been some thinking about what school time and seat time means. As AEI has pointed out, school time does not always translate to learning time, and the time being engaged is probably sliding, if recent testing results have shown.
Of course, test scores don’t tell you all of the story. Maybe we should look at the increase in teen depression and anxiety, the decline in physical activity, active play, the rise of chronic absenteeism, and general lack of motivation and engagement.
Education is in trouble, and the problem won’t be solved by more seat time and less recess.