New Survey Tracks America's Kids After School

By Dr. Marciene Mattleman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - During the recent campaigns for local, state and federal offices, there was much talk about education needs.

It is the responsibility for government at all levels to fund K-12 education, although we know that lately budgets in many places in the country have been inadequate.

Higher education gets some government aid but tuition, alumni, and foundation grants provide much of the funding, Missing from the discussion is mention of the after school hours, a large block of time when kids can be learning while having fun in areas that support curriculum. Parents from all regions of the country have this unmet need, yet there is no major federal stream of dollars.

Now America After 3PM, a survey by the Afterschool Alliance based on responses from 30,700 households in every state, chronicles how children spend the hours between 3 and 6pm — the time when parents aren't available and kids are largely unsupervised.

Read more in Education Week.