Michigan Students Spend the Second-Most Time in Class in the US

The school year is coming to a close, but for some around the country, it ends a bit sooner.

I grew up in Alabama, so in my head school is wrapping up in about a week, or the end of May. But here in Michigan, school is still in session until June.

Of course, each state looks at education differently, whether it's through funding, rules or curriculum. How long students spend in school also varies.

Students expect to have the summer off, winter break for the holidays and Spring Break. But the extra days off sprinkled between vary greatly.

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For example, in Alabama, we always got Mardi Gras out of school because it's such a big deal down there. The same can't be said for Michigan. You'll have to eat your pączki after class.

Most states do, however, require the school year to extend for 180 days, just under half of the entire year. Michigan is one of these states.

Kansas (186 days for K-11), Illinois and North Carolina (185) all are in class for more days, but the hours students are required to be in class don't eclipse Michigan. (Illinois doesn't specify hours, but those extra 165 days aren't getting ahead of the Mitten State.)

The number of hours students need to be in class is the most drastic variation from state to state. Michigan has its students in class more than nearly every state in the country.

According to data from World Population Review, Michigan schools are required to teach and instruct students for 1,098 hours, the sixth-highest requirement in the country for any one grade. Texas, Kansas, Maryland, Wyoming and Wisconsin are the only states with higher requirements for any one grade.

If 1,098 hours sounds like a lot, it kind of is. Students must be in class for 6.1 hours of the day. This is the case from Kindergarten through 12th grade. Many states alter the required hours based on a group of grades, but Michigan has a flat 1,098 hours for all students, which means Michigan K-12 students are spending considerably more time in the classroom compared to the rest of the country.

Texas students must spend 1,260 hours at school, but this includes intermissions and recesses. Kansas, Wyoming and Wisconsin all have varying hour requirements for grade groups that fall below Michigan's total time.

However, Maryland does ask more of its students: 1,080 hours for K-8, and 1,170 hours for public high schools. Maryland students will be in class for 14,400 hours, or 600 days, from Kindergarten to graduation, the most in the entire country.

Michigan students who attend Michigan schools from Kindergarten through graduation will still be in school for a long time compared to the rest of the country. The total amount of time Michigan students will spend in class (without accounting for absences) from K-12 equates to 14,274 hours, or 594.75 days, in class.

These are, of course, based on minimum requirements. Maryland and Michigan both don't indicate whether they count time in recess or lunch - which would certainly skew the results of my findings here. You can check out the data set here or another interesting breakdown by the Pew Research Center here.