A study presented by the National Association of Independent Schools explores The Tutoring Phenomenon and many of its implications. The survey at Browne & Nichols School (BB&N), a pre-K to 12 school in Cambridge, Massachusetts known for its academic excellence, established tutoring prevalence, time spent with tutors, subjects for which tutoring was received, and reasons tutoring was contracted.

With 42 percent of Americans believing there’s a “great need” for children to receive private outside tutoring (Newsweek poll), we thought you might find these notes on “shadow education” relevant, if not rather startling:

In BB&N study, “on average, tutored students spend approximately 10 percent of their routinely available time for homework and study with tutors; it may be as high as 25 percent for the top 100 student users of tutors.” That’s 2.3 to 5.6 hours with a tutor each week!

Market analysts at Bear-Stearns estimated that parents whose children are in the top and the bottom of their classes (21 percent of the total) are likely to seek tutoring.

In California, a 2002 Palo Alto high school poll revealed that 10.85 percent of math students receive paid-professional tutoring on a regular basis. Palo Alto’s Gunn High School, reported 16.4 percent in regular (including Algebra 1.1 and 1.2), 15.3 percent in advanced, 7 percent in honors and 3.7 percent in advanced placement math lanes regularly attend tutoring sessions.

A 2009 survey conducted by the Palo Alto elementary school district found that more than 57 percent of students receive supplemental math assistance outside of school.

A study found 77 percent of Korean students averaged 7.8 hours per week in private education. Parents of students with the highest achievement invested in private tutoring.