Starting in January 1997, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Ph.D. at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, conducted research on educational television programming for children and developed a pilot program based on that research.

The project was launched in the wake of a 1996 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruling that commercial broadcast stations must air at least three hours a week of children's educational programming.

Key Findings
The Annenberg Public Policy Center produced five reports summarizing its research on children and television.

• Newspapers provide little coverage of educational children's television.
• FCC requirements have had little effect on parents' awareness of educational programming.
• Children will not automatically reject a program because it is educational.
• Audiences for educational programs are not disproportionately undercounted.
• Parents may reward advertisers on educational programs by purchasing their products.
• Financial and other barriers pose challenges to independent producers of educational programming.

Key Results

• Annenberg Public Policy Center produced a resource guide to educational programming, Teaching Through Television.
• Annenberg Public Policy Center published Covering Kids'® TV: A Resource Guide for Journalists.
• Unapix produced a pilot program for a children's educational series entitled Young Heroes. By mid-2000, the proposed series had yet to find a buyer.

Funding
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) supported the project with a grant of $430,201.