Study: Kids who watch 'Sesame Street' do better in school

There is a new study out that says kids can actually learn as much from one specific TV show as from preschool.

We all know about School House Rock: There is a reason it was such a success and that it was used in schools. Catchy jingles that taught a lesson. Now, a new study looks at the benefits of Sesame Street and how an hour in front of the tv may actually make your kid smarter.

The show is "especially beneficial for boys, African-American youth and children from low-income families," the study claims, since they get the biggest boost in school performance. "Our analysis suggestions that 'Sesame Street' may be the biggest and most affordable early childhood intervention out there, at a cost of just a few dollars per child per year," Phillip Levine, an economist who co-authored the research paper, told WQAD.

The Washington Post notes that the lasting educational benefits of the show can be "as powerful as the ones children get from going to preschool."