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"Pro/Con: Later School Start Times" (The Globe, Vitsky and Kuhlmann, 2024 ).

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"Pro/Con: Later School Start Times" (The Globe, Vitsky and Kuhlmann, 2024 ).

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As a career student, there have been many instances where I’ve been forced to question the value of seemingly asinine academic tasks. In order to coerce headstrong scholars such as myself into doing things they see no merit in doing, teachers will frequently use the excuse, “You’ll need to be able to do this in the future.” However, this rarely proves to be true.

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"Should School Start Later in the Day?" (TIME, Stone, 2025)

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"Should School Start Later in the Day?" (TIME, Stone, 2025)

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Maybe you’re an early bird. Maybe you’d rather snooze until noon. Either way, you have to get up for school. For some students, that means waking up before they’ve had enough sleep. Studies show that poor sleep can lead to…

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Schools shift as evidence mounts that later start times improve teens’ learning and well-being (Weir, 2023)

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Schools shift as evidence mounts that later start times improve teens’ learning and well-being (Weir, 2023)

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Later school times promote adolescent well-being

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Moving high school start times can improve student performance and general quality of life.

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Later School Start Times More Popular, But What Are the Drawbacks? (Walker, 2022)

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Later School Start Times More Popular, But What Are the Drawbacks? (Walker, 2022)

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As schools across the country continue to struggle with the academic and mental wellness fallout of the pandemic, many educators and district administrators are rethinking some of the mainstays that have defined public schools for decades, including homework, technology, and the length of the school day and week.

One potential change that generated momentum even before the pandemic is later school start times. According to the most recent federal data (2017-18), U.S. public high schools began their day at 8:00 a.m., on average. Forty-two percent of schools started earlier, including 10 percent-predominantly suburban schools-before 7:30 a.m.

These start times are too early, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Middle and high schools should start at 8:30 a.m. or later to give students the opportunity to get the sleep they need.

Over the past decade, a consensus formed among researchers that later school times would benefit student sleep patterns, which would enable them to walk into class more alert and more prepared for learning. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends teenagers, ages 13 to 18, should regularly sleep 8 to 10 hours per night for good health. Students without enough sleep are more likely to suffer from symptoms of depression, perform poorly in school, and not engage in daily physical activity.

Proponents believe the post-COVID school climate makes a shift to later school start times even more urgent. With stress and mental health challenges on the rise, later start times are seen as a relatively pain-free step in making schools healthier and happier places for students.

Still, later school start times can have ripple effects in school districts and the impact will not be felt equally by all students, families, and educators. Addressing these potential drawbacks and listening to all stakeholders is critical, experts say, before districts take this step.

What the Research Says

The existing research makes a compelling case that changing school start times can encourage healthier sleep. A 2018 study that looked at two public schools in Seattle found that students' sleep increased an average of 34 minutes each night after start times were moved nearly an hour later.

Students' academic performance, at least in the biology course that was the focus of the study, also improved. Among students whose start times were delayed, final grades were 4.5 percent higher, compared with students who took the class when school started earlier.

"School start time has serious implications for how students learn and perform in their education....To ask a teen to be up and alert at 7:30 a.m. is like asking an adult to be active and alert at 5:30 a.m.," said Horacio de la Iglesia, who co-authored the study. "Adolescents are on one schedule. The question is: What schedule will their schools be on?"

Another recent study painted a more modest picture of the academic benefits. In 2021, researchers at the University of Minnesota looked at 18,000 students in grades 5 through 11 after four school districts postponed the start of their school day by 20 to 65 minutes. Students' grade point averages increased by a modest 0.1 points, on average. While the researchers categorized the sleep benefits as "large," the academic improvements were considered "small."

But what do we know about the effect of later start times on educators? In 2022, researchers found that middle and high school teachers at a suburban school district in Colorado felt less stressed and more rested three years after the high schools started 70 minutes later and the middle school began 40-60 minutes later.

"Later secondary school start times is a significant policy shift that not only improves the health and well-being of adolescents, but can also equalize healthy sleep duration for all K-12 teachers," the researchers concluded.

Early Starts Show No Impact on Elementary Students

Like the Colorado district evaluated by this study, districts may need to move elementary school start times earlier to accommodate later times among middle and especially high schools. Staggering these start times can alleviate the potential logistical complications of this transition-particularly in areas where the number of school buses is limited.

Later start time initiatives focus on middle and high school students because that is the age group more susceptible to the ill effects of inadequate sleep. A study released in October by the American Educational Research Association found that early school start times do not have a discernible negative impact on elementary school students.

"We found earlier start times for elementary schoolers do not have the same negative effects as they do for middle and high schoolers," said study co-author Sarah Crittenden Fuller, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Moving elementary schools to earlier start times is unlikely to harm the educational outcomes of these younger students." (Similarly, the study in Colorado on teacher impact reported no ill effects on elementary educators after their schools implemented an earlier start time.)

Fuller and her colleagues also noted that school start times have the largest impact on traditionally disadvantaged groups and that those groups are most likely to be affected by the disruption of a later start time.

"To the extent that districts can change start times to bring middle and high school start times in line with the science on adolescent sleep, this may help close achievement gaps," said Fuller. "In addition, traditionally disadvantaged groups may benefit most from supports that schools and districts can provide to address disruptions in childcare and transportation created by a change in start times."

Not for Every Student and Family

Those potential disruptions will be monitored in California, where in 2019 lawmakers passed a law mandating districts not begin public high school any earlier than 8:30 a.m. and middle school earlier than 8 a.m. The law went into effect in September, affecting roughly 3 million students.

Later start time advocates praised the law as a huge step forward for students and predicted it would motivate other states to follow suit.

Indeed, other large states have proposals that duplicate, even exceed, the reach of the California law, including Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. New York's bill, for example, would mandate that no school can start earlier than 8:30 am.

Despite the widespread popularity of the idea of later school start times, the California law is controversial.

Many educators, district leaders, and parents believe the shift will present significant operational and logistical challenges, complicate the scheduling of after-school extra-curricular activities, and disrupt the schedules of working parents. Both the California Teachers Association (CTA) and the California Schools Board Association opposed the measure on these grounds, also citing the erosion of local control and a failure to respect parental decisions and community input.

When the bill was being debated in 2019, CTA called attention to the challenges facing low-income families with less workplace flexibility. "We know from experience that many of these parents will drop their children off at school at the same time they do now, regardless of whether there is supervision, and there is not enough funding from the state for before school programs to ensure the safety of students who will be dropped off early," CTA spokeswoman Claudia Briggs told the Los Angeles Times.

"Traditionally disadvantaged groups may benefit most from supports that schools and districts can provide to address disruptions in childcare and transportation created by a change in start times."

Sarah Crittenden Fuller, University of North Carolina

Adriana Aguilar, a parent of two and a resource teacher in the San Ysidro school district near San Diego, has had to adjust her morning and afternoon schedule but, thanks to the support of her husband and family, is managing. She worries that many other parents may not have the same flexibility.

"This new time may benefit teenagers, but it does not accommodate the lifestyles of single-parent families, families with multiple children who attend different schools, and families where both parents work," she told the San Diego Tribune in August. At her school, Aguilar says the later dismissal times also affects students who participate in sports and other after-school activities.

Overall, she says the move to later start times is well-intentioned but, in her experience, student schedules/activities, and lack of proper nutrition play just a big a role in inadequate sleep.

"Until these topics are addressed, teens will continue to be unfocused and fatigued regardless of school start time."

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Later School Start Times More Popular, But What Are the Drawbacks? | NEA

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Middle and high school students need more sleep to be prepared for school. Although later school start times can help, districts should be careful in how they implement this major change to student and family schedules.

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Impact of later school start times (WOWK 13 News)

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Impact of later school start times (WOWK 13 News)

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https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1BJtbVmN4jgbHHAi6Y8gu7ozTo8U1UekcIghWBsXhywU/edit?usp=sharing

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Scheduling for Learning, Not Convenience (Liebtag, 2017)

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Scheduling for Learning, Not Convenience (Liebtag, 2017)

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https://www.gettingsmart.com/2017/02/24/scheduling-for-learning-not-convenience/

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By Emily Liebtag and Mary Ryerse
A/B, 4X4, or traditional block? Six, seven or eight-period day? Within those structures, what strategies for flexibility exist?

When it comes to secondary school scheduling, there are many options. Which schedule is best? It depends on what you're trying to accomplish. There are 4 basic steps to schedule development:

Determine goals

Understand parameters

Select underlying structure

Incorporate flexibility

This blog focuses on the latter two, including examples of underlying structures and strategies for flexibility. Regardless of what structure is selected for a schedule, it is oh-so-important to build in strategies (and time slots) for scheduling flexibility that matches today's learning.

Moving from Traditional Scheduling to Flexible Scheduling

For years, schools have operated in a system where subjects were confined to 45-55 minute blocks of time (e.g 1st-period math, 2nd-period science, etc). Such schedules (traditional) were created under an industrial model and prioritized factors such as: 1) structured use of time, 2) easy staffing, and 3) the Carnegie Unit.

In our increasingly project-based world, there is a greater degree of recognition that content isn't learned or consumed in isolation. Ideally, learning is interdisciplinary and connected. Time constraints and stringent schedules can get in the way when thinking about how to create innovative ideas and divergent thinking. The Carnegie Unit, while still in full-force in many institutions, is starting to hold less and less weight and the focus is more on competencies.

Before addressing strategies for flexible scheduling, it's important to take a look at the core underlying scheduling structure options.

The Underlying Structure: Types of Schedules

There are several broad categories of schedules, each with identifiable pros and cons. Our outline, below, is intended to serve as a broad introduction to scheduling types-there are as many iterations to each of these models as one could imagine.

Traditional 6-Period Day

A traditional 6 period day consists of 45-55 minute subject course periods with lunch, possibly homeroom, and electives built in.

As mentioned above, historically the "default" schedule for most schools has consisted of a series of six periods each day that may rotate on a semester or trimester basis. This is the simplest schedule in terms of staffing assignments, master schedule development, bussing, lunch scheduling and anything else that's traditionally been part of the secondary school experience.

Block Scheduling

Larger chunks of time for each subject or for interdisciplinary learning. Block schedules often require rotating subjects in order to accommodate enough time for each. The range of time for blocks varies and can be anywhere from 75 minutes to as long as 180 minutes .

There are numerous variations, all of which extend the period (some by taking 4 classes per term; others by alternating days with 6-8 courses total) An analysis from the Department of Public Instruction in North Carolina suggests that there are benefits of a block schedule. Amongst the benefits, teachers stated that there are more opportunities for electives and chances to take advanced courses. Students in a 4×4 block schedule have been shown to have higher achievement in science classes compared to those in a more traditional seven-period schedule.

7 & 8 Period Day

An iteration of the six-period day, a 7 or 8 period day allows for students to enroll in additional electives (this is particularly helpful for providing options for students interested in the visual and performing arts, work-based learning and/or world languages).

David London who is the Principal of Punxsutawney High School in Pennsylvania shared advantages of both seven- and eight-period school days. "Students can take more credits and gives them the opportunity to take another class. Work release and dual enrollment programs that students often really need, especially if they are striving to finish early or to catch up, can be the eighth course. Labs and electives that enhance core content course understanding are also examples of potential additional classes students can take with an eight-period day.

Inherently Flexible Customized Schedule
Some schools design their own scheduling structure. While there may be components reminiscent of block or traditional schedules, many schools are beginning to use time in ways that best serve the learning model rather than trying to live within the confines of traditional structures.
Robyn Bagley (@gallagherrobyn), Founder and former Principal of Career Path High, made sure that there was a blended and flexible schedule that did not have bells running students' days. Students at Career Path are encouraged to work at their own pace and from any location. This allows for highly personalized learning, with success measured by course completion and not marked by a calendar deadline and time for internships and apprenticeships. While there are still Career Path Learning Center requirements, such as PBL collaboration, weekly success-coach meetings and interventions when needed, students truly have much more choice in their learning day.

At many schools, there is a push to eliminate bells and a rigid structure altogether. When interdisciplinary learning is the goal of a school, this flexibility can be crucial to sustained work on projects and collaboration.

Incorporating Flexibility: 4 Characteristics of Effective Schedules

We have certainly seen a myriad of different schedules work for middle and high schools across the country, but there are similar characteristics across their plans:

1. Work Sessions. Big chunks of time wherein students can work on interdisciplinary projects are crucial. Even if working within a seven- or eight-period day, find ways to combine time when possible and allow for extended work sessions. If the day becomes too truncated, many complain that the effect is a "shopping mall high school" where students don't work on rigorous tasks due to the lack of concentrated and focused time. The constant transition between classes results in a loss of instructional time. One good example we've seen is Reynoldsburg High School, which has two facilities and four academies including eSTEM featuring triple blocks on big topics like Energy, Environment and the Economy.

2. Less Rigidity. Even if the school isn't operating under a block schedule or it doesn't have big chunks of student work time, the bell cannot be an inhibitor to student creativity. Schools ought to try to find ways to encourage students to persist when they are in the middle of a task or challenge and not penalize them for being late to another in those circumstances. This is particularly important for students who may need that extra time to grapple with ideas or master concepts. At Thrive Public Schools, a charter network with an elementary and middle school, Wednesdays are "completely flexible based on community and student needs. These days also end at 1:30 to provide teachers more professional collaboration time."

3. Time for Multi-Use Spaces. Maker-spaces, labs and playgrounds are becoming commonplace in schools that intend to create innovative and dynamic thinkers that are prepared for 21st-century life and jobs. Often, spaces that house powertools, 3-d printers or even just the latest computers are not omnipresent throughout a school and are located in 2-3 rooms. These learning spaces need to be used freely and frequently. If a student is working on designing an app, but "computer lab time" isn't until next week, inevitably their thought process is stunted. Schedules that promote active learning ensure that multi-use spaces are used often and are seen as places that students can go to when it makes sense in their respective projects or assignments-not "only when it fits in the schedule."

For our final point, perhaps most importantly.... (drumroll please) ADVISORY!

4. Advisory.. Advisory is key to personalizing the secondary experience for students. By the time students get to middle school, many already feel that they don't have a true course or path, nor do they have the support to help them find and navigate their way-enter strong advisory. Unlike counseling and advisory, the last two years of high school are to help you determine whether college or heading straight into work is the right choice. Advisory today includes a lot more. Advisory entails things like coaching on projects and teamwork or helping students get that extra 20 minutes of one-on-one instruction they need. Beth Brodie of Partnership for Change notes that a key function of the advisor is to ensure that every student has someone "who knows them well and supports them at school meetings and conferences."

Some great examples of schools doing advisory right are the following:

e3 Civic Advisory Model. Recently named by CNN as one of the most innovative schools in the United States, e3 Civic High School starts most days with an advisory block.

Del Lago Academy A d v i s o r y S c h e d u l e . Students meet with advisors every Wednesday. "The main purpose of advisory is to create and build positive relationships between scholars, as well as between teachers and scholars. Advisory topics will focus on creating community, academic advisement, postsecondary planning and social and emotional learning."

Students at Science Leadership Academy meet with an advisor twice weekly for an hour. Advisory serves both strictly academic and social and emotional goals for students. This time should be crafted to address personal and academic goals.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the schedule needs to align with the school mission and goals. Regardless of what schedule is put into place, if the goal is to have true active learning where students can collaborate, create and work on interdisciplinary projects, the daily schedule ought to include several components.

For more, see:
Stay in-the-know with all things EdTech and innovations in learning by signing up to receive the weekly Smart Update

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Scheduling for Learning, Not Convenience

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By Emily Liebtag and Mary Ryerse - There are many options for secondary school scheduling. Which is best? It depends what you're trying to accomplish.

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Do sleepy teens need later school start times? Pediatricians say yes (Netburn, 2014)

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Do sleepy teens need later school start times? Pediatricians say yes (Netburn, 2014)

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https://newsela.com/read/sleepy-schooltimes/id/4978/

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Later start times, less homework to help students cope with stress (Pioneer Press, 2017)

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Later start times, less homework to help students cope with stress (Pioneer Press, 2017)

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https://newsela.com/read/schools-help-students-stress/id/38353/

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Changing School Start Times Has Ripple Effects — And Those Ripples Could Sink Many Families (Haney, 2017)

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Changing School Start Times Has Ripple Effects — And Those Ripples Could Sink Many Families (Haney, 2017)

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https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2017/12/12/boston-public-school-johannah-haney

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I'm the parent of a first grader at Manning Elementary, a Boston Public School whose start time is slated to change from 9:30 a.m. to 7:15 a.m. In the days since I've learned of Superintendent Tommy Chang and Mayor Marty Walsh's plan to roll out new school start times, I have vacillated between fury, panic, sadness and confusion.

I have heard many parents worry about excessively early pickup times. My child's bus, for example, currently picks her up 47 minutes before school starts; assuming it stays the same, that means she would need to be at the bus stop by 6:30 a.m. next year.

Parents are also concerned about their kids being in after-school programming for many hours. Those are major issues, and they will affect every family involved. But there are a couple points no one seems to be talking about.

The new start times will disproportionately harm low-income families, single parents and women who work.

I know of families in the Boston Public School system throughout the city who - with start times similar to what my family experiences at Manning (9:30 a.m. to 4:10 p.m.) - are able to stagger working parents' hours so one parent is home before school, and one parent is home after school. Or, perhaps for either morning or afternoon, kids go to before- or after-care for just an hour or two.

But for those who can't stagger working hours - specifically single parents or families who don't have any wiggle room on working hours - kids often see themselves to bus stops in the morning, then wait an hour or so after school, alone, until parents return. I see it every day.

Under the new start times, and therefore early end times, these kids will be spending up to four hours home alone every day.

Let's not sugarcoat: After-school care is for financially advantaged families. Costs vary, but for two children at the YMCA in West Roxbury, after-school care from 3:25 p.m. until 6 p.m. is more than $700 per month (the cost would naturally go up with the extension of hours needed), plus the yearly membership cost of the YMCA (currently $90 per family).

For the 30 percent of kids under 18 living at or below the poverty line in Boston, that's one-third of the $2,100 monthly income for a family of four. Manning Elementary's current after-school cost for five days a week is $325 per month per child (again, with extended hours, that number could rise).

Despite this hefty sum, after-school programs within BPS lack the funds to provide the care they promise, and ask parents for additional contributions to fill in the fiscal gaps. The after-school program at Manning holds fundraisers several times a year, soliciting donations from an already tapped school community. Not every school has on-site after-care, and many programs aren't within walking distance or on MBTA lines. The families I know who let kids stay home alone instead of go to after-school programs wouldn't have a means of transportation even if they could somehow afford the cost.

My daughter's school is slated to end classes at 1:55 p.m. next year. As someone who has struggled to find meaningful work after being laid off during pregnancy, my partner has a vastly more earning potential. That means that if someone has to sacrifice by being underemployed - or even not working at all - the buck stops with me. My child would never get the down time or sleep she needs with a 6:30 a.m. bus stop time, then four hours of after-school care. So in order to facilitate her basic needs as a young child, I may have no choice but to stop working, or work drastically reduced hours.

I'm not alone. In Massachusetts, women earn 84 cents for every dollar a man earns (and even less for women of color or other marginalized groups). For families who need to make changes in work schedules, including reducing the number of hours worked to meet children as early as 1:15 p.m. every day, it's logical that the lower-earning parent will carry the burden of giving up some or all employment. This will disproportionally affect women.

And for what? So Boston Public School can save a little in transportation expenses. And while they save, families will find themselves in increasingly precarious financial straits.

Both Superintendent Chang and Mayor Walsh would be wise to, at the very least, postpone the changes until the 2019-2020 school year. They must think carefully in the meantime about the ripple effects of asking kids as young as 5 years old to get to bus stops before sunrise, then potentially either spend 11 hours at school, or stay home unsupervised for long stretches of afternoon. Or, if they refuse to prioritize the well-being of Boston's families over transportation budgets, they ought to at least consider the optics of these onerous changes and how they may affect their own careers. BPS parents are a passionate bunch, and we won't stop fighting for the well-being of our kids.

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Changing School Start Times Has Ripple Effects - And Those Ripples Could Sink Many Families

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I'm the parent of a first grader at Manning Elementary, a Boston Public School whose start time is slated to change from 9:30 a.m. to 7:15 a.m. In the days since I've learned of Superintendent Tommy Chang and Mayor Marty Walsh's plan to roll out new school start times, I have vacillated between fury, panic, sadness and confusion.

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Fairfax, Montgomery officials to share experience delaying school start times (Huang, 2015)

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Fairfax, Montgomery officials to share experience delaying school start times (Huang, 2015)

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https://www.capitalgazette.com/education/ph-ac-cn-schoolstart-fairfax-1018-20151019-story.html

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Representatives from school districts in Virginia and Maryland will share insights into delaying high school start times with the Anne Arundel County school board Tuesday.

Fairfax County is spending $5 million to push back school start times by nearly an hour this school year, from 7:20 a.m. to 8:10 a.m. Middle school students, however, start school at 7:30 a.m., which is about 10 to 20 minutes earlier than last year. And elementary school schedules remain the same.

The Montgomery County school board delayed high school and middle school start times by 20 minutes and elementary school start times by 10 minutes. High schools there open at 7:45 a.m., middle schools 30 minutes later and elementary schools between 9 and 9:25 a.m.

The Anne Arundel Board of Education will conduct a workshop to hear about the logistics of pushing back school start and dismissal times from Jeff Platenberg, the assistant superintendent for facilities and transportation for Fairfax County Public Schools, and Todd Watkins, director of transportation for Montgomery County Public Schools.

The board is expected to discuss the logistics of moving start and dismissal times, such as before and after school activities, bus routes and costs.

The Anne Arundel board wants to have later start times for the next school year. The board allocated $602,000 in the fiscal year 2016 budget to delay school start times by fall of 2016.

Fairfax County's new schedule, which has been estimated to cost about $3.6 million annually, comes at time when the school system is facing a potential $72 million budget shortfall, according to school officials.

But Sandy Evans, vice chairman of the Fairfax County school board, said the later school start time won't be affected by the budget problems.

"I don't see us going back on this fundamental change," she said.

She said the improvement to student health and academics is worth the cost of delaying school start times.

Evans said she has advised Anne Arundel County to reach out to all stakeholders, including teachers who run after-school programs, student athletes and parents.

In August, Anne Arundel school officials purchased bus routing software as part of the effort to make the change. But the software presents its own challenges, said school spokesman Bob Mosier.

"This is not a plug-and-play piece of software that instantly maps the quickest route to a location like the map application on a smartphone," Mosier said in an email. "This is a complicated process that involves the loading of a significant amount of data in order to do the proper analyses."

The software will analyze road information, student pick-up and drop-off locations, school start times and the number of buses for which to plot routes, school officials said. The school system currently maps out routes manually.

Advocates of moving start times will attend the school board's meeting on Wednesday to support the effort, said Lisa VanBuskirk, a member of the organization Start School Later. The Tuesday workshop is open to the public but will not have a public comment period.

Supporters cite research showing later school times allow students more sleep, which improves their academic performance and focus.

Last year, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended middle and high schools delay the start of school to 8:30 a.m. or later to align school schedule with the sleeping patterns of teenagers.

Phillip Reed, a theater teacher at McLean High School in Fairfax County, said his students seem more focused and energized with the later start to the school day.

Nicole Curtis, a freshman at McLean High, said she feels less tired this year, compared to her earlier middle school start time last year.

She said many of her friends stay up late procrastinating doing homework and a later school start time gives them more time to sleep.

But the change isn't working well for everyone.

Torin Dunn, a junior at McLean High, said the later start time pushes back his sports schedule, which means he has less time to do homework after school. So he stays up later, and he doesn't sleep more than he did last year, he said.

James O'Donnell, a substitute teacher who is working toward becoming a full-time teacher, said the schedule is unfair to middle school students who have to wake up earlier to accommodate the new bus schedules for high schoolers.

But he said the later school time might reduce the risk of car accidents in the morning if older students who drive are better rested.

Mark Thompson, a special education teacher, said he doesn't see a difference in the student population since the schedule change.

"They're no more awake or attentive," he said.

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Fairfax, Montgomery officials to share experience delaying school start times

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Representatives from a Virginia school district will share insights into delaying high school start times by about an hour with Anne Arundel County school board members Tuesday, a move that's fairly well received by students but could be in jeopardy as Fairfax county faces budget cuts.