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The Pros and Cons of Starting School Later

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The Pros and Cons of Starting School Later

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Would a Later School Start Time Increase Student Success? Tori

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Would a Later School Start Time Increase Student Success? Tori

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The author is saying how teens should get between 9-10 hours of sleep a night and it's not the activities they do it's the school start times that make them wake up earlier so they don't get as much sleep. The author is informing us about how this could be a good thing but also how it could be a bad thing too. I think the author is more bias because they say more pro's in this than con's

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How much sleep do you get each night during the school year?

Are you rested in the morning before school? If so, why? If not, why not? And if not, what do you think could be done to ensure you get more sleep during the school year?

In " The Economic Case for Letting Teenagers Sleep a Little Later," Aaron E. Carroll writes:

Many high-school-age children across the United States now find themselves waking up much earlier than they'd prefer as they return to school. They set their alarms, and their parents force them out of bed in the morning, convinced that this is a necessary part of youth and good preparation for the rest of their lives.

It's not. It's arbitrary, forced on them against their nature, and a poor economic decision as well.

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute recommends that teenagers get between nine and 10 hours of sleep. Most in the United States don't. It's not their fault.

My oldest child, Jacob, is in 10th grade. He plays on the junior varsity tennis team, but his life isn't consumed by too many extracurricular activities. He's a hard worker, and he spends a fair amount of time each evening doing homework. I think most nights he's probably asleep by 10 or 10:30.

His school bus picks him up at 6:40 a.m. To catch it, he needs to wake up not long after 6. Nine hours of sleep is a pipe dream, let alone 10.

There's an argument to be made that we should cut back on his activities or make him go to bed earlier so that he gets more sleep. Teens aren't wired for that, though. They want to go to bed later and sleep later. It's not the activities that prevent them from getting enough sleep - it's the school start times that require them to wake up so early. More than 90 percent of high schools and more than 80 percent of middle schools start before 8:30 a.m.

Some argue that delaying school start times would just cause teenagers to stay up later. Research doesn't support that idea. A systematic review published a year ago examined how school start delays affect students' sleep and other outcomes. Six studies, two of which were randomized controlled trials, showed that delaying the start of school from 25 to 60 minutes corresponded with increased sleep time of 25 to 77 minutes per week night. In other words, when students were allowed to sleep later in the morning, they still went to bed at the same time, and got more sleep.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

- Should school start times be adjusted so teenagers can get more sleep in the morning? Why or why not?

- How would a later start time personally affect you?

- Do you agree with the author that a later start time for the school day would save money and increase student success? If so, how? If not, why not?

- What other benefits, or disadvantages, can you see in delaying school start times?
Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

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Would a Later School Start Time Increase Student Success? (Published 2017)

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How much sleep do you get each night during the school year? Are you rested in the morning before school? If so, why? If not, why not? And if not, what do you think could be done to ensure you get more sleep during the school year?

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Sleepy teenage brains need school to start later in the morning

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Sleepy teenage brains need school to start later in the morning

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Millions of high schoolers are fighting with their alarm clocks as they start another academic year. As they struggle to get up early, parents battle to get them out of bed and off to school - a stressful way for everyone involved to start the day.

Are teenagers just being lazy when they have to be dragged out of bed in the morning?

According to the National Sleep Foundation, the sleep requirement for teenagers is eight to 10 hours per night. Yet, the average teen in America obtains less than seven hours of sleep on a school night. A big part of the reason why is that nearly half of all high schools in the U.S. start before 8:00 a.m., and over 85 percent are starting before 8:30 a.m.

Sleep deprivation in teenagers as a result of early school hours has been a topic of concern and debate for over two decades. Districts across the country have wrestled with the question of whether their local high school should start later.

I've been studying the effects of later high school start times for 20 years. My research shows that teens' inability to get out of bed before 8 a.m. has serious consequences for learning and health outcomes. Essentially, the adolescent inability to be fully awake before then is a matter of human biology - not a matter of attitude.

Gotta get to class

In the earliest days of American education, students of all ages attended a single school with a single starting time. In fact, as late as 1910, half of all children attended one-room schools. As schools and districts grew in size in the early 1930s, staggered starting times became increasingly common. The oldest students in cities and large towns were given the earliest starting time, with the thought that high school was preparation for the adult world of work. Many rural schools continue to have only a single starting time, as buses pick up students of all ages on a single run.

dhendrix73, CC BY-ND

Since 2014, however, major national health organizations have taken a policy stand to support the implementation of later starting times for high school. The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and most recently the American Academy of Sleep Medicine have all come out with statements that recommend high schools start at 8:30 a.m. or later.

A national conference held in April 2017 showcased the research linking teen sleep, later high school start times and significantly positive academic, health and safety outcomes.

Since the experts have started to weigh in, hundreds of schools in 45 states across the country have been able to make the shift. In fact, the state of California is currently considering a bill that would require all middle and high schools in the state to start school no earlier than 8:30 a.m. by the year 2020. Legislators are starting to consider teens' sleep deficit as an issue of public health.

Why does it matter if teens are tired?

Studies on sleep in general and sleep in teens in particular have revealed the serious negative consequences of lack of adequate sleep. Teens who are sleep-deprived - defined as obtaining less than eight hours per night - are significantly more likely to use cigarettes, drugs and alcohol.

The incidence of depression among teens significantly rises with less than nine hours of sleep. Around half of teens who sleep four hours or less per night feel sad and hopeless, compared to just 19 percent of their well-rested peers. Teen car crashes, the primary cause of death for teenagers, significantly decline when teens obtain more than eight hours of sleep per night.

A newly released report by the RAND Corporation quantified the "costs" to our society of early high school start times in terms of lost income due to impaired academic and professional performance and car crashes for teens who are sleep-deprived. The report projected annual gains to the U.S. economy of nearly US$9.4 billion over 15 years if high school starts nationwide at 8:30 a.m.

Biology of the teenage brain

So what exactly is going on with teenagers and their sleep patterns? Can't they just go to bed earlier?

Research informing expert recommendations began in the 1980s, with studies that cast new light on what goes on in the teenage brain.

Our brains release the sleep hormone melatonin as a signal that allows us to fall and stay asleep. In preteens and adults, the secretion of melatonin is flexible and variable, and sleep timing preferences are genetically based. But the timing is different in teens, as it is related to puberty.

For virtually all adolescents, the secretion of melatonin doesn't begin until about 10:45 p.m. and continues until about 8 a.m. This means that most teenagers are unable to fall asleep until melatonin secretion begins, and it's hard to wake up until the melatonin secretion stops. This fixed pattern of melatonin secretion in teens changes back to an individual's genetically preferred sleep/wake timing once puberty is over.

The unique sleep/wake pattern of teens is beyond their control. Just expecting teens to minimize distractions and go to bed earlier is not a solution.

I have interviewed hundreds of teens who all said that if they went to bed early, they were unable to fall asleep - they just stared at the ceiling until sleep set in around 11 p.m.

Researchers around the world corroborated these findings. At the onset of puberty, nearly all humans (and most mammals) experience a delay of sleep timing in the brain.

Medical researchers have also found that sleep patterns of younger children enable them to rise early and be ready for learning much earlier than adolescents.

In other words, the biology of the teenage brain is in direct conflict with school schedules, which typically require adolescents to begin school earlier and younger children to start later.

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

What happens with a later start?

Results from schools that switched to a late start time are encouraging. The students do in fact get more sleep, tending to go to bed at the same time but getting to rise a bit later in the morning. Not only does the teens' use of drugs, cigarettes and alcohol decline; their academic performance improves significantly with later start time.

Most recently, car crash rates for teen drivers have declined with the implementation of a later high school start time. In fact, the crash rate for teens in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in 2013 dropped by 70 percent in the first year the district adopted a later high school start.

Plenty of schools and districts across the U.S. are resisting delaying the starting time of their high schools for many reasons.

Issues such as changing transportation routes and altering the timing for other grade levels often head the list of factors making the later start difficult. Schools also must consider the effects on after-school sports and activities.

Such concerns are valid. However, schools that have delayed start times found creative solutions. For example, schools adopted mixed-age busing, coordinated with public transport systems, and expanded after-school child care.

There's clearly more that needs to be addressed in making the change. But, in the end, communities that value maximum development for all of its children should also be willing to grapple with solutions.

After all, our children's ability to move into healthy adult lives tomorrow depends on what we as adults are deciding for them today.
This is an updated version of an article originally published on Sept. 19, 2016.

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Sleepy teenage brains need school to start later in the morning

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Millions of high schoolers are fighting with their alarm clocks as they start another academic year. As they struggle to get up early, parents battle to get them out of bed and off to school - a stressful way for everyone involved to start the day.

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Why We Must - and Can - Restore Safe & Healthy School Hours

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Why We Must - and Can - Restore Safe & Healthy School Hours

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Returning to later, healthier, safer, evidence-based school hours is a reform with the potential to improve the health, safety, and academic achievement of all students. What are we waiting for?
Sleep experts have determined a shift in sleep cycles (circadian rhythms) beginning in adolescence that makes it more difficult for most adolescents to fall asleep as early as younger children or older adults. Typical sleep cycles begin around 11 p.m. for teenagers and continue through 8 a.m. This means that an early wake-up call (5 or 6 a.m. to allow many teens to catch buses or commute to early-start schools) not only allows 6 or 7 hours of sleep per school night at most but also deprives adolescents of a critical part of their sleep the part of their sleep cycle.* According to most sleep experts, most adolescents need about 9 hours of sleep per night. Today nearly 3/4 get under 8 hours of sleep per night, and over 2/5 get 6 or fewer.

Over 10% of U.S. high schools currently start before 7:30 a.m., 43% start before 8 a.m., and under 15% start after 8:30 a.m. Over 20% of U.S. middle schools start class at 7:45 a.m. or earlier. Bus pick-ups start as early as 5 a.m. in some districts, and teens must wake at 5 or 6 a.m. to get to school on time. Meanwhile, the school day ends in the early afternoon, sometimes even before 2 p.m. These schedules are out-of-sync with the sleep needs and patterns of middle and high school students, whose brains and bodies are still growing, and create a huge sleep debt every week of the school year.

. The health, safety, and equity benefits to starting middle and high school at times more in sync with the sleep needs and patterns of students are irrefutable. Early school hours PREVENT many students and young teachers from getting the 9 or so hours of sleep per night that most teenagers and young adults need

* REM (rapid-eye-movement) sleep, wherememory consolidation and emotional regulation take place, is concentrated in the last third of the night.

A hundred years ago most schools (and places of business) started the day around 9 a.m. In the 1970s and 1980s, however, many schools shifted to earlier hours. Back then the importance of sleep and the nature of the adolescent sleep shift weren't understood, and the cost savings of running the fewest possible buses in three cycles was appealing. Even schools that didn't run buses often found it helpful to move start times earlier so that after-school schedules coordinated with those of nearby schools. As a result, many students today are asked to go to school on a "morning shift" schedule, one that requires that they be in class much earlier than many of their parents and grandparents might have been. When public school times change, the whole community's rhythms change: "after" school stretches to four hours (and fills up with activities) or kids are unsupervised during the peak period for adolescent crime and risky behavior until the typical adult workday ends. Elementary schools start as late as 9:15 or 9:30, forcing working parents to send their young children to before-school care as well as after-care. Families whose children are in multiple school levels often have start and end times that span two hours in the morning and another two hours in the afternoon. The cost is being borne by students and their families.

Since the 1990s, sleep researchers and other health professionals have been telling us that these early school hours are harming children. It's not just the numbers of hours of sleep, but also the timing of sleep that is required for optimal health. Sleep deprivation's impacts include: weight gain and eating disorders and increased risk of obesity, cardiovascular problems, and diabetes; reduced immunity; depression; anxiety; substance abuse; mood swings; behavior problems; suicidal ideation; and potential impacts on brain development.

Kids are out walking to the bus or driving to school in the dark for most of the school year in many communities. With few adults around, they are at risk. Drowsy driving increases - for our newest drivers. Teens released in the early afternoon (sometimes well before 2 p.m.!) have hours of unsupervised time until the typical adult work day ends. Sleep deprivation increases risk-taking behavior, substance abuse, and impedes judgment and decision-making ability.

Equity and Achievement Gap

Private schools rarely start earlier than 8 a.m. - and even those that start this early do so primarily to accommodate community life that centers on early-starting public schools. Parents with means can pull their children out of early-starting schools or they can choose to drive them to school or provide them with cars to give their children extra sleep in the mornings. They can drive provide late rides to school and absence notes on occasion to overcome the health, safety, and learning impact of chronic sleep deprivation. Families with fixed work schedules or lacking transportation aren't able to help their kids if they miss the bus and thus put their children at risk of tardiness or absence. As a result, children from disadvantaged backgrounds not only risk higher rates of tardiness and truancy, but also higher rates of dropping out of school - potentially increasing the achievement gap. When school start times are moved later, not only do rates of tardiness, truancy, absenteeism, and dropping-out decline, but improvements in academic achievement are nearly twice as high in students from economically disadvantaged homes.

School Success

Kids who are tired can't learn at their best, and sleep deprivation impairs learning, memory, and attention as much as it impairs health and overall well-being. Academic improvements have been shown, and overall school climate has been measurably improved when high schools have restored later start times. Teachers have commented extensively about the improvement in the classroom environment when students are more alert, less moody, and less likely to sleep in class.

Successful Change

Hundreds of schools around the United States have restored later start times, and many more never moved to extremely early hours in the first place. The schools that have found affordable, feasible ways to do so have been both large and small. Some have seen cost-savings by redesigning transportation systems more efficiently and applied those cost-savings to any expense incurred by re-scheduling. These districts can say they looked at the science of what's best for the students and made the change accordingly. They are seeing large and small benefits to physical and mental heath, learning, attendance, graduation rates, car crashes, and overall student well-being.

▼ THIS IS YOUR POP WINDOW ▼

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Returning to later, healthier, safer, evidence-based school hours is a reform with the potential to improve the health, safety, and academic achievement of all students. What are we waiting for? Sleep experts have determined a shift in sleep cycles (circadian rhythms) beginning in adolescence that makes it more difficult for most adolescents to fall asleep as early as younger children or older adults.

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Teens May Do Better When School Starts Later

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Teens aren't wired to wake up so early, so middle and high schools should start later, sleep experts say.

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Why Are Parents Afraid Of Later School Start Times? (Huffington Post)  Morgan 

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Why Are Parents Afraid Of Later School Start Times? (Huffington Post)  Morgan 

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To me, this article does pass the C.R.A.P. test. I would say that the authors claim is, that it would help students from falling asleep in class... like she did in high school, but than she is also against it in some ways. The author's purpose in writing this article was to tell kids, and parents why parents are totally against later school start times, and why this has been such a debate. She had even included that in the articles title: "Parents Are Afraid Of Later School Start Times". So I would definitely say that the author's purpose was to persuade the reader into thinking that it is bad. I would definitely say that the author had a bias approach because she mostly writes cons of schools starting later, from after school activities to just eating dinner. I am also kind of getting the sense that the author is a parent because of all of bias to the school starting later, because the parents are definitely getting a much different schedule than they used to.

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All of my high-school memories, even the best ones, are tinged with exhaustion: the full-body ache of dragging myself into bed at midnight at the end of a long day of school and homework, the terror of staring down traffic lights in the hope they'd change as I raced to arrive by our 7:10 a.m. start time. My friends and I talked incessantly about how tired we were, and our parents talked about it, too, but no one ever seemed to float the idea that we should be making a change. It was just the way things were.

Research has shown that early school start times (7:30 a.m., for example) don't square with adolescents' sleep needs, and that later ones have positive effects on mental and physical health, as well as academic performance. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have even urged policymakers to move toward later start times - scientists tend to recommend pushing the bell to 8:30 a.m. - for middle and high-school students. Still, many school districts have been mired in years-long debates over the issue.

Early start times first came about in the latter half of the 20th century, when suburban schools decided to stagger their schedules so that the same fleet of buses could serve all students, dropping off high-school students earliest. Urban schools then adopted those start-time hours, and extracurricular activities oriented themselves around this scheme, according to Terra Ziporyn, the executive director of the nonprofit Start School Later. Some policymakers have begun to rethink that custom: School districts in at least 21 states have later start times this year than they did last year with the intention of giving students more time to sleep, and schools in at least 45 states have delayed their start times in recent years. Lawmakers in California recently introduced a first-of-its-kind bill that would ban start times earlier than 8:30 a.m.; after failing to receive enough votes, it was shelved for next year.

Yet, according to federal data from the 2015-16 school year, over 85 percent of public high schools still start before 8:30 a.m. While few question the scientific evidence supporting later start times, many parents and administrators argue that starting school later isn't the best solution to kids' sleep-deprivation problems, citing practical concerns. They wonder what later school end times would mean for sports and after-school activities, for example, and how much additional money districts would have to spend on transportation. Because many districts stagger their transportation in order to use the same buses for all of their students, pushing back middle and high-school start times could mean paying for more buses.

But if later start times are indeed the remedy that many advocates tout it to be, why haven't the arguments in its defense prompted widespread change? The sticking point may be much simpler, and much harder to overcome, than the practical concerns: It's tough to fight against the allure of the status quo. In a peer-reviewed paper in the journal Sleep Health, a group of researchers and later start-time advocates uses tricks from the field of behavioral economics to tackle a complicated question: Why is it so hard for people to embrace change, and how can you convince someone that change is worth it?

Why is it so hard for people to embrace change, and how can you convince someone that change is worth it?

Behavioral economics pulls from disciplines such as social psychology, cognitive science, and economics to analyze why individuals make the choices they do - especially when these decisions run counter to fact or to an understanding of the benefits of the opposite choice. Susan Malone, a senior research scientist at the Rory Meyers College of Nursing at NYU, teamed up with the behavioral economist Alison Buttenheim and Ziporyn to apply this thinking to the school start-time debate.

The authors argue that it isn't enough to simply offer scientific evidence of the advantages of later start times. Relying on the science, the paper states, "assumes that district officials and stakeholders engage in a rational decision-making process"; factors like "common biases" and "mental shortcuts" often get in the way. Behavioral economists have looked at other health issues, such as smoking and obesity, through the lens of these kinds of decision-making factors. A study on weight loss, for example, showed that behavioral-economics tricks like incentive systems with monetary rewards helped participants achieve their weight-loss goals.

The paper's first suggestion for advocates seeking to delay start times tries to poke at the staying power of the status quo. Initiatives are often most successful when they are the default option, or the option that requires no work on the part of the person making the choice. Take organ donations: In countries where donating is the default option and opting out requires active effort, donation-consent rates are higher than in countries where it isn't the default option. For parents, the threat of change can be stressful in its own particular way. Ziporyn of Start Schools Later noted that she has seen parents show just as much apprehension about earlier school start times as they do about later ones, which she suggested means it's mostly change that they're afraid of. With this in mind, the authors recommend shifting the burden of defense from late start times to early start times. States and regions, for example, could require districts to submit evidence-based justifications of early start times on an annual basis, while districts with later start times wouldn't have this requirement.

Casting later start times as the norm rather than an aberration would also help the advocates' cause, according to the researchers, given that social pressure is a significant factor in human decision-making. When people see peers who are similar to them doing something, they are likely to imitate that action. One odd example: According to a study, hotel guests who are told that past guests staying in their specific room reused their towels are more likely to choose to reuse than those who are simply told that guests in the same hotel have done it. The authors suggest that people advocating for later start times in a given district find a school that did push the first bell back and put it in contact with a similar school that's conflicted on the issue.

Since the paper is a set of suggestions, it does not provide findings, and without data it's unclear whether these tools can indeed be applied to the school start-time debate. Those who oppose late start times may disagree with the study's underlying premise and dismiss behavioral-economics tricks as ineffective in the face of what they see as clear logistical concerns. And a substantial number of anecdotes do support their concerns about delaying class; some students have said they have less time to complete their homework, for example, and some school districts have noted that students feel more rushed getting to sports games or other activities after a later last bell, while others have reported traffic and overcrowding on buses, which sometimes makes students late for school.

Asked about the practical arguments against later start times, Ziporyn pointed to the many districts that have successfully found solutions to the logistical challenges. "When schools change their hours, all of these things adapt accordingly," she said. She noted that many schools that have moved their bell times still have students winning sports competitions and continue to see growing rates of extracurricular participation. Ziporyn also pointed to a recent RAND Corporation report predicting that later start times are economically beneficial in the long run; the report estimates that the decrease in fatal car accidents and increase in academic achievement as a result of later start times would lead to a stronger workforce and nationwide economic gains over the course of the next decade, and that immediate benefits could be seen in as soon as two years. Even those who complain about later start times tend to agree that solving the logistical challenges is possible - it's just that the solutions take time, unified leadership, and often money, resources which can be difficult for some schools to come by.

Malone, the research scientist at NYU and one of the study's authors, said that the authors knew they were embarking on something "new and different" when they decided to apply behavioral-economics principles to an issue of public policy, which often gets mired in bureaucracy and logistics, rather than a case of individual choice-making. It's also possible that for some decision-makers, the choice doesn't appear as one between what is beneficial and what is harmful; some might see it as a balancing of, say, health benefits with logistical benefits.

All in all, the authors' hope is to "create a climate in which people want to change" - a climate that may be difficult to create just by talking to parents about the scientific evidence, Ziporyn said. "People don't want to be told that they're hurting their children," she said. "It sounds like we're telling people they're bad parents. And that's not the point. The point is, this is something you want to do."

This story originally appeared on TheAtlantic.com.

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Why Are Parents Afraid Of Later School Start Times?

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All of my high-school memories, even the best ones, are tinged with exhaustion: the full-body ache of dragging myself into bed at midnight at the end of a long day of school and homework, the terror of staring down traffic lights in the hope they'd change as I raced to arrive by our 7:10 a.m.

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New research shows that high school students benefit in many ways from later start times.
It all began with a phone call 20 years ago to the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) at the University of Minnesota in August 1996. The superintendent of Minnesota's Edina School District was reaching out to CAREI, seeking to discover if the new change in the start time of their high school - from 7:20 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. - would have any effect. I took that call. When I learned the reason for the change - namely, that the district's later start time purported to address developmental changes in the teenage brain related to sleep - I was skeptical. As a former teacher, school principal, and district office administrator in special education, I thought I had heard it all when it came to explaining teenage behavior. This association between brain development and teenagers was new to me.

But as we started our yearlong study, the evidence began piling up. Our research team found amazing changes were happening. Students were now awake the first hour of class, the principal reported fewer disciplinary incidents in the halls and lunchroom, and students reported less depression and feelings of greater efficacy. Over 92% of the parents said their kids were "easier to live with."

As the early findings from Edina were being reported, the Minneapolis Public Schools superintendent and school board decided a year later, in 1997, that they, too, would change the start times of their seven comprehensive high schools from 7:20 a.m. to 8:40 a.m. This change affected 52,000 K-12 students. The multitiered busing schedule moved elementary students to the earliest times, with high school and middle school students shifting to the later times. The outcomes for the Minneapolis students were similar to those for Edina, although the settings - urban as opposed to suburban - couldn't have been more different.
The medical research behind the change
What we know about human development and, most recently, about the maturation of the teenage brain lends credence to the fact that "it's a matter of biology, not choice" that teenagers are unable to fall asleep before about 10:45 p.m. and that their brains remain in sleep mode until about 8 a.m. This delay in the circadian rhythms for teenagers is directly related to hormonal changes during puberty. Most teens experience this so-called sleep phase shift only during adolescence; the shift will disappear as teens enter their 20s.

Teens need about 9.25 hours of sleep each night, a difficult amount to obtain when the brain doesn't enter sleep mode until about 10:45 p.m. and when students must awaken early for a school day that begins before 8:30 a.m. Medical research has shown dramatic negative effects of sleep deprivation, especially in people who are chronically sleep-deprived. Depression, obesity, substance use and abuse, and increased car crashes are just some of the serious consequences. From the early 1990s to now, the medical research findings about the sleep needs of teens became a significant body of knowledge (Carskadon, Acebo, & Jenni, 2004; Jenni, Achermann, & Carskadon, 2005).
From a slow start to a movement
High schools across the United States began grappling with the possibility of changing start times one school and district at a time. In the early 2000s, few schools had made the shift. Those that did were not inclined to be studied. Many believed that a public examination of the change would be fraught with politics, and they feared the change would be found to have no benefits (Wahlstrom, 1999).

Nevertheless, from 2000 to 2010, more than 400 superintendents and principals contacted me for information and guidance. They had questions about a later start time's effect on grades and sports and on how to solve transportation issues. This was a time of cautious inquiry, with school leaders wondering how their school boards or community would react. Administrators needed factual information from both the medical and education research worlds about brain development and how the two sources of information intersect.

By 2005, more than 250 high schools in the United States had made the shift to a later start time, according to early data collected by the National Sleep Foundation. Early research from 1996 through 2002 revealed that absences, tardiness, and sleepiness in school had significantly declined with later start times and that students' moods and feelings of efficacy had improved (Wahlstrom, 2002). It still remained unclear, however, how the change in time affected grades. No Child Left Behind provided an impetus for collecting achievement data and measuring effects over time.

During this time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was monitoring the mounting research evidence of the role of sleep in teens' mental and physical health and began voicing concerns for the health of sleep-deprived teens. In 2010, they issued a call for a larger study to be conducted over several years on the outcomes for high schools that moved to later start times.

I was awarded that grant to study the outcomes over three years in high schools in several locations across the United States. Even though hundreds of schools changed to a later start time, only a few were willing to participate in data collection with students and parents and then engage in the resulting public scrutiny from the findings. Then as now, the politics of managing a community's perception of the change is more than most superintendents want to deal with.
A look at eight schools with later start times
Eight high schools in five school districts in three states - Minnesota, Colorado, and Wyoming - agreed to participate in the CDC-funded study, which I conducted from 2010 to 2013 (Wahlstrom et al., 2014). The start times of the high schools ranged from 8:00 a.m. to 8:55 a.m. We surveyed more than 9,000 students in grades 9-12 on their sleep habits, mood, study habits, substance use, and cocurricular activities. We also looked at academic variables, such as grades earned, attendance, tardiness, and standardized test results.

The eight high schools had a range of demographic characteristics, raising confidence that the outcomes aren't associated with a particular group of students. Percentages of students of color in the schools ranged from 10% to 40%, the free and reduced-price lunch rate ranged from 10% to 34%, and graduation rates ranged from 81% to 97%.
Academic outcomes
The analysis involved examining student data by school and grade level before and after the time change. We found significant decreases in absences and tardiness in all grades 9-12 in the school districts that had instituted the latest school start times of 8:35 and 8:55 a.m. - in one district, there was a 66% drop in tardiness.

An interesting difference emerged when we compared the outcomes of schools starting at 8:00-8:30 a.m. with those of the school with the latest start time of 8:55 a.m. Examining grades earned before and after the time change, we found:

Statistically significant increases in the 1st-period grade point average in one or more core courses of English, math, social studies, and science in three districts with start times from 8:00-8:35 a.m.

Significant increases in grade point average in all 1st-period core courses for all semesters in all grades in Jackson Hole High School in Wyoming, with a start time of 8:55 a.m.

The evidence shows that the later the start time, the greater the academic benefits.
Health and activities outcomes
A seminal analysis of the data from the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey revealed that eight or more hours of sleep appear to be a tipping point in the at-risk behaviors of teenagers (McKnight-Eily et al., 2011). Cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use declined by 8% to 14% when teens slept eight or more hours each night, with depression and sexual activity also declining by 9% to 11%. Thus, the closer a school's start time comes to enabling eight or more hours of sleep each school night, the greater the reduction in risky teen behaviors. Figure 1 shows the percentage of high school students in our study who slept at least eight hours on school nights by school start time.

In our study, we found the same patterns of benefit for the health of teens with a later start time. Among the 9,395 students in our study, those who slept eight or more hours each night were significantly less likely to:

Report symptoms of depression;

Fall asleep in class;

Drink caffeinated beverages;

Have a phone or computer in their bedroom; and

Do dangerous things without thinking.

The good news is that students who participate in clubs, sports, or other organized activities are significantly less likely to use tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs, drink soda or energy drinks, or report depression. On the flipside, we also found that students who participate in clubs or other organized activities or work at a job for pay are significantly more likely to get insufficient sleep (fewer than eight hours a night). Further, the more days each week that students spend practicing or doing sports before school, the lower the self-reported grades. Thus, given what we now know, creating a balance between students' sleep needs and their interests outside of school is important.

When schools have a later start time, which enables students to obtain eight or more hours of sleep, students are more likely to reap the benefits - unless they wake up often during the night to engage with social media. Students who reported more bedroom distractions were significantly more likely to get insufficient (fewer than eight hours) of sleep on school nights. In our study, we found that 87.6% of those surveyed kept a cell phone in their bedroom, which could easily wake them with a beep when messages come through. Thus, a later start time isn't in itself the panacea for reducing sleep deprivation in teenagers.
Car crash data
Car accidents are the greatest cause of accident death in teens; more than 2,700 teens are killed in car crashes each year. According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data (n.d.), during 2006, a teen died in a traffic crash an average of once every hour on weekends and nearly once every two hours during the week. Sleep deprivation is linked with car crashes for all drivers and is a particular problem for teenagers, who are inexperienced drivers. A person who is sleep-deprived has reduced reaction times, slower eye movements, and decreased ability to make quick decisions. In fact, a person with fewer than four hours of sleep has the same driving characteristics as someone who is legally drunk with a blood alcohol content of .08%. Sleep-deprived teen drivers are not only a danger to themselves but also a danger to anyone who shares the road with them.

Our study collected car crash data from the three states' departments of public safety. We examined crash data for September through May for teens in the schools before and after the time change was initiated. After the change to a later start time, the number of car crashes in the five districts studied decreased by 13%. Reductions ranged from 6% to 70%, with the greatest reduction seen in the first year of the change in Jackson Hole, Wyo., which had the latest start time of 8:55 a.m. Given this compelling information, it's no wonder that the CDC, the American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics have all issued policy statements that endorse a high school start time of no earlier than 8:30 a.m.
Some recommendations
Given what we've learned from our research, we have a few recommendations for schools and districts considering changing their high school start times.
Go for the latest start time.
Research findings suggest that districts that make a modest move to a later start time for example, from 7:25 a.m. to 7:55 a.m. or from 7:35 a.m. to 8:05 a.m. experience modest benefits but also experience the same amount of community disruption as districts that make the change to start at 8:30 or later. In other words, the benefits are proportional to the amount of time change. Thus, when district leaders discuss whether to implement a later high school start time, they should select the maximum change possible. To make the change in stages or as a pilot will only lengthen the time, by years, that the community will have to deal with the disruption.

The first year of a districtwide change will be an adjustment for everyone. However, once new routines have been in place for a year, districts that have made the shift have not voted to return the high school to the earlier start times.
Some concerns are real; others just imagined.
In every community, people expressed concerns about the possible negative effects of implementing a later start time in their schools. These issues can often polarize the views of community members and paralyze decision making. Our investigation found that some of those concerns have a real basis and are best addressed before the time change, whereas other concerns never materialized.

Here are some issues that need attention:

Athletic schedules that may result in a student athlete missing part of a class at the end of the day.

Because of a rearranged bus schedule, younger children may have to take an earlier bus to school when it may still be dark.

Arranging child care for younger children before and after school may be more difficult.

Parents' work schedules may not easily align with the new start time.

The later start time may coincide with local rush-hour traffic, creating the need to discuss with the local traffic safety officials how traffic flow can be improved.

Here are some common worries that never materialized in the districts we studied:

The later start time may result in less participation in sports and fewer games won.

Because they get up later in the morning, teens may choose to stay up later at night.

Participation in after-school activities may decline.

Students might have difficulty arriving on time to after-school employment.

Transportation costs may increase.

Transportation - the timing and cost - is usually the biggest hurdle. Creative alternatives for student transportation are usually the best way to address the problem. Some districts shifted to multiage busing, while others moved to a wheel-and-spoke busing pattern. Also, concerns about sports can unnecessarily derail the discussion. In the schools we studied, there was no negative effect to the sports program or to the number of wins a school experienced after changing to a later start time. Child care before and after school is an issue that supportive alternatives can help resolve, such as providing more options for fee-based care at each elementary school. Ultimately, involving and educating all members of the community are essential for successful change.
Where policy and research intersect
The body of evidence concerning the academic benefits of a later start time for high school students is compelling. Also, the medical research into the function of the brain in memory, learning, and cognition is robust, while the link between sleep and mental health is unequivocal. Finally, we can't ignore recent studies on the decrease in car crashes involving teens with greater amounts of sleep. Implementing a later high school start time acknowledges the vital relationship between school policies and the research on human development. Rarely do those two worlds intersect so directly.
Next steps
Schools and districts that are considering changing the start time of a high school must engage a wide range of stakeholders in the discussion. Administrators and teachers need to discuss how the sleep needs of students intersect with school activities, such as the timing of homework assignments. Parents need to become better informed about the importance of sleep and how to support good sleep hygiene at home, including removing technology devices from their child's bedroom at bedtime. Finally, the most successful transitions to a later start time have brought into the process community health care providers, such as pediatricians; community activities directors, such as parks and recreation leaders; and public safety officials.

It's taken 20 years for schools across the United States to fully engage in the movement to change high school start times. Education decision makers have begun to realize that teens aren't lazy and that they are, instead, in a unique time in their development where they need substantial amounts of sleep. That recognition is driving the changes in start times (see www.startschoollater.net/) that we're now seeing in 44 U.S. states and in hundreds of schools and districts.

Teens face an incredibly challenging world. Together, school leaders and parents have the responsibility to create the best possible conditions for them in which to grow and thrive. Implementing later high school start times is a significant change that positively affects their health, safety, and learning. If we have that will, we can find the way.
References
Carskadon, M.A., Acebo, C., & Jenni, O. (2004). Regulation of adolescent sleep: Implications for behavior. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1021, 276-291.

Jenni O., Achermann P., & Carskadon M. (2005). Homeostatic sleep regulation in adolescents. Sleep, 28 (11), 1446-1454.

McKnight-Eily, L.R., Eaton, D.K., Lowry, R., Croft, J.B., Presley-Cantrell, L., & Perry, G.S. (2011). Relationships between hours of sleep and health-risk behaviors in U.S. adolescent students. Preventive Medicine, 53, 271-273.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (n.d.). Teen drivers: Additional resources. Washington, DC: Author. www.nhtsa.org.

Wahlstrom, K. (1999, January). The prickly politics of school starting times. Phi Delta Kappan, 80 (5), 344-347.

Wahlstrom, K. (2002, December). Changing times: Findings from the first longitudinal study of later high school start times. NASSP Bulletin, 86 (633), 3-21.

Wahlstrom, K., Dretzke, B., Gordon, M., Peterson, K., Edwards, K., & Gdula, J. (2014). Examining the impact of later school start times on the health and academic performance of high school students: A multisite study. St Paul, MN: University of Minnesota, Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement. http://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/162769

Originally published in December 2016/January 2017 Phi Delta Kappan 98 (4), 8-14. © 2016 Phi Delta Kappa International. All rights reserved.

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Later start time for teens improves grades, mood, and safety - kappanonline.org

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New research shows that high school students benefit in many ways from later start times. It all began with a phone call 20 years ago to the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) at the University of Minnesota in August 1996.

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Teens on average need about 9 1/4 hours of sleep. This might help with just that, because school is starting slightly later than it normally would. A con to this however, is that if you have after school activities, you would have to miss out on either the activity or school.

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Adolescents today face a widespread chronic health problem: sleep deprivation. Although society often views sleep as a luxury that ambitious or active people cannot afford, research shows that getting enough sleep is a biological necessity, as important to good health as eating well or exercising. Teens are among those least likely to get enough sleep; while they need on average 9 1/4 hours of sleep per night for optimal performance, health and brain development, teens average fewer than 7 hours per school night by the end of high school, and most report feeling tired during the day (Wolfson & Carskadon, 1998). The roots of the problem include poor teen sleep habits that do not allow for enough hours of quality sleep; hectic schedules with afterschool activities and jobs, homework hours and family obligations; and a clash between societal demands, such as early school start times, and biological changes that put most teens on a later sleep-wake clock. As a result, when it is time to wake up for school, the adolescent's body says it is still the middle of the night, and he or she has had too little sleep to feel rested and alert.

The consequences of sleep deprivation during the teenage years are particularly serious. Teens spend a great portion of each day in school; however, they are unable to maximize the learning opportunities afforded by the education system, since sleep deprivation impairs their ability to be alert, pay attention, solve problems, cope with stress and retain information. Young people who do not get enough sleep night after night carry a significant risk for drowsy driving; emotional and behavioral problems such as irritability, depression, poor impulse control and violence; health complaints; tobacco and alcohol use; impaired cognitive function and decision-making; and lower overall performance in everything from academics to athletics.

The Biology of Adolescent Sleep

Research shows that adolescents require at least as much sleep as they did as children, generally 8 1/2 to 9 1/4 hours each night (Carskadon et al., 1980). Key changes in sleep patterns and needs during puberty can contribute to excessive sleepiness in adolescents, which can impair daytime functioning. First, daytime sleepiness can increase during adolescence, even when teens' schedules allow for optimal amounts of sleep (Carskadon, Vieri, & Acebo, 1993). Second, most adolescents undergo a sleep phase delay, which means a tendency toward later times for both falling asleep and waking up. Research shows the typical adolescent's natural time to fall asleep may be 11 pm or later; because of this change in their internal clocks, teens may feel wide awake at bedtime, even when they are exhausted (Wolfson & Carskadon, 1998). This leads to sleep deprivation in many teens who must wake up early for school, and thus do not get the 8 1/2 - 9 1/4 hours of sleep that they need. It also causes irregular sleep patterns that can hurt the quality of sleep, since the weekend sleep schedule often ends up being much different from the weekday schedule as teens try to catch up on lost sleep (Dahl & Carskadon, 1995).

Adolescents in Study Show Changing Sleep Patterns

Since the 1970s, there has been a growing awareness of the changes in sleep patterns as children transition to adolescence. In a study at a summer sleep camp at Stanford during the 1970s, boys and girls who enrolled at 10-12 years of age were monitored every year for 5-6 years. While researchers had thought older children would need less sleep during the 10 hour nocturnal window they were given, from 10 pm to 8 am, they found that regardless of age, the children all slept about 9 1/4 of the 10 hours. As they progressed through adolescence, participants continued to get the same amount of sleep, but they no longer woke spontaneously before the end of the sleep window at 8 am (Carskadon et al., 1979). In addition, when the Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT)-given at designated periods throughout the day to determine the speed of falling asleep, to measure sleepiness-was given to the adolescents, they showed more alertness at 8 pm than earlier in the day, and even greater alertness at 10 pm. Also, at midpuberty, adolescents became sleepier in the middle of the day. According to the tests, more mature adolescents showed signs of reduced alertness during the day even though they slept an equivalent amount at night (Carskadon et al., 1980).

Changes in Melatonin

Another experiment, conducted by Dr. Mary A. Carskadon of Brown University, found that more mature adolescents had later circadian rhythm timing, based on melatonin secretions in saliva samples. This finding shows that melatonin secretion occurs at a later time in adolescents as they mature; thus, it is difficult for them to go to sleep earlier at night. The melatonin secretion also turns off later in the morning, which makes it harder to wake up early (Carskadon et al., 1998).

Another important finding from many studies is that the circadian timing system can be reset if light exposure is carefully controlled (Carskadon et al., 1997). In studies where adolescents are paid to keep a specific sleep schedule and wear eyeshades to exclude light during evening hours, measurements of melatonin secretion show that the rhythm had moved significantly toward a designated time. This means that with time, effort, and money, researchers can get adolescents to reset their clocks. This approach, however, is not necessarily realistic for teens who have full and busy lives. Nevertheless, the interaction of light exposure and sleep timing is important to keep in mind.

A Widespread and High-Impact Part of Teens' Lives

Findings of the tendency for adolescent sleep patterns to be delayed have been reported not only in North America, but also in South America, Asia, Australia and Europe (Andrade & Menna Barreto, 2002; Carskadon & Acebo, 1997; Ishihara, Honma & Miyake, 1990; Bearpark & Michie, 1987; Strauch & Meier, 1988; LeBourgeois et al., 2005; Thorleifsdottir et al., 2002). The diversity of such research supports the view that intrinsic developmental changes play a role in delayed sleep patterns in adolescents. This biological shift sets the stage for other social and environmental conditions that make it easier for these adolescents to stay awake at night and wake up sleepdeprived. The effects of changing sleep patterns are compounded by the demands older students face in academics, extracurricular activities, social opportunities, after-school jobs, and other obligations.
"Sleep isn't a priority for teenagers, and it typically isn't made one by parents or schools."
-Jodi Mindell, PhD, Director of Graduate Program in Psychology, St. Joseph's University and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

The School Start Time Issue

Adolescent sleep deprivation is largely driven by a conflict between teens' internal biological clocks and the schedules and demands of society. Therefore, it makes sense to look at school start times, which set the rhythm of the day for students, parents, teachers and members of the community at large.
"Given that the primary focus of education is to maximize human potential, then a new task before us is to ensure that the conditions in which learning takes place address the very biology of our learners."
Mary A. Carskadon, PhD, Director of E.P. Bradley Hospital Research Laboratory and professor in Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University School of Medicine

Research on School Start Times and Biology

In a project spearheaded by Dr. Mary A. Carskadon and colleagues, researchers investigated what would happen to sleep and circadian rhythms in a group of young people for whom the transition from junior high to senior high required a change in school starting time from 8:25 am to 7:20 am (Carskadon et al., 1998).

The 25 students completed the study at two time points, in the spring of 9th grade and autumn of 10th grade. The students kept their usual schedules, wore small activity monitors on their wrists, and kept diaries of activities and sleep schedules for two consecutive weeks. At the end, participants came to Carskadon's sleep lab for assessment of the onset phase of melatonin secretion, an overnight sleep study, and daytime testing with MSLT. The in-lab sleep schedule was fixed to each student's average school night schedule, based on data from the wrist monitors.

Carskadon and colleagues found that in the 10th grade:

On a typical school morning, the students woke up earlier for high school, but only 25 minutes earlier instead of the 65 minutes reflected in the start time change.

Sleep onset times did not change, and averaged about 10:40 pm in both 9th and 10th grade.

The average amount of sleep on school nights fell from 7 hours 9 minutes to 6 hours 50 minutes, which is significant because the students were already accumulating a sleep deficit.

Nearly one-half of the 10th graders showed a reversed sleep pattern on the morning MSLT. This pattern is similar to the sleep disorder narcolepsy, moving immediately into REM sleep before non-REM sleep. The 12 students who showed this pattern did not have narcolepsy, but they did have a mismatch between their school day waking times and their circadian rhythms. Indeed, at 8:30 in the morning, they fell asleep within three minutes.

None of the students made an optimal adjustment to the new schedule; none was sleeping even 8 1/4 hours on school nights.

"Even without the pressure of biological changes, if we combine an early school starting time-say 7:30 am, which, with a modest commute, makes 6:15 am a viable rising time-with our knowledge that optimal sleep need is 9 1/4 hours, we are asking that 16-year olds go to bed at 9 pm. Rare is a teenager that will keep such a schedule. School work, sports practices, clubs, volunteer work, and paid employment take precedence. When biological changes are factored in, the ability even to have merely 'adequate' sleep is lost," Carskadon explains.

School Start Time Initiatives and Outcomes

In 2014, National Sleep Foundation (NSF) worked with U.S. Representative Zoe Lofgren to introduce legislation that addresses the relationship between school start times and adolescent health, wellbeing and performance. We encourage you to contact your Representatives and urge them to support this bill.

Collaborating in the Best Interests of Students

Many schools across the country are working to synchronize school clocks with students' body clocks, so that teens are in school during their most alert hours and can achieve their full academic potential. Working to bring school start times in line with teens' sleep needs presents a number of challenges and opportunities. Individual communities can vary greatly in their priorities and values; factors to consider include bell schedules of elementary and middle schools; transportation; athletic programs and extracurricular activities; use of schools for community activities; student employment; and safety issues for younger students who either may be waiting for a bus in the dark or need supervision of older siblings after school. There are also safety issues for older students, since violent activities, sex, recreational use of alcohol or drugs, and criminal and other risky behaviors frequently occur between 2 and 4 pm, according to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is also important that any consideration of a school start time change takes into account the impact on families, including transportation, dependence on teens' income, chores and other family responsibilities, and teens' mood and behavior at home.

Changing a school's start time involves a wide array of people-parents, teachers, students, principals, school boards, superintendents, counselors and healthcare professionals, among others. The impact is felt at a community level, but it is also felt individually, and the individuals who are affected need to have their views heard and acknowledged so that discussions can move forward in search of common ground.

Obviously, moving bell times is one major step in a larger picture of ensuring that adolescents get the sleep they need. It will not put more hours in the day, so it is important for teens to know about their sleep needs and have the skills to make a conscious effort to get a good night's sleep. Many teens assume they are expected to function with a lack of sleep, but sleep is not optional; it is biologically necessary. If sleep is incorporated into educational efforts, teens will be armed with information that will enable them to use a later school start time to their advantage.

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Later School Start Times: Benefits & Cons - Sleep Foundation

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Adolescents today face a widespread chronic health problem: sleep deprivation. Although society often views sleep as a luxury that ambitious or active people cannot afford, research shows that getting enough sleep is a biological necessity, as important to good health as eating well or exercising.

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A new paper argues that using behavioral economics to ease families' fear of change could help convince them to switch up their children's routines.

All of my high-school memories, even the best ones, are tinged with exhaustion: the full-body ache of dragging myself into bed at midnight at the end of a long day of school and homework, the terror of staring down traffic lights in the hope they'd change as I raced to arrive by our 7:10 AM start time. My friends and I talked incessantly about how tired we were, and our parents talked about it, too, but no one ever seemed to float the idea that we should be making a change. It was just the way things were.

Research has shown that early school start times (7:30 a.m., for example) don't square with adolescents' sleep needs, and that later ones have positive effects on mental and physical health, as well as academic performance. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have even urged policymakers to move toward later start times-scientists tend to recommend pushing the bell to 8:30 a.m.-for middle and high-school students. Still, many school districts have been mired in years-long debates over the issue.

Early start times first came about in the latter half of the 20th century, when suburban schools decided to stagger their schedules so that the same fleet of buses could serve all students, dropping off high-school students earliest. Urban schools then adopted those start-time hours, and extracurricular activities oriented themselves around this scheme, according to Terra Ziporyn, the executive director of the nonprofit Start School Later. Some policymakers have begun to rethink that custom: School districts in at least 21 states have later start times this year than they did last year with the intention of giving students more time to sleep, and schools in at least 45 states have delayed their start times in recent years. Lawmakers in California recently introduced a first-of-its-kind bill that would ban start times earlier than 8:30 AM; after failing to receive enough votes, it was shelved for next year.

Yet, according to federal data from the 2015-16 school year, over 85 percent of public high schools still start before 8:30 a.m. While few question the scientific evidence supporting later start times, many parents and administrators argue that starting school later isn't the best solution to kids' sleep-deprivation problems, citing practical concerns. They wonder what later school end times would mean for sports and after-school activities, for example, and how much additional money districts would have to spend on transportation. Because many districts stagger their transportation in order to use the same buses for all of their students, pushing back middle and high-school start times could mean paying for more buses.

But if later start times are indeed the remedy that many advocates tout it to be, why haven't the arguments in its defense prompted widespread change? The sticking point may be much simpler, and much harder to overcome, than the practical concerns: It's tough to fight against the allure of the status quo. In a peer-reviewed paper in the journal Sleep Health, a group of researchers and later start-time advocates uses tricks from the field of behavioral economics to tackle a complicated question: Why is it so hard for people to embrace change, and how can you convince someone that change is worth it?

Behavioral economics pulls from disciplines such as social psychology, cognitive science, and economics to analyze why individuals make the choices they do-especially when these decisions run counter to fact or to an understanding of the benefits of the opposite choice. Susan Malone, a senior research scientist at the Rory Meyers College of Nursing at NYU, teamed up with the behavioral economist Alison Buttenheim and Ziporyn to apply this thinking to the school start-time debate.

The authors argue that it isn't enough to simply offer scientific evidence of the advantages of later start times. Relying on the science, the paper states, "assumes that district officials and stakeholders engage in a rational decision-making process"; factors like "common biases" and "mental shortcuts" often get in the way. Behavioral economists have looked at other health issues, such as smoking and obesity, through the lens of these kinds of decision-making factors. A study on weight loss, for example, showed that behavioral-economics tricks like incentive systems with monetary rewards helped participants achieve their weight-loss goals.

The paper's first suggestion for advocates seeking to delay start times tries to poke at the staying power of the status quo. Initiatives are often most successful when they are the default option, or the option that requires no work on the part of the person making the choice. Take organ donations: In countries where donating is the default option and opting out requires active effort, donation-consent rates are higher than in countries where it isn't the default option. For parents, the threat of change can be stressful in its own particular way. Ziporyn of Start School Later noted that she has seen parents show just as much apprehension about earlier school start times as they do about later ones, which she suggested means it's mostly change that they're afraid of. With this in mind, the authors recommend shifting the burden of defense from late start times to early start times. States and regions, for example, could require districts to submit evidence-based justifications of early start times on an annual basis, while districts with later start times wouldn't have this requirement.

Casting later start times as the norm rather than an aberration would also help the advocates' cause, according to the researchers, given that social pressure is a significant factor in human decision-making. When people see peers who are similar to them doing something, they are likely to imitate that action. One odd example: According to a study, hotel guests who are told that past guests staying in their specific room reused their towels are more likely to choose to reuse than those who are simply told that guests in the same hotel have done it. The authors suggest that people advocating for later start times in a given district find a school that did push the first bell back and put it in contact with a similar school that's conflicted on the issue.

Since the paper is a set of suggestions, it does not provide findings, and without data it's unclear whether these tools can indeed be applied to the school start-time debate. Those who oppose late start times may disagree with the study's underlying premise and dismiss behavioral-economics tricks as ineffective in the face of what they see as clear logistical concerns. And a substantial number of anecdotes do support their concerns about delaying class; some students have said they have less time to complete their homework, for example, and some school districts have noted that students feel more rushed getting to sports games or other activities after a later last bell, while others have reported traffic and overcrowding on buses, which sometimes makes students late for school.
"People don't want to be told that they're hurting their children."
Asked about the practical arguments against later start times, Ziporyn pointed to the many districts that have successfully found solutions to the logistical challenges. "When schools change their hours, all of these things adapt accordingly," she said. She noted that many schools that have moved their bell times still have students winning sports competitions and continue to see growing rates of extracurricular participation. Ziporyn also pointed to a recent RAND Corporation report predicting that later start times are economically beneficial in the long run; the report estimates that the decrease in fatal car accidents and increase in academic achievement as a result of later start times would lead to a stronger workforce and nationwide economic gains over the course of the next decade, and that immediate benefits could be seen in as soon as two years. Even those who complain about later start times tend to agree that solving the logistical challenges is possible-it's just that the solutions take time, unified leadership, and often money, resources which can be difficult for some schools to come by.

Malone, the research scientist at NYU and one of the study's authors, said that the authors knew they were embarking on something "new and different" when they decided to apply behavioral-economics principles to an issue of public policy, which often gets mired in bureaucracy and logistics, rather than a case of individual choice-making. It's also possible that for some decision-makers, the choice doesn't appear as one between what is beneficial and what is harmful; some might see it as a balancing of, say, health benefits with logistical benefits.

All in all, the authors' hope is to "create a climate in which people want to change"-a climate that may be difficult to create just by talking to parents about the scientific evidence, Ziporyn said. "People don't want to be told that they're hurting their children," she said. "It sounds like we're telling people they're bad parents. And that's not the point. The point is, this is something you want to do."

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Why Are Parents Afraid of Later School Start Times?

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A new paper argues that using behavioral economics to ease families' fear of change could help convince them to switch up their children's routines.

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The Pros and Cons of Starting School Later

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The Pros and Cons of Starting School Later

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Saylor
Pros and cons.
The author wants to say both sides of the story. But i still think the author supports the idea of schools starting later because they a long paragraph for start starting earlier and one short paragraph about how school shouldn't not be started earlier

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If you've ever had trouble getting your teen up in the morning or you've seen teens fall asleep during the school day, you're not alone. Many adolescents struggle to wake up early for school. It's sparked a discussion about the pros and cons of starting school at a later time.

While some people may think that teens are just lazy for not getting up early, doctors say that's not actually the case. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has urged school districts to consider later start times so that adolescents can get adequate sleep. Still, many districts have said that changing the time school starts just isn't feasible.

What Physicians Say

The AAP's Adolescent Sleep Working Group reviewed studies involving inadequate sleep in teens. Researchers analyzed the harmful effects sleep deprivation-anything less than 8.5 to 9 hours of sleep on school nights-can have on young people.

They concluded that poor sleep is linked to increased reliance on caffeine, tobacco, and alcohol. They also discovered a link between sleep deprivation and poor academic performance. Sleep deprivation has also been linked to an increased risk of car accidents in teens.

It may seem as though the solution would be for teens to simply go to sleep earlier. But researchers say that it isn't likely to work. Teens experience hormonal shifts that make falling asleep earlier difficult, if not impossible. Their biological clocks simply won't allow them to fall asleep before 11 p.m., even when they're tired.

Studies show that simply delaying school by 30 minutes can have a dramatic impact on teens' health and performance. So most researchers recommend school start times be delayed until at least 8:30 a.m. for teenagers. Benefits of delayed school start times include:

More sleep: Teens may be more likely to get the recommended amount of sleep.

Better sleep: Delayed start time could help teens sleep during their natural sleep/wake cycles.

Less caffeine: Teens may be less likely to depend on caffeine to stay awake during the day.

Better grades: Adequate sleep could help teens be more alert during the school day, which could boost their academic performance.

Better health: Sleeping longer could reduce health-related issues that accompany sleep deprivation.

Better choices: Getting home later in the afternoon (if school is shifted forward) may reduce the amount of time some teens are home alone, and could decrease the likelihood they will engage in unhealthy activities.

What School Districts Say

Despite the recommendation from the AAP, the majority of school districts aren't planning to change their start times. School officials often cite logistical concerns about starting the school day later.

Delaying high school start times could pose problems with bus schedules, after-school activities, and sporting events for the entire district. Changing the high school start time could have a domino effect on all the schools that could pose a logistical nightmare.﻿﻿

Critics also note that a later dismissal time for teens would pose problems for those who must provide childcare to younger siblings. Students who participate in sports and extra-curricular activities would get home later in the evenings. And teens might stay up even later if they don't have to wake for school at an earlier time.

What Parents Can Do

No matter what time your teen's school starts, it's important to support your teen by making sure they're getting enough high-quality sleep. Teach your teen about appropriate sleep hygiene and talk about the benefits of sleep.

While you can't force your teen to fall asleep at a certain time, you can establish a "lights out rule." Take away electronics at least 60 minutes before bedtime and encourage your teen to read quietly in their room to help them get ready for bed.

Most teens like to sleep late on the weekends or during school vacations. However, sleeping in can throw off your teen's natural sleep/wake cycle. Keep your teen on a consistent schedule even on weekends and school vacations.

If you feel strongly that your child's health and academic life are being disrupted by a lack of sleep, be an advocate for your child. Share your concerns with school officials. Attend school board meetings and discuss this issue with other parents. You may be able to gain enough support to create change.

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Should High Schools Start Later so Teens Can Get More Sleep?

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The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends delaying school start times, but most school districts are not planning to start school later.

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A new study from Singapore suggests later school start times are better for students' health, echoing past findings of sleep research conducted in the West.

The paper, published in Oxford University Press' SLEEP journal, describes how an all-girls secondary school in Singapore delayed its start time from 7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m., doing so without compromising its curriculum or pushing back its end time.

emeran-mayer-on-sleep-and-the-mind-gut-connection

The researchers surveyed students before the start time change, one month after, and again eight months after that. After the start time change, students reported getting better sleep, experiencing fewer depressive symptoms, and having an easier time staying awake. What's more, the majority of students, teachers, and parents supported the schedule change after running the experiment.

This might seem unsurprising, considering sleep researchers in the West have for years reported similar findings on the importance of sleep among adolescents. The American Academy of Pediatrics, for instance, recommends schools start at 8:30 a.m. or later to better align with the "biological sleep rhythms of adolescents, whose sleep-wake cycles begin to shift up to two hours later at the start of puberty."
(Image: Sleepeducation.org)
But the current study is significant because of differences in culture. The researchers note that many cultures in East Asia emphasize the importance of academic success. Singapore, in particular, leads the world in Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings, which measure scholastic performance of students aged 15 years. However, students in Singapore also report having poor life satisfaction and high levels of anxiety.

The researchers note that a "relentless drive" toward academic success can contribute to poor sleep habits that leave students getting way less than the recommended 8 to 10 hours per night. They also hypothesized that this drive might cause the delayed start time to only have fleeting benefits because students would simply begin staying up later. But after nine months, the students reported that the benefits had sustained over the school year.

"These findings suggest that even in East Asia, where many students curtail sleep in the pursuit of academic achievement, and where students' life satisfaction is the lowest in the world, delaying school start times is feasible and can lead to sustained improvement in students' sleep and well-being," the researchers wrote.

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Should school start later? Study reveals long-term effects of delaying school start time

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A new study from Singapore suggests later school start times are better for students' health, echoing past findings of sleep research conducted in the West. The paper, published in Oxford University Press' SLEEP journal, describes how an all-girls secondary school in Singapore delayed its start time from 7:30 a.m.

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Gianna - 5 Pros and Cons of Starting School Later

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Gianna - 5 Pros and Cons of Starting School Later

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The authors stating his 5 pros and cons on school's starting later. The author believes that the teens parents will be more effected than the kids will be because it can interfer with the parents morning schedule. I think the author is not bias because he shares pros and cons of this debate.

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Many attempts have been made to switch school start times to later hours. High schools in the U.S. generally start at 8 a.m. if not earlier. Considering commute and morning preparations, students are rising long before dawn to spend six to eight hours of dealing with academic and other school activities. The National Sleep Foundation recommends at least nine hours of sleep for teens, but they get much less than that because they are required to wake up early on school days.

Advantages of Later Start Times

1. Teenagers need at least 8.5 to 9.25 hours of sleep based on their biological clocks.

Sleep deprivation affects physical and mental performance because the body's peak ability depends on its circadian rhythm. Several studies show that high school students are among the most sleep-deprived groups due to a combination of academic workload, sports, extra-curricular activities and starting their day too early. A study conducted jointly by Harvard and Oxford found recommended that school districts adjust schedules to match the biological wake-up times of each age group. At 16, this is around 10 a.m.; at 18, 11 a.m. is the optimum wake-up time.

2. Schools with later start times showed significant improvements in school performance.

School districts that experimented with later start times found that students coped with academic workloads much better. A study that included 9,000 high school students conducted by the University of Minnesota found that grades, test scores and overall performance in core subjects advanced significantly when school start times were switched to later hours.

3. Later start times reduced tardiness, truancy and dropout rates.

The same study cited above also found that starting the school day at a later time improved school attendance. When students slept adequately, they were less sluggish in the morning and more enthusiastic about going to school.

4. Later start times enhanced all-day focus, improved mood and boosted sports performance.

Getting adequate sleep and adjusting school schedules to coincide with the natural sleep patterns of teens improved mood and attitude. Students were less likely to report depressive conditions. Physical performance in sports was boosted when students had enough sleep and sleep schedules coincided with biological sleep patterns.

5. Starting school later gave students time to eat a healthy breakfast.

Given reasonable bell times, students can have the time to sit down for breakfast. This means having healthier breakfast choices than prepackaged foods developed for on- the-go eating.

Recommended Reading: Do Increased Teacher Salaries Mean More Learning? (Infographic)

Disadvantages of Starting Late

1. School districts will face administrative and operational pressures.

School scheduling is a delicate balance of resource allocation. Administrators deploy staggered school start times to allocate limited resources and to operate efficiently within their budgets. Adjusting bell times for high school students means that buses can't be rotated for different pick-up schedules. Overcrowded schools cannot stagger bell times to accommodate more classes to meet class size limits.

2. It becomes difficult to schedule sports practice and extra-curricular activities.

It is difficult to squeeze academic schedules, sports events and extra-curricular activities into available daytime hours if schools started later .

3. A late start time will disrupt parents' schedules.

In households where adults work traditional hours, adjusting the first bell schedule to the recommended 10 a.m. start time will disrupt the household's schedule. Students who have no bus service may have problems getting to and from school.

4. Starting later in the day will affect time available for after-school tutoring.
Students who receive extra services such as one-on-one tutoring and other after-school support may find limited resources as tutors and volunteers may not have the ability to adjust their schedules.

5. Students and their families are already conditioned for early bell.

After several years of being in the school system, family schedules have been set up to revolve around school schedules. Making a major switch to later start times may pose a challenge for working parents who would have to deal with additional costs of before and after-school care and transportation.

Adjusting school schedules is a controversial issue because there are various considerations, all legitimate, that come into play. School districts that have experimented with adjusted schedules have found beneficial effects for students. However, making a massive change may be challenging in the face of limited school budgets and resources.

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5 Pros and Cons of Later School Start Times

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Many attempts have been made to switch school start times to later hours. High schools in the U.S. generally start at 8 a.m. if not earlier. Considering commute and morning preparations, students are rising long before dawn to spend six to eight hours of dealing with academic and other school activities.

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The Pros and Cons of Starting School Later.                            By: Thomas Stabley 

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The Pros and Cons of Starting School Later.                            By: Thomas Stabley 

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2. His claim is to say the good thing about later time. 3. His purpose is to say why it is good and bad.4. Yes he manly says why it is good to start later but not often he says about why it is bad. There are more pros than cons.

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If you've ever had trouble getting your teen up in the morning or you've seen teens fall asleep during the school day, you're not alone. Many adolescents struggle to wake up early for school. It's sparked a discussion about the pros and cons of starting school at a later time.

While some people may think that teens are just lazy for not getting up early, doctors say that's not actually the case. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has urged school districts to consider later start times so that adolescents can get adequate sleep. Still, many districts have said that changing the time school starts just isn't feasible.

What Physicians Say

The AAP's Adolescent Sleep Working Group reviewed studies involving inadequate sleep in teens. Researchers analyzed the harmful effects sleep deprivation-anything less than 8.5 to 9 hours of sleep on school nights-can have on young people.

They concluded that poor sleep is linked to increased reliance on caffeine, tobacco, and alcohol. They also discovered a link between sleep deprivation and poor academic performance. Sleep deprivation has also been linked to an increased risk of car accidents in teens.

It may seem as though the solution would be for teens to simply go to sleep earlier. But researchers say that it isn't likely to work. Teens experience hormonal shifts that make falling asleep earlier difficult, if not impossible. Their biological clocks simply won't allow them to fall asleep before 11 p.m., even when they're tired.

Studies show that simply delaying school by 30 minutes can have a dramatic impact on teens' health and performance. So most researchers recommend school start times be delayed until at least 8:30 a.m. for teenagers. Benefits of delayed school start times include:

More sleep: Teens may be more likely to get the recommended amount of sleep.

Better sleep: Delayed start time could help teens sleep during their natural sleep/wake cycles.

Less caffeine: Teens may be less likely to depend on caffeine to stay awake during the day.

Better grades: Adequate sleep could help teens be more alert during the school day, which could boost their academic performance.

Better health: Sleeping longer could reduce health-related issues that accompany sleep deprivation.

Better choices: Getting home later in the afternoon (if school is shifted forward) may reduce the amount of time some teens are home alone, and could decrease the likelihood they will engage in unhealthy activities.

What School Districts Say

Despite the recommendation from the AAP, the majority of school districts aren't planning to change their start times. School officials often cite logistical concerns about starting the school day later.

Delaying high school start times could pose problems with bus schedules, after-school activities, and sporting events for the entire district. Changing the high school start time could have a domino effect on all the schools that could pose a logistical nightmare.﻿﻿

Critics also note that a later dismissal time for teens would pose problems for those who must provide childcare to younger siblings. Students who participate in sports and extra-curricular activities would get home later in the evenings. And teens might stay up even later if they don't have to wake for school at an earlier time.

What Parents Can Do

No matter what time your teen's school starts, it's important to support your teen by making sure they're getting enough high-quality sleep. Teach your teen about appropriate sleep hygiene and talk about the benefits of sleep.

While you can't force your teen to fall asleep at a certain time, you can establish a "lights out rule." Take away electronics at least 60 minutes before bedtime and encourage your teen to read quietly in their room to help them get ready for bed.

Most teens like to sleep late on the weekends or during school vacations. However, sleeping in can throw off your teen's natural sleep/wake cycle. Keep your teen on a consistent schedule even on weekends and school vacations.

If you feel strongly that your child's health and academic life are being disrupted by a lack of sleep, be an advocate for your child. Share your concerns with school officials. Attend school board meetings and discuss this issue with other parents. You may be able to gain enough support to create change.

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Should High Schools Start Later so Teens Can Get More Sleep?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends delaying school start times, but most school districts are not planning to start school later.

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Would a Later School Start Time Increase Student Success?

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Would a Later School Start Time Increase Student Success?

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The authors claim  was that teens need alot of sleep and their is a dissusion about school times starting later.The author informed us why this could be good and why it could be bad. I think that the author is bias because he tells us more pro's than cons.- Elsa

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How much sleep do you get each night during the school year?

Are you rested in the morning before school? If so, why? If not, why not? And if not, what do you think could be done to ensure you get more sleep during the school year?

In " The Economic Case for Letting Teenagers Sleep a Little Later," Aaron E. Carroll writes:

Many high-school-age children across the United States now find themselves waking up much earlier than they'd prefer as they return to school. They set their alarms, and their parents force them out of bed in the morning, convinced that this is a necessary part of youth and good preparation for the rest of their lives.

It's not. It's arbitrary, forced on them against their nature, and a poor economic decision as well.

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute recommends that teenagers get between nine and 10 hours of sleep. Most in the United States don't. It's not their fault.

My oldest child, Jacob, is in 10th grade. He plays on the junior varsity tennis team, but his life isn't consumed by too many extracurricular activities. He's a hard worker, and he spends a fair amount of time each evening doing homework. I think most nights he's probably asleep by 10 or 10:30.

His school bus picks him up at 6:40 a.m. To catch it, he needs to wake up not long after 6. Nine hours of sleep is a pipe dream, let alone 10.

There's an argument to be made that we should cut back on his activities or make him go to bed earlier so that he gets more sleep. Teens aren't wired for that, though. They want to go to bed later and sleep later. It's not the activities that prevent them from getting enough sleep - it's the school start times that require them to wake up so early. More than 90 percent of high schools and more than 80 percent of middle schools start before 8:30 a.m.

Some argue that delaying school start times would just cause teenagers to stay up later. Research doesn't support that idea. A systematic review published a year ago examined how school start delays affect students' sleep and other outcomes. Six studies, two of which were randomized controlled trials, showed that delaying the start of school from 25 to 60 minutes corresponded with increased sleep time of 25 to 77 minutes per week night. In other words, when students were allowed to sleep later in the morning, they still went to bed at the same time, and got more sleep.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

- Should school start times be adjusted so teenagers can get more sleep in the morning? Why or why not?

- How would a later start time personally affect you?

- Do you agree with the author that a later start time for the school day would save money and increase student success? If so, how? If not, why not?

- What other benefits, or disadvantages, can you see in delaying school start times?
Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

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Would a Later School Start Time Increase Student Success? (Published 2017)

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How much sleep do you get each night during the school year? Are you rested in the morning before school? If so, why? If not, why not? And if not, what do you think could be done to ensure you get more sleep during the school year?

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http://www.kappanonline.org/later-start-time-for-teens/
The author's claim is that teens need more sleep and it is healthier for them to get the sleep they need.The author's purpose is to inform that it is better to have later start times in school rather then earlier. I think that the author is bias towards pushing the start time of school to a later time.

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Later school start times help teens' moods, study says

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Later school start times help teens' moods, study says

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Mackenzie
The author's claim for this article is that later school start times are much better then earlier school start times because teens can get more sleep. So they can pay more attention in class and not have such a mood. I think the author's purpose of writing this is to persuaded us into thinking that school start times should be later because she is giving us information about why it's better to have a later start time. The author's does have a bias when she said that with not enough sleep could lead to health risks. So... the author's bias is that school start times should be later.

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Is your teen tired and grumpy? Part of that comes with the territory, but new research shows that it might not be entirely their fault.

A new study published by the Sleep Research Society found support for pushing back school start times, showing that a later start to the day led to more sleep and better mood in teenage girls. The research was conducted at an all-girls school in Singapore and focused on about 150 students in seventh through 10th grade (average age 14). The school delayed its start time by 45 minutes, changing from a 7:30 a.m. to an 8:15 a.m. beginning, and studied the effects on its students.

After one month, students reported about 23 more minutes in bed. In addition, the percentage of students who had at least eight hours in bed each night increased from 6.9 percent to 16.1 percent. The most significant finding, however, was the students' self-reported improvement in mood. They reported less depression, less sleepiness and overall "feeling more refreshed" during the school day.

The benefits held up after nine months, according to the study, an encouraging finding because it implies that changing school start times can have a lasting effect.

Some have worried that delaying school start times could delay bedtimes, thus perpetuating a vicious cycle of inadequate sleep. However, at nine months, researchers found that the participants were spending roughly the same amount of time in bed as they were at the one-month follow-up.

A teen rests on the couch.

Also at the nine-month follow-up, students had not just an increase in time spent "in bed," but also an increase in time spent asleep. Participants wore wrist actigraphs, small devices that monitor activity and sleep levels. According to their "actigraphy," students had roughly 10 more minutes of sleep each night. These increases were not noted at the one-month follow-up, implying that institutional changes like delayed school start times may take some time before they truly affect routines and sleep cycles.

While supported by science, later school times don't seem to be supported by schools. In 2012, only 17.7 percent of American public schools had a start time of 8:30 a.m. or later -- the average was 8:03 a.m.

By starting school later, critics argue, transportation problems follow, particularly related to school buses during rush-hour traffic. Others worry that delayed school start times will make it hard to schedule after-school activities.

But from a health point of view, inadequate amounts of sleep don't just lead to sad or anxious moods, inattentive behavior and poor school performance. Teens are already at risk for car accidents, and teens who are sleep-deprived have an even higher risk. Not to mention, sleep deprivation has also been linked to obesity, heart disease and diabetes later in life.

Regardless of your school's start time, pediatricians implore teens to stick to a regular bedtime and limit cellphone, tablet and TV use before bed. According to the National Sleep Foundation, the blue light on screens decreases the body's natural production of melatonin, wreaking havoc on our sleep cycle. Many argue that a "media curfew" approximately 30 minutes before bedtime would be great for teens.

It couldn't hurt for parents, either.
Laura Shopp, MD, a third-year pediatrics resident affiliated with Indiana University, works in the ABC News Medical Unit.

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Later school start times help teens' moods, study says

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Is your teen tired and grumpy? Part of that comes with the territory, but new research shows that it might not be entirely their fault. A new study published by the Sleep Research Society found support for pushing back school start times, showing that a later start to the day led to more sleep and better mood in teenage girls.

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lane
On CNN the girl says that you get more sleep but longer school.Then she says that you font sleep in school as much as you did that time. the author wrote this to inform us, to tell us more sleep does not help use.
his bais is negativew because he is disagreeing about sleeping more.

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Doctors: Early school start times unhealthy for students

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The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that schools start later to reduce public health concerns. Read the latest news about school start times.

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The Pros and Cons of Starting Schoolater

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The Pros and Cons of Starting Schoolater

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Jake
The author's claim is that there can be pros and cons to starting school later. The authors purpose is to show the pros and cons of starting school later. The author does not show bias by showing the pros and cons not just the pros.

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If you've ever had trouble getting your teen up in the morning or you've seen teens fall asleep during the school day, you're not alone. Many adolescents struggle to wake up early for school. It's sparked a discussion about the pros and cons of starting school at a later time.

While some people may think that teens are just lazy for not getting up early, doctors say that's not actually the case. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has urged school districts to consider later start times so that adolescents can get adequate sleep. Still, many districts have said that changing the time school starts just isn't feasible.

What Physicians Say

The AAP's Adolescent Sleep Working Group reviewed studies involving inadequate sleep in teens. Researchers analyzed the harmful effects sleep deprivation-anything less than 8.5 to 9 hours of sleep on school nights-can have on young people.

They concluded that poor sleep is linked to increased reliance on caffeine, tobacco, and alcohol. They also discovered a link between sleep deprivation and poor academic performance. Sleep deprivation has also been linked to an increased risk of car accidents in teens.

It may seem as though the solution would be for teens to simply go to sleep earlier. But researchers say that it isn't likely to work. Teens experience hormonal shifts that make falling asleep earlier difficult, if not impossible. Their biological clocks simply won't allow them to fall asleep before 11 p.m., even when they're tired.

Studies show that simply delaying school by 30 minutes can have a dramatic impact on teens' health and performance. So most researchers recommend school start times be delayed until at least 8:30 a.m. for teenagers. Benefits of delayed school start times include:

More sleep: Teens may be more likely to get the recommended amount of sleep.

Better sleep: Delayed start time could help teens sleep during their natural sleep/wake cycles.

Less caffeine: Teens may be less likely to depend on caffeine to stay awake during the day.

Better grades: Adequate sleep could help teens be more alert during the school day, which could boost their academic performance.

Better health: Sleeping longer could reduce health-related issues that accompany sleep deprivation.

Better choices: Getting home later in the afternoon (if school is shifted forward) may reduce the amount of time some teens are home alone, and could decrease the likelihood they will engage in unhealthy activities.

What School Districts Say

Despite the recommendation from the AAP, the majority of school districts aren't planning to change their start times. School officials often cite logistical concerns about starting the school day later.

Delaying high school start times could pose problems with bus schedules, after-school activities, and sporting events for the entire district. Changing the high school start time could have a domino effect on all the schools that could pose a logistical nightmare.﻿﻿

Critics also note that a later dismissal time for teens would pose problems for those who must provide childcare to younger siblings. Students who participate in sports and extra-curricular activities would get home later in the evenings. And teens might stay up even later if they don't have to wake for school at an earlier time.

What Parents Can Do

No matter what time your teen's school starts, it's important to support your teen by making sure they're getting enough high-quality sleep. Teach your teen about appropriate sleep hygiene and talk about the benefits of sleep.

While you can't force your teen to fall asleep at a certain time, you can establish a "lights out rule." Take away electronics at least 60 minutes before bedtime and encourage your teen to read quietly in their room to help them get ready for bed.

Most teens like to sleep late on the weekends or during school vacations. However, sleeping in can throw off your teen's natural sleep/wake cycle. Keep your teen on a consistent schedule even on weekends and school vacations.

If you feel strongly that your child's health and academic life are being disrupted by a lack of sleep, be an advocate for your child. Share your concerns with school officials. Attend school board meetings and discuss this issue with other parents. You may be able to gain enough support to create change.

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Should High Schools Start Later so Teens Can Get More Sleep?

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The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends delaying school start times, but most school districts are not planning to start school later.

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Maya
The author's claim was that early school start times are unhealthy and can lead to several health risks. The author's purpose is to convince people that early school start times are unhealthy for students. The author does show bias when he/she says that early school start times are bad.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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Learn how later school start times may help adolescents get enough sleep.

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The  Author's purpose is to persuade us to start schools later. The author's bias is to tell the positive ways about later school times Because he tells about the positives(Alexander Rose)

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A new study in SLEEP, published by Oxford University Press, indicates that delaying school start times results in students getting more sleep, and feeling better, even within societies where trading sleep for academic success is common.

The study aimed to investigate the short and longer-term impact of a 45-min delay in school start time on sleep and well-being of adolescents.

Singapore leads the world in the Programme for International Student Assessment rankings, which measures international scholastic performance in 15-year-olds. East Asian students live in a culture where the importance of academic success is deeply ingrained. This drive for academic achievement leads to high attainment in international academic assessments but has contributed to the curtailment of nocturnal sleep on school nights to well below the recommended eight to ten hours of sleep, putting students at risk of cognitive and psychological problems.

In Singapore, school typically starts around 7:30 AM, which is one hour earlier than the 8:30 AM or later start time recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Sleep deprivation among Singaporean adolescents is rampant, and the average time in bed on school nights is 6 and a half hours.

In July 2016, an all-girls' secondary school in Singapore delayed its start time from 7:30 to 8:15 in the morning by restructuring its schedule in a way that did not delay school end time. Researchers investigated the impact of starting school later on students' sleep and well-being one month and nine months after the institution of the start time delay.

The sample consisted of 375 students in grades 7-10 from an all-girls' secondary school in Singapore that delayed its start time from 7:30 to 08:15 in the morning. Researchers assessed self-reports of sleep timing, sleepiness, and well-being (depressive symptoms and mood) before the school made the schedule change, and evaluated the measures again at approximately one and nine months after the delay. Total sleep time was also measured.

Later school start times have been shown to benefit sleep and well-being in Western cultures, but its usefulness in East Asian countries where students are driven to trade sleep for academic success is less clear. Most studies on later school start times have been conducted in Western countries. These studies have consistently found increased sleep duration on school nights with later start times. However, the sustainability of sleep habit improvement is not as well characterized.

Researchers wondered if students would continue to get more sleep if schools delayed their start times; the gains may not be sustained if students gradually delay their bedtime. For example, one study found that the sleep gained two months after a 45-minute delay in start time was no longer observed after another seven months, due to a delay in the sleep period. Delaying bedtimes, partly as a result of mounting academic workload, is a pressing reality in most East Asian households. Compounding this erosion of sleep time in East Asian societies is the resistance to changing the already packed school schedules. For example, recently, a secondary school in Hong Kong agreed to delay its start time, but only by 15 minutes. Nevertheless, a four-minute increase in time-in-bed on weekdays was found, together with gains in mental health, prosocial behavior and better attentiveness in class and peer relationships.

The results of this new study indicate that after one month, bedtimes on school nights were delayed by nine minutes while the times students got up were delayed by about 32 minutes, resulting in an increase in time in bed of 23 minutes.

Participants also reported lower levels of subjective sleepiness and improvement in well-being at both follow-ups. Notably, greater increase in sleep duration on school nights was associated with greater improvement in alertness and well-being.

Critically, with a later school start time the percentage of participants whose self-reported sleeping time on weekdays was at least 8 hours -- the amount generally considered appropriate for adolescents -- increased, from 6.9% to 16%. Total sleep time increased by about 10 minutes at the nine-month follow-up.

"Starting school later in East Asia is feasible and can have sustained benefits," said the paper's lead researcher, Michael Chee. "Our work extends the empirical evidence collected by colleagues in the West and argues strongly for disruption in practice and attitudes surrounding sleep and wellbeing in societies where these are believed to hinder rather than enhance societal advancement."

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sleep disorder research; insomnia research; staying healthy; children's health; sleep disorders; insomnia; obstructive sleep apnea; k-12 education

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Later school start times really do improve sleep time

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A new study in SLEEP, published by Oxford University Press, indicates that delaying school start times results in students getting more sleep, and feeling better, even within societies where trading sleep for academic success is common. The study aimed to investigate the short and longer-term impact of a 45-min delay in school start time on sleep and well-being of adolescents.

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Roman
I think this article  has no bias it says that 80% of people are sleeping in classes and if you would sleep 1 hour more it will be better for healt  and reduce car crashes

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A Common Question From Parents, Teachers and Students

Over the years, there have been many discussions in education, with policymakers taking part, about school start times and the importance of students getting enough sleep.

After looking at the results of scientific studies, and researching the opinions of several professionals, we can say with confidence: Yes. There are many benefits of starting school later; especially for middle school and high school students.

We will take a look at many good reasons why schools should start later, for the benefit of students and society as a whole. We also tried to figure out why schools start so early, which we will touch on at the end.

The Rational Argument For A Late Start

Medical professionals, middle and high school teachers, and other student advocates have long argued that school start times are simply too early. Around 80% of schools start before 8a.m., which means many students windup sleep-deprived. There is a natural biological tendency for teens to stay up late and want to sleep in. Physicians recommend teens get at least 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep per night. Those who don't face a number of health risks that can have serious consequences on their mental and physical well-being.

Let's look at the mental consequences of early start times that show why schools should start later. As far back as 1999, a member of Congress introduced a resolution to make school start times later. Addressing the resolution, Representative Zoe Lofgren said, "Over time, sleep deprivation leads to serious consequences for academic achievement, social behavior, and the health and safety of our nation's youth."

Many opponents, such as physical education teachers, cite extracurricular activities as one of the reasons why schools should start after 8:30. Sure, it may cut in to some practice time. But that could wind up saving students a lot of unnecessary pain and suffering.

Research has even shown that students who get less than 8 hours sleep at night were two-thirds likely to get injured than those who do. What's more, 20%+ of these injuries required a trip to the emergency room. Think about it, if you get more sleep you won't be as drowsy, clumsy, and probably have better reflexes, balances and hand eye coordination - all things that can impact your performance in a sport.

Why schools start so early should be a concern for any parent with a child in sports.

The Case Continues...Even When Kids Aren't At School

It's not just when students are at school that drowsiness can be an issue. What about driving to and from school? With teens being at the root of half of all traffic accidents, it can be safely said that those who get more sleep can be more trusted behind the wheel.

Studies have also linked students who don't get enough sleep to drug and alcohol abuse, and higher suicide rates. You can see how sleep can greatly alter your life path. These are awesome benefits of starting school later.

So, Then...Why Do We Send The Kids To School So Early?

The case for why schools start so early doesn't always make sense to us. Many believe that the cost of disrupting the current way things work would be expensive and cause confusion.

It is also simply harder to get people and systems to change; especially when people are used to things working one way.

But these naysayers might also want to think again, especially if they are budget-conscious. Since school attendance and federal dollars are directly tied together, it's in the school's best interest to keep attendance up. Later start times increased attendance 15% at a district in Ohio. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles they estimate increasing attendance just 1% would net around $40 million.

What About Academic Performance? Does Start Time Affect It?

Test scores and measureable results are such an important component of gauging education, we have to discuss the impact on academic performance. Studies have proven that when students get more sleep, their test scores actually go up.

Even better, the lowest performing students made the biggest progress in their learning development when they had adequate sleep.

To us, these are some of the best reasons why schools should start later.

Even the Center for Disease Control (CDC) put out a statement saying directly that middle school students start school too early. They state definitively that no school should start earlier than 8:30 to give students a chance to learn at their maximum capabilities.

What Now?

Now that we know the benefits of starting school later, what can we do to help our kids get more sleep? It's a little complicated, actually. Since school districts operate at the local level, in many ways, it's hard to convince everyone why schools should start later. Just to show you the range, the CDC reported that Louisiana had an average start time of 7:40am, which was the earliest in the nation. On the other hand, Alaska clocked in as the latest starting state at 8:33 as its average start time.

If you want to make an impact, take this information to your next school board meeting, or better yet...run for your local school board and take steps to augment your school district's start time!

Let us know how it goes!

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Good Reasons Why School Should Start Later

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Over the years, there have been many discussions in education, with policymakers taking part, about school start times and the importance of students getting enough sleep. After looking at the results of scientific studies, and researching the opinions of several professionals, we can say with confidence: Yes.

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Later school start times in the U.S. (Gino)

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Later school start times in the U.S. (Gino)

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https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2109.html

I think that this article has no bias because he list the pros and cons or a later start time the writers clam is to describe whats happening and how it will work.

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Answer to three

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Later school start times helps teen moods study says 

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Later school start times helps teen moods study says 

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Jensen: The author is basically trying to say that teens do need more sleep and for their health I think that it is biased because the Arthur Has about 7 paragraphs of later start time and 1 that thinks it is bad. I think his/her purpose is to have schools start later