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Green = Yes, School Should Start Later.
Red = No, School Should Not Start Later.
Yellow = Supports Both Sides

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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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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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

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Parents Disagree On  Later School Start Times?

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Parents Disagree On  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.

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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19 Pros & Cons Of Later School Start Times

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19 Pros & Cons Of Later School Start Times

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Do your kids struggle to wake up in the morning? It may not be that they are lazy. They could be legitimately tired. For teens, anything less than 8.5 hours of sleep per night could be considered detrimental to their health, according to information released by the American Academy of Pediatrics. For younger children, even more sleep per night may be required.

Poor sleep has caused an increase reliance on caffeine products. There is a direct link between sleep deprivations and a poor academic performance. Over time, poor sleep can increase the risk of developing an alcohol or tobacco dependency.

It isn't an issue of going to bed earlier for teens either. Even when kids are tired, they struggle to fall asleep earlier because their circadian rhythms are establishing their internal routine.

Just delaying school by 30 minutes may have a positive impact for a child's education. Here are some of the key pros and cons to consider when looking at the idea of starting school later.

List of the Pros of Starting School Later

1. It could reduce the amount of time kids are left alone.
Teens are often left alone at home at the end of the day because of the working schedules of their parents. That time alone invites the possibility of making decisions that are not necessarily healthy. Starting school later in the morning would create a later release time in the afternoon, which could reduce the amount of time some teens are left on their own.

2. It would reduce health-related issues that come with a lack of sleep.
Sleep deprivation can cause a number of different bothersome symptoms in kids of any age. A loss of sleep disrupts the normal functioning of a child's attention span. They can struggle to focus on their environment, sensory inputs, and the classroom. A lack of sleep creates a delayed reaction time, irritability, depressed mood, forgetfulness, clumsiness, and trouble learning new concepts.

3. It could reduce caffeine dependence.
Depending on the type of coffee bean being used, a cup of brewed coffee in the morning may have up to 175mg of caffeine in it. That's more caffeine than some energy drinks provide. Long-term side effects of using caffeine may include severe dehydrations, chronic panic attacks, and high levels of adrenaline and cortisol. High levels of caffeine also prevent reabsorption of sodium, which can lead to future medical issues. With a later start time and more sleep, some of these issues could begin to go away.

4. It could boost individual academic performance.
When there is adequate sleeping time available for children, then there is an associated rise in that student's grades. Not only does this improve the focus of the child, it gives them time to process the information around them in the classroom environment. By removing the stress stimulus from the environment, the cortisol levels can remain at normal levels for the student, reducing the risks of distraction and hyperactivity. In 1998, Dr. Amy Wolfson, Professor of Psychology at Loyola University in Maryland, and Dr. Mary Carskadon, Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, found that students with grade averages of C or under were getting 25 fewer minutes of sleep each night compared to students with higher grades.

5. It allows students to cope with their academic responsibilities.
The University of Minnesota discovered that students who have a later start time to their school day have better overall test scores, grades, and consistency in core subject areas compared to students who go to school on a traditional schedule. Students also have improved attendance rates, reduced truancy, and reduced dropout rates when their school responsibilities match better with their biological clocks.

6. It gives students a chance to eat breakfast.
One of the first things that goes away when students are in a rush to get to school is a healthy breakfast. By pushing the start time later in the day, there is a better chance to have time to eat something healthier than a prepackaged breakfast item. Reducing the prevalence of on-the-go eating options can promote a healthier weight and better personal nutrition, which further increases the chances of a positive individual learning experience.

7. It could reduce vehicular accidents for teens.
Many teens drive themselves to school. Waking up too early, without enough sleep the night before, creates an added risk to the driving experience. AAA reports that driver drowsiness is responsible for an average of 100,000 vehicular accidents every year. Moving the start time of school wouldn't resolve the issue of texting or talking while driving, but it would reduce the issues of driver drowsiness for many teens.

8. It would reduce the number of mood changes teens experience.
Teens are often criticized for their mood swings or moody behavior. Sometimes, these behaviors are associated with depression or some other psychological disorder. In reality, the teen may be suffering from ongoing sleep deprivation. When students (or anyone) gets enough sleep, their mood remains stabilized throughout the day, which encourages a higher level of overall motivation.

9. It would reduce common safety issues for students.
One of the biggest safety issues students face is one that most people don't think about too often. Early start times for a school, sometimes before 8am, require children to get to school in the dark. They might be waiting at a bus stop in the dark. For younger children, they also have the threat of being home alone after school if there are no daycare or after school options. Starting school at a later time reduces all of these issues, even if it does put more pressure on the morning routine for parents.

10. It would provide more recovery time for students.
Many extracurricular activities occur after the regular school day, such as a sporting event. Giving students a later start time would allow them to still participate in these activities, while giving them more recovery time each overnight for rest and healing. Students engaged in after school activities typically require more time to wind down to reach a state of sleep as well, and this schedule change would accommodate their needs.

List of the Cons of Starting School Later

1. It would impact the schedules of working families.
Many junior high and high schools have a start time of 8am in the United States. Most working parents are required to report to work by 8am as well. That allows a small window of time to either drive the student to the school or have them get on the bus. Advancing the time by 30 minutes as proposed, to 8:30am, would make it difficult for many parents to get to work on time.

2. It could create transportation issues for the school district.
Many elementary schools in the United States offer a start time of 9am. That is done to provide younger students with enough time to sleep each night and ease transportation congestion within the district. By moving the start time of the junior high and high schools to a later time, the only solution that doesn't involve more transportation investments is to move the elementary school start time backward by the same amount of time, creating new learning issues.

3. It would alter the release time for schools within the district.
Many teens have after-school jobs which require them to report by a specific time. Many families depend upon their teens to watch younger children while the parents finish out their work day. Pushing the release time for a school district later in the morning would require students to stay later in the afternoon, which could create even more difficulties for families and the students themselves.

4. It would eliminate the ability to do some homework.
If schools push their start time to later in the morning, then they are eliminating time for students to do homework. Students who are involved in sports or extracurricular school-sponsored activities may find themselves with a limited amount of time to complete their work each day. That would force them to stay up later to get their work done, which would then negate the benefits that having a later start time would be able to create.

5. It could encourage some teens to stay up later.
Even if there are not any extracurricular activities for some teens after school, there would still be the temptation to stay up later each night because they could sleep in later the next morning. A change in the school schedule would require a buy-in from parents and guardians to help gain the benefits of extra sleep for their children. At the end of the day, however, you really can't force anyone to fall asleep, even if you require them to be in their room by a certain time.

6. It reduces tutoring opportunities.
With a later release time from starting school later, students have fewer chances to access tutoring resources they may need for difficult subjects. Many after school tutoring programs are operated by volunteers that have finite time resources. Changing the school schedule will change their schedule, which may make it difficult to continue providing services during the week. That would push tutoring needs to the weekend, where more students may be less likely to engage with the service.

7. It requires changes to personal habits to be effective.
The benefits of a later school start time complement how the circadian rhythms of teens develop. If teens are not making healthy decisions that support this development, then there are no benefits to starting school times later. Teens would need to limit their exposure to artificial light resources to encourage melatonin development. They would need to eat healthy foods at appropriate times to encourage sleep. They would need to avoid caffeine products after lunch to prevent sleep delays. Otherwise, the circadian rhythms would just be delayed, and the same issues seen today with earlier school start times would still be present.

8. It would reduce resource access.
Most community resources do not open until 9am or later. Even if schools push a start time from 8am to 9am, there would be no added benefit to accessing the local library, for example, or a similar resource. That 60 minutes would be made up at the end of the day, which would actually reduce the amount of time students would have. That, in turn, would reduce opportunities for extracurricular learning or activities that enrich the lives of many students under the current schedule.

9. It would alter teacher schedules as well.
Teachers already work an extended day before and after their students arrive. Shifting the time forward by an hour could alter their family schedules in a negative way as well.

These pros and cons of starting the school day at a later time have passionate defenders on both sides of the debate. There are clearly some benefits that would become possible to access with a later starting time. There are also some clear challenges that families, teens, and school districts would face when deciding to pursue this idea. It may not be right for every district, family, or student, but it may also be the perfect solution for those who are struggling with their education.

Blog Post Author Credentials
Louise Gaille is the author of this post. She received her B.A. in Economics from the University of Washington. In addition to being a seasoned writer, Louise has almost a decade of experience in Banking and Finance. If you have any suggestions on how to make this post better, then go here to contact our team.

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19 Should School Start Later in the Morning Pros and Cons

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Do your kids struggle to wake up in the morning? It may not be that

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Start To Weigh The Pros & Cons Of Later School Start Times.

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Start To Weigh The Pros & Cons Of Later School Start Times.

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First Bell: Districts, Lawmakers & Families Weigh Pros And Cons Of Later School Start Time

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It’s 6:30 a.m. on a recent weekday morning, and Caroline Keeney is trying to get her two teen daughters ready for school. She knocks on the door of her…

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In California, you won't find any high school students trudging to school half-awake at the crack of dawn. A new that went into effect in July now requires high schools there to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. and middle schools no earlier than 8 a.m. States like Alaska, New York, Tennessee, and New Jersey are taking notice and proposing their own bills, each with research pointing to how a later school start time can help teens get more sleep and improve their physical and mental health.

The data behind later start times

Author and journalist recently wrote The Sleep-Deprived Teen and multiple to promote change in this area. She had an integral role in raising awareness to politicians in California, which ultimately led to the bill mentioned above. Her own teenage son was exhausted entering high school with a too-early start time, she explained, prompting the advocacy for change. She points to the research, including an American Academy of Pediatrics study that revealed 73% of high school students don't get enough sleep . She adds earlier bedtimes don't always work because puberty pushes teens' circadian rhythms back naturally.

The role of elementary schools in the conversation

While most of the attention has been on middle and high school start times, some are considering elementary schools as well. In the case of younger students particularly, not all teachers are on board with later school start times. Educators stated a variety of potential complications, from transportation concerns to student motivation. Rachael Collins, who works at a Houston elementary school, writes in a Facebook post , "No. Kids already barely survive the day. At the end of day they are exhausted and barely listening as is. This will make the day seem even longer and give families less time after school. Plus those teachers that commute will have insane traffic."

Lewis says that lost motivation later in the day is a valid concern, but any long day is tiring. " When it begins too early, that means that students are sleep-deprived in addition to having a full day of classes ahead of them. At least with a later start time, this issue of chronic sleep-deprivation is being addressed."

, for example, is considering how later start times for middle and high school students might impact elementary students needing to start earlier. Due to transportation limitations, some worry this might simply transfer the problem rather than solving it.

The impact on carpools and after-school activities

Another common concern is the impact on after-school clubs and sports. A later start time might push activities back further into the evening. This, in turn, would push dinnertime and homework back and prevent a regular bedtime.

Karen Ausdenmoore Grumski, a high school educator in Pittsburgh, posted, " Too many kids work after school and would be impacted along with athletes and clubs. Maybe having a half hour/forty-minute later would work." Her students currently start at 7:20 a.m. and end at 2 p.m., and so she worries starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 2:40 would be doable, but that it runs into middle school dismissal. "No idea of the cost to run another set of buses. Two of our four elementary schools run 9:15 to 3:45 in order to only run one set of buses. Not sure if that would be an issue if they ran 10 to 4:30. You still have childcare issues on both ends of the day."

Lewis adds that there might be an added benefit of students getting out later. Parents might be able to pick their children up when they get out of work, whereas many can't midafternoon.

The benefits for students

Kelly*, who wishes to remain anonymous, teaches high school in Virginia. She reports seeing positive effects of their later school start time-9 a.m.-compared to other districts. "The kids are generally not falling asleep in my first period class, thankfully ... I have a few kids who were chronically late anyway, but not as many as I'm sure there would have been if we had a pre-8 a.m. start time."

As experts and districts consider the pros and cons of later school start times, all eyes are on California and the research on how it might impact students' sleep, and potentially their mental health.

What are your thoughts on starting school later? Tell us in the comments.

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How Much Does a Later School Start Time Help or Hurt? Teachers and Experts Weigh In

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In California, you won't find any high school students trudging to school half-awake at the crack of dawn. A new that went into effect in July now requires high schools there to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. and middle schools no earlier than 8 a.m.