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Exploring the Evidence: 7 Comprehensive Reasons Why School Should Start Later for Enhanced Student Well-being and Academic Success

The debate on the optimal timing for school start times has gained considerable momentum, presenting compelling reasons why school should start later. This growing consensus among educators, parents, and researchers highlights the profound benefits such a shift could have on student health and academic performance.

Traditionally, schools have adhered to an early morning schedule, a routine that is increasingly viewed as misaligned with adolescent physiological rhythms and conducive to chronic sleep deprivation. This discrepancy between school schedules and the natural sleep patterns of teenagers has sparked a significant reevaluation of how educational institutions can best support the developmental and learning needs of their students.

Advocating for later start times is not merely a call for more sleep; it represents a holistic approach to enhancing the educational environment by optimizing the physical and mental well-being of students. The argument for delayed start times is supported by a wealth of research indicating improvements in various areas of student life, including academic achievement, mental health, and physical wellness.

Reasons why School should Start Later in the Morning: – Better for students sleep and attendance – Don’t need to stay up as late to do homework because you can do it in the morning — Pisha 🍉 ⪩⚢⪨ Et Le Ena Piou (@mafuanenautism)  September 30, 2022

However, transitioning to a later schedule also presents logistical challenges and potential drawbacks, such as impacts on extracurricular activities, family routines, and community infrastructure, which must be thoughtfully addressed.

This article embarks on a comprehensive examination of the subject, exploring the multifaceted benefits of starting school later, the considerations and challenges that come with such a change, and the real-world implications as evidenced by initiatives like those undertaken by the Seattle School District. Through this analysis, we aim to provide a balanced perspective on why the shift towards later school start times could represent a significant step forward in fostering environments that truly cater to the needs and potentials of our young learners.

On this page, you will discover:

• The Benefits of Starting School Later →
• The Potential Drawbacks of Starting School Later →
• The Impact of Delayed School Start Times in Seattle School District →

7 Reasons Why School Should Start Later

Wendy Troxel attributes the lack of sufficient sleep among teens not to Snapchat, social lives, or hormones, but to public policy, specifically early school start times, and shares insights from her dual perspective as a sleep researcher and a mother in a must-watch video on how this affects adolescents during a crucial stage of their lives.

Now, let’s delve into the compelling reasons why school should start later, exploring seven key factors that highlight the benefits of adjusting school schedules for the betterment of student health, engagement, and academic performance.

1. Improves Academic Performance

Adequate sleep is essential for adolescents, who are at a pivotal stage of development and learning. The evidence linking sufficient rest to improved academic outcomes is compelling, suggesting that later school start times could play a key role in enhancing students’ educational achievements.

The correlation between adequate sleep and enhanced academic performance is well-documented. Studies by organizations such as the National Sleep Foundation underscore the critical role sleep plays in cognitive functions, including memory retention, focus, and decision-making processes. Adolescents, who are in a crucial phase of brain development, particularly benefit from extended sleep, as it directly influences their ability to learn and excel academically.

A later school start time aligns with their natural sleep cycles, allowing for a more alert and engaged mindset during school hours. This alignment not only fosters an environment conducive to learning but also translates into tangible outcomes such as higher test scores and grade improvements. Consequently, the shift to later start times could serve as a strategic approach to bolster academic success, addressing educational priorities and student well-being in tandem.

Why It Is Important

• Academic success is key for future opportunities, shaping higher education and career paths.
• Enhanced performance from later start times correlates with better cognitive functions: memory, attention, and problem-solving.
• Quality sleep, aligned with circadian rhythms, leads to deeper, more restorative rest, essential for learning and memory.
• Alert, focused students are more likely to actively participate and retain information.
• Benefits individual students and contributes to a positive, productive learning environment.
• Later start times are a strategic approach to enhance educational outcomes and prepare students for success.

Discover in this video how mastering healthy sleep habits can serve as a genuine performance enhancer in the classroom, leading to better sleep and higher GPAs for students.

2. Allows Teens to Get More Sleep

The mismatch between teenagers’ biological clocks and early school schedules is a significant barrier to their health and well-being. Recognizing the critical importance of sleep for this age group underlines the need for adjustments in school start times to support their developmental needs.

Adopting later school start times harmonizes with teenagers’ biological clocks, addressing the mismatch between early school schedules and adolescents’ sleep needs. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s recommendations highlight the importance of adequate sleep for teenagers, a demographic often burdened by early start times and societal pressures that encroach on their sleep duration. This shift not only ensures they meet the optimal sleep quota but also enhances their overall health and cognitive function.

The benefits extend beyond the mere number of hours slept; the quality of sleep improves, fostering better mental, emotional, and physical health. This holistic improvement in well-being is crucial during adolescence, a period marked by significant growth and development challenges.

• Adequate sleep is crucial for teenagers’ physical and mental development, supporting growth, immune response, and emotional regulation.
• Recommended sleep leads to fewer behavioral issues and improved decision-making.
• Important during adolescence, a time of significant development.
• Sufficient sleep is linked to better mood regulation and reduced risk-taking.
• Schools can help teens get the necessary sleep, promoting academic success and well-being.
• Recognizes the link between physical health, mental health, and academic achievement.

Behavioral and social scientist Wendy Troxel explains how early school start times essentially cause daily jetlag for students and advocates for a change in their morning routines in a compelling video worth watching.

3. Reduces Absenteeism

Healthier students are more likely to attend school consistently, underscoring the impact of sleep on immune function and overall wellness. By adapting school schedules to allow for more sleep, educators can directly contribute to reducing absenteeism and enhancing the learning environment.

Later school start times contribute to a healthier student body, which directly impacts attendance rates. Sleep deprivation compromises the immune system, making students more susceptible to illness and, consequently, more likely to miss school. By ensuring that students get sufficient rest, schools can see a reduction in absenteeism.

This not only benefits students’ academic performance and continuity of learning but also contributes to a more vibrant, participatory school environment. Improved health outcomes due to adequate sleep thus serve as a preventive measure against common ailments, ensuring that students remain present and engaged in their educational journey.

• Regular attendance is essential for continuous learning and success.
• Each missed day is a lost opportunity for learning and interaction.
• Absenteeism creates knowledge gaps, affecting confidence and curriculum engagement.
• Reducing absenteeism with later start times ensures full participation in education.
• Improves academic outcomes, social integration, and school connectedness.
• Alleviates administrative and teaching challenges, leading to a more efficient educational process.

Matt Pearl explores how what seems like a harmless day off can quickly escalate into habitual truancy, and highlights one school district’s innovative plan to combat this issue and refill empty seats in a must-see video.

4. Lowers Risk of Depression and Mental Health Issues

The crucial relationship between sleep and mental health, particularly in adolescents, cannot be overstated. Addressing sleep deprivation through later school start times is a preventative measure that could significantly improve students’ mental health outcomes.

The interplay between sleep and mental health is critical, especially during the volatile adolescent years. Inadequate sleep has been consistently linked to increased risks of depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. By shifting school start times later, students are afforded the opportunity to align their sleep schedules with their biological needs, significantly mitigating these risks.

This preventive approach to mental health is of paramount importance, considering the rising incidence of mental health challenges among teenagers. Providing an environment that supports adequate sleep can be a fundamental strategy in promoting mental well-being, offering a buffer against the stressors and challenges of adolescence.

• Mental health’s critical role in students’ well-being and success is undeniable, with adolescence being a particularly vulnerable period for the onset of issues like depression and anxiety. Sleep deprivation significantly exacerbates these conditions.
• Ensuring adequate sleep is foundational for robust mental health, enabling students to better manage stress and the myriad challenges of adolescence with greater resilience.
• Schools that implement later start times contribute to a proactive approach to mental health care, leading to a noticeable reduction in the incidence and severity of mental health issues among students.
• This initiative fosters a supportive educational environment where every aspect of student well-being is nurtured, promoting a healthy school climate conducive to learning and growth.

William Brangham delves into why many teens struggle to get the recommended eight to ten hours of sleep, the prevalence of insomnia among them, and the significant impact on their mental health in this insightful video.

Delve into the critical role of mental health in educational success with “ 8 Reasons Why Students Should Have Mental Health Days: A Research-Based Analysis ” offering evidence-based arguments for the integration of mental health days into school policies to enhance student well-being and academic performance.

5. Reduces Drowsy Driving in Teens

With the initiation of driving coinciding with the teenage years, the risk of drowsy driving becomes a pressing concern. Adjusting school start times to ensure teenagers get enough sleep could be a critical step in enhancing road safety and reducing accidents.

Teenage years coincide with the commencement of driving for many, introducing risks associated with drowsy driving. The CDC has identified sleep deprivation as a key factor in teen driving accidents. By enabling teens to align their sleep schedules with natural rhythms through later school start times, the incidence of drowsy driving can be significantly reduced.

This has the dual benefit of enhancing individual safety and contributing to broader public safety outcomes. Preventing accidents through such measures not only saves lives but also fosters a culture of responsible driving habits among young individuals.

• The safety of teenage drivers is a paramount concern, with drowsy driving posing a significant risk not just to the drivers but to the community at large. The alertness of drivers is crucial and is directly influenced by the amount of sleep they have received.
• By pushing school start times later, we can mitigate the risk of accidents caused by sleep deprivation, significantly enhancing public safety and specifically safeguarding teenage drivers, who are often less experienced and more vulnerable on the road.
• This measure not only prioritizes the health and safety of students but also contributes to the broader goal of ensuring safer roads and communities.

Explore the findings of a new study on teen drivers and the risks of drowsy driving in this informative video recommended for viewing.

6. Helps Teens Feel Happier

Sleep deprivation negatively impacts adolescents’ mood and overall happiness. Schools that adopt later start times can help align students’ schedules with their natural sleep patterns, fostering improved well-being and a more positive school experience.

Aligning school schedules with teenagers’ natural sleep cycles can significantly enhance their overall happiness and well-being. The dissonance between early school start times and adolescents’ biological predisposition for later sleep and wake patterns can lead to chronic sleep deprivation , affecting mood and well-being.

By adopting later start times, schools can help rectify this misalignment, allowing students to adhere to a more natural sleep schedule. This adjustment can lead to improved mood, greater resilience, and a more positive outlook on life, which are crucial for healthy adolescent development and academic success.

• The well-being and happiness of students are essential for their active engagement and enjoyment of their educational journey. Students who are well-rested show a marked increase in engagement, curiosity, and motivation.
• By aligning school start times with teens’ natural sleep cycles, there’s a significant improvement in students’ overall mood and outlook on life, which in turn enhances their social relationships and reduces conflict.
• This positive adjustment has been linked to not only a more vibrant school environment but also to tangible improvements in academic performance, demonstrating the deep interconnectedness between emotional well-being and educational outcomes.

Discover how a high school in Dedham, Massachusetts is combating student feelings of hopelessness with an innovative course on finding happiness through savoring experiences and fostering relationships in this inspiring video.

7. Reduced Stress

The stress induced by early mornings and lack of sleep can significantly affect students’ academic and social lives. By moving the start of the school day later, schools can alleviate a major source of daily stress, contributing to a healthier, more conducive learning environment.

The impact of sleep on stress levels cannot be overstated. Starting school later can significantly reduce the morning rush, a source of daily stress for many students. This reduction in stress can have a domino effect on various aspects of students’ lives, including their academic performance, social interactions, and overall mental health.

By mitigating one of the many stressors in students’ lives, schools can create a more supportive and productive learning environment. The benefits of such a change extend beyond the individual, positively affecting the school culture and community at large.

• Stress stands as a formidable barrier to both learning and mental health, with its ability to impair cognitive function and negatively affect academic performance. The rush and pressure of early mornings contribute significantly to students’ stress levels.
• Adopting a later start to the school day offers students a schedule that is more in sync with their natural sleep patterns, effectively reducing morning stress and allowing for a calmer, more focused start to their academic activities.
• This reduction in stress is beneficial not only for students’ academic performance but also for their mental and physical health, contributing to a more positive, supportive, and productive educational environment.

Discover why starting school later could help teens get the more sleep they need and improve their lives in various ways in this video, addressing common concerns about sleep needs for younger people.

Discover “ 7 Research-Based Reasons Why Students Should Not Have Homework: Academic Insights, Opposing Perspectives & Alternatives ” for a comprehensive analysis of the homework debate, presenting alternative strategies to improve student learning.

The Potential Drawbacks of Starting School Later

1. scheduling sports and extracurriculars becomes more difficult.

The integration of later school start times presents a unique set of challenges for the scheduling of sports and extracurricular activities, which are vital components of a student’s holistic development. The shift could potentially disrupt the delicate balance between academic commitments and extracurricular engagement, affecting students’ ability to participate in these valuable experiences.

One potential drawback of starting school later is the complication it introduces to scheduling sports and extracurricular activities. Many students are actively involved in after-school programs, including sports teams, clubs, and other organizations that play a significant role in their development. This presents a clear argument for why school should not start later, as it could lead to conflicts with extracurricular activities that depend on fixed schedules. This can result in logistical challenges for both students and program coordinators, potentially causing students to miss out on opportunities that contribute to their growth beyond academics.

In response to this challenge, schools and communities can adapt by rethinking and possibly reinventing the scheduling and structure of extracurricular activities. Flexibility in planning, such as holding some activities in the morning or making more efficient use of weekends, can ensure students continue to benefit from these programs. Moreover, a later start time might actually enhance student participation and performance in extracurriculars, as students would be better rested and more focused, potentially leading to a richer extracurricular experience.

2. Increases Childcare Costs and Logistical Challenges for Working Parents

Transitioning to later school start times poses significant logistical and financial challenges for working parents, necessitating adjustments in childcare arrangements and potentially disrupting daily routines. This change can introduce added stress and financial burden on families, complicating the work-life balance that is crucial for the well-being of both parents and students.

The shift to later school start times can increase childcare costs and create logistical challenges for working parents. Parents may find themselves needing to arrange for additional morning care or adjust their work schedules to accommodate the change. This can add financial strain and complicate the balance between work and family life, creating stress and potentially impacting the overall well-being of families.

However, the community and employers can play a crucial role in easing this transition. Workplaces could offer more flexible working hours or remote work options to accommodate the needs of parents. Additionally, schools and community organizations might develop affordable before-school programs to support families. This approach not only addresses the logistical and financial concerns but also fosters a community-centric solution that benefits both students and their families.

3. May Make After-School Jobs and Activities More Difficult

Adjusting school hours to start later in the day could inadvertently impact students’ ability to engage in after-school jobs and activities, critical for their personal development and financial support. This shift may limit the time available for such commitments, posing challenges for students who depend on the afternoon and early evening hours for work and extracurricular participation.

For students who rely on after-school jobs for income or participate in non-school activities, a later dismissal time can significantly reduce the available hours for work and other commitments. This could affect their ability to support themselves or their families financially and limit their engagement in valuable community or personal development activities.

On the flip side, a later start time can lead to more alert and productive students, potentially making them more efficient in balancing work, activities, and school responsibilities. Schools and local businesses could collaborate to offer flexible working arrangements for students, recognizing the mutual benefits of supporting adolescent development while maintaining their contribution to the workforce and community engagement.

4. Reduces Time for Homework and Family Activities

A later dismissal time from school may compress the window available for homework, relaxation, and family time, essential components of a student’s well-being and academic success. This reduction in available time during the evening can increase stress and limit opportunities for meaningful family interaction and adequate academic preparation.

With a later end to the school day, students might find themselves with less time for homework, relaxation, and family activities in the evening. This compression of non-school hours could lead to increased stress, less downtime, and diminished family interaction, which are all important for a student’s well-being and academic success. Uncover persuasive reasons against adopting year-round schooling in “ Comprehensive Analysis: 8 Strong Reasons Why School Should Not Be Year-Round ” highlighting its possible effects on both students and educators.

This challenge necessitates a more efficient approach to homework and after-school time management, potentially encouraging schools to reassess the volume and nature of homework assigned. With strategic planning and support, students can learn to manage their time effectively, ensuring they have sufficient opportunities for both academic responsibilities and family engagement. Additionally, the quality of family time can improve when students are less stressed and more rested, making the time spent together more meaningful.

The Impact of Delayed School Start Times in Seattle School District

In the 2016-2017 academic year, the Seattle School District embarked on a pioneering initiative to address the chronic sleep deprivation affecting its secondary school students. Recognizing the mounting evidence on the importance of adequate sleep for adolescents’ physical, and mental health, and academic performance, the district made a decisive move to delay the start times of its secondary schools from 7:50 am to 8:45 am. This change was aimed at aligning school schedules more closely with students’ biological sleep needs, thereby enhancing their overall well-being and academic outcomes.

Researchers from the University of Washington seized this opportunity to conduct a comprehensive study, both before and after the implementation of the new start times. Their research included students from two public high schools in Seattle, providing a valuable case study on the impacts of such policy changes.

The findings, published in Science Advances, revealed significant benefits stemming from the later start times. On average, students gained an additional 34 minutes of sleep per night, increasing their total nightly sleep from six hours and 50 minutes to seven hours and 24 minutes. This increase brought students closer to achieving the recommended sleep amount and marked a reversal in the century-long trend of gradual sleep loss among adolescents.

The benefits of this policy change extended beyond just improved sleep duration:

• Improved Sleep Duration: The policy change led to longer sleep times for students.
• Enhanced Academic Performance: Observations showed a significant increase in students’ academic achievements.
• Increased Punctuality and Attendance: Notably higher rates of on-time arrivals and attendance, especially in economically disadvantaged schools.
• Narrowing Socioeconomic Learning Gap: The change suggests the potential to reduce disparities in educational outcomes between low and high socioeconomic groups.
• Reduced Daytime Sleepiness: Students experienced less sleepiness during the day, indicating better sleep quality and its positive effect on daily engagement and functioning.

Dr. Tara Narula reports on a Seattle school district that transitioned to a later start time, showcasing the positive outcomes of the study, making it a highly recommended video to watch for insights on the impact of such changes.

Despite the success observed in Seattle, such shifts in school start times remain relatively rare across the United States, where the typical start time still hovers around 8 a.m. However, the Seattle School District’s experience stands as a compelling testament to the benefits of later start times, supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics’ advocacy for this change as an effective countermeasure to the widespread issue of sleep deprivation among teenagers.

The Seattle School District’s initiative demonstrates a proactive approach to student health and education, providing valuable insights and evidence for other districts contemplating similar adjustments. By prioritizing the sleep needs of students, the district not only improved their academic and health outcomes but also set a precedent for the importance of aligning educational policies with scientific research on adolescent well-being.

Useful Resources

• Time Management Activities For High School Students
• Daily Routine For Students: Recommendations And Techniques
• How to Reduce Student Stress and Excel in School

Final Thoughts

The conversation surrounding delayed school start times is complex, yet the evidence, especially from the Seattle School District, provides clear reasons why school should start later, highlighting the potential for significant positive changes in student well-being and academic success. As education stakeholders consider the future of school schedules, balancing the advantages with logistical concerns will be crucial. Ultimately, the goal is to create educational environments that best support the development and achievement of every student.

• How Would Later School Start Times Affect Sleep?
• Sleep is key to help teens recharge for success this school year
• 4 Benefits of Later School Start Times
• Teenagers and sleep
• Drowsy Driving: Asleep at the Wheel
• School Start Times for Adolescents
• Later School Start Times More Popular, But What Are the Drawbacks?
• Students can benefit from starting school later – study
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Simona Johnes is the visionary being the creation of our project. Johnes spent much of her career in the classroom working with students. And, after many years in the classroom, Johnes became a principal.

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Original research article, is 8:30 a.m. still too early to start school a 10:00 a.m. school start time improves health and performance of students aged 13–16.

• 1 Sleep, Circadian and Memory Neuroscience, The Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
• 2 Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
• 3 Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
• 4 International Survey Center, Sociology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, United States
• 5 Sociology and Applied Statistics Program, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, United States

While many studies have shown the benefits of later school starts, including better student attendance, higher test scores, and improved sleep duration, few have used starting times later than 9:00 a.m. Here we report on the implementation and impact of a 10 a.m. school start time for 13 to 16-year-old students. A 4-year observational study using a before-after-before (A-B-A) design was carried out in an English state-funded high school. School start times were changed from 8:50 a.m. in study year 0, to 10 a.m. in years 1–2, and then back to 8:50 a.m. in year 3. Measures of student health (absence due to illness) and academic performance (national examination results) were used for all students. Implementing a 10 a.m. start saw a decrease in student illness after 2 years of over 50% ( p < 0.0005 and effect size: Cohen's d = 1.07), and reverting to an 8:50 a.m. start reversed this improvement, leading to an increase of 30% in student illness ( p < 0.0005 and Cohen's d = 0.47). The 10:00 a.m. start was associated with a 12% increase in the value-added number of students making good academic progress (in standard national examinations) that was significant (<0.0005) and equivalent to 20% of the national benchmark. These results show that changing to a 10:00 a.m. high school start time can greatly reduce illness and improve academic performance. Implementing school start times later than 8:30 a.m., which may address the circadian delay in adolescents' sleep rhythms more effectively for evening chronotypes, appears to have few costs and substantial benefits.

Introduction

Despite the well-established natural shifts to later wake and sleep times that occur in adolescence, most schools retain early start times. Currently school starting times are not adjusted for the shift to later wake and sleep times that occur naturally in adolescence. This mismatch between adolescent biology and the conventional practice of starting school early leads to a systematic reduction in the amount of time available for sleep to teenagers and consequently chronic sleep deficiency. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics (2014) have stated that early school starts are associated with increased health risks of obesity, depression, and drug use as well as poorer academic performance ( Owens et al., 2014 ; Wheaton et al., 2015 ). Their recommendation that middle and high schools should open no earlier than 8:30 a.m. is now supported by the American Medical Association (2016) . Almost all studies to date, while scheduling school starting times later than before, have retained a starting time at or earlier than 9:00 a.m. ( Kirkby et al., 2011 ). One study in New Zealand did report improved sleep in 17 to 18-year-old students when the starting time was moved from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m., as compared to younger controls who remained at 9:00 a.m. ( Borlase et al., 2013 ). A recent study of optimal times for cognitive performance for students aged 18–19 concluded that much later times were optimal, specifically after 11 a.m. or 12 noon ( Evans et al., 2017 ).

Evidence for increased health risks associated with early school starting times is both substantial and demonstrated through a variety of research methodologies ( Hansen et al., 2005 ; Millman, 2005 ; Basch et al., 2014 ; de Souza and Hidalgo, 2014 ). The underlying biological drivers are also well established. Adolescents need anywhere from 8 to 10 h of sleep per night for full health and academic performance depending on age and inter-individual differences, yet most get far less ( Iglowstein et al., 2003 ; Foster et al., 2013 ; Hirshkowitz et al., 2015 ). Biological changes in the timing of the 24-h circadian clock during adolescence delay the onset of wake and sleep times, and this shift does not reverse until early adulthood ( Roenneberg et al., 2004 ). Additionally, homeostatic regulation of pressure to sleep builds more slowly, taking a longer time to reach the critical threshold required to initiate sleep ( Carskadon, 2011 ). Adolescent sleep restriction is clearly linked to early school starts as on non-school days adolescents have wake times two or more hours later ( Roenneberg et al., 2007 ), a finding seemingly not substantially affected by cultural factors ( Gradisar et al., 2011 ; Foster et al., 2013 ).

Later school starting times provide benefits to adolescent sleep, health and learning ( Curcio et al., 2006 ; Carskadon, 2011 ; Lufi et al., 2011 ). There is substantial evidence that later starting times benefit academic outcomes even in the early stages of puberty and this positive impact continues into late adolescence ( Carrell et al., 2011 ; Edwards, 2012 ; Meltzer et al., 2014 ). Later starting times are associated with improved sleep that continues into the years following implementation ( Borlase et al., 2013 ; Wahlstrom et al., 2014 ). Later starting times also reduce the rate of student driving accidents ( Danner and Phillips, 2008 ), and lower reports of depression ( Kirkby et al., 2011 ).

The principle that school start times for adolescents should be later than currently the norm in American schools (about 8:00 a.m.) is now widely accepted. Research is now needed into synchronizing school starting times more closely with adolescent biology, taking into account the increasing impact of circadian rhythm changes in adolescence ( Shekleton et al., 2013 ; Kelley et al., 2015 ). While the evidence for starting middle and high schools at 8:30 a.m. or later is positive, this recommendation is based on evidence limited to studies where school times are shifted to no later than 9:00 a.m., or often earlier, leaving unanswered the question of how late school starting times should be. To explore the impact of a much later school start time, we examined the impact of a 10 a.m. starting time (representing a 1:10 h delay from an 8:50 a.m. starting time), on rates of illness of 13 to 16-year-old students and academic performance of 14 to 16-year-old students.

Participants and Methods

Determining the start time.

In light of the then-existing evidence on start times, the lead investigator of the present study (PK) designed and directed a field experimental to implement and assess the efficacy of a much later school start time. The design is summarized in Table 1 , columns 1, 2, and 4 (see section Results). The school was a mixed sex, state-funded school's for 13 to 18-year-old students. At the start of the study, the school student performance was considerably below the national mean. The school was in an urban area of 0.7 million, in a region of England where achievement was lower than national average.

Table 1 . Effect of experimental treatment (10 a.m. school start time) on absences due to illness.

The school had no additional funding, selective entry or other educational interventions during the duration of the study. The school operated within The Innovation Trust, a charitable trust to improve schools in partnership with leading scientists (see section Acknowledgments). Working with this group of experts, a later start time was considered with a focus on determining a starting time for adolescents aged 13–18. Initial testing of student academic performance at 10:00 and 14:00, voluntary chronotype surveys and body fat levels of students led to the conclusion there should be a core time period for all students between 11:00 and 15:00, with additional learning time before (for morning/average chronotypes) and after (for evening chronotypes) ( Sussman, 2009 ). This appeared too radical a change and, combined with the then current National Health Service Trust judgement that schools could not legally hold any mental health data on students 16 or under including sleep and body fat data, led to limiting the age range of 13–16 and using only existing national measures of health and academic performance. Therefore analysis of the relevant sleep and circadian neuroscience research indicating 10:00–10:30 a.m. starting times would be appropriate at age 16 ( Kelley et al., 2015 ). This process led to the final choice of 10:00 a.m. as the school start time, a 1 h 10 min delay compared to the traditional 8:50 a.m. start time then in use.

The 2-year process for changing start times was ethically approved by both The Innovation Trust, a charitable educational research trust linked to the school, and the school's Governing Body on the basis that students would not be subject to additional surveys, tests or measures other than a later starting time. A legally-required consultation with parents, students, teachers and others was conducted. This raised a number of concerns including transport to school. Unlike American schools, urban schools in England generally do not provide transport for all students, and the existing transport infrastructure made this a relatively minor issue. The school already supported parental work hours and transport by opening 1 h early and 1 h after school (this included sports and club opportunities). Therefore, with minor changes, all the times in the school were simply moved an hour and 10 min later. Although parents supported the changes, there was resistance from the external local educational administrators, a phenomenon noted in other studies ( Wahlstrom et al., 2014 ). The concerns raised during the consultation, while often valid, were addressed as possible, but considered secondary to the raison d'etre for schools—to help healthy children realize their full academic potential.

After approval of the change, a 6-week trial run with a 10:00 a.m. start was conducted in 2010 after all annual examinations were completed and students taking examinations had left, but before the start of the new academic year. The trial moved all related scheduled events to match the 10:00 a.m. start including transport to and from school, family arrangements, and school clubs and activities. There were also some additional and unexpected benefits reported: The travel times avoided rush hour and were considered safer; and some staff could take their children to their primary school in the morning.

After 2 years with the 10 a.m. start time, a natural experiment was created by a change in local education administrators that reinstated the early start as used in all local schools. Consequently, the school starting time for 13 to 16-year olds was changed back to 8:50 a.m. due to these policy changes, not part of the study design; however we took advantage of this natural experiment.

Intervention and Data Collection

This observational study used a before-after-before (A-B-A) design. School start times changed as follows over 4 years: Year 0 had an 8:50 a.m. start; Years 1 and 2 had a 10:00 a.m. start; and Year 3 had an 8:50 a.m. start. Over these four academic years (September 2010–August 2014) national data and school data on illness and performance of 2,049 students aged 13–16 years were collected.

English education data are collected nationally for each school and these data for all schools are published by the UK Office of National Statistics (2016) . Two variables were used to assess the impact of the time change: Student absence due to illness, and overall student academic performance. English schools are required to distinguish absence (not in school for any reason) from absence due to illness (which accounts for ~60% of all absences, varying by year). Absence due to illness is recorded for each student for every morning and afternoon session, and so the measure of illness utilized here was the number of school sessions lost through illness per student per year. This measure gives a more precise measure of illness than raw absences rates ( Department for Education, 2016 ).

At that time, the government's key measure of student academic performance was the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examinations taken at the end of compulsory schooling at age 16. Good academic progress at 16 was defined as achieving five or more GCSE grades of C or above in English, Mathematics and at least three other subjects. The measure of school performance was the percentage of students achieving good academic progress.

In addition, a national system of value-added analysis of individual students and school potential achievement in GCSE grades and good academic progress was produced by the Fisher Family Trust 1 for all students and schools in England. As the prior ability of student cohorts can vary year-to-year, so can the effectiveness of schools, and thus a second analysis of performance based on these value-added predictions was undertaken ( Visscher and Coe, 2003 ; Koedel et al., 2015 ). The predicted results were based on the students' previous achievement in national tests. Schools exceeding predicted percentage good academic progress were deemed to have added value, given as a percentage good academic progress above the predicted outcomes (with negative results for schools below predictions). For example, if the students achieved an average of 4% higher good academic progress, it would have a value-added score of +4%. These two national measures of actual and predicted school performance were used in our analyses.

National data were used to analyse illness and performance. National data were used where available to estimate standard deviations. In addition, a data set of 2,880 similar schools was constructed where “similar” was defined as state-funded school with 13 to 16-year-old students in cohorts >100, and reporting examination data for the period 2010–2014. The data sets used are school-level data published by the UK's Office of National Statistics and other sources as indicated ( UK Office of National Statistics, 2016 ). The achievement data have limitations due to policy and publication practices. Policy limitations include a decision to remove schools becoming academies (similar to Charter schools) from national data, changes in examinations, and in the data reported during the 4 years.

Analysis of illness and performance data during this period led to reporting both raw scores and scores adjusted to account for national variation. For national trends in illness, performance, T -tests were used to assess significance, and Cohen's d and h for effect size, taking into account Hattie's critique of educational measures to determine impact of interventions ( Hattie, 2008 ). Hattie's critique of educational research based on synthesizing over 800 meta-analyses on raising achievement raised questions about educational data analyses and significance. Specifically, he argued that more sophisticated statistical techniques, large numbers of subjects usually possible within education research, and other factors meant effect sizes should be >0.5 in individual studies. Hattie lists 138 effect sizes found in meta-analyses of the significant educational interventions of the last 20 years, showing the highest 20 interventions had effect sizes ranging from 0.61 to 1.44. Hattie's concerns about educational research and effect sizes are shared by others ( Snow, 2015 ; Churches et al., 2017 ). For illustrative purposes, the cost/ benefits of educational reforms in England and New York to increase educational performance was also analyzed.

Rates of absence due to illness of students aged 13–16 were lower with the 10 a.m. start time (see Table 1 and Figure 1 ).

Figure 1 . Absences due to illness, differences from national average.

In Year 0, for the baseline cohort of students aged 13–16 which had experienced 8:50 start times for both years of their course in the target school, the mean number of absences due to illness was 15.4, compared to 11.5 nationally (Year 0 “Field Control Group” in Table 1 , compare column 6 for the target school to column 5 for the national benchmark). That is a difference of 3.9 absences which is statistically significant at p < 0.0005 (column 7). Moreover, it is large: The rate in the target school was 34% higher than in the national benchmark (column 8).

The situation changed sharply for Year 1 (“Field Treatment group #1” in Table 1 ), the first year with the experimental 10 a.m. start treatment. The mean number of absences in the target school dropped from 15.4 to 11.3, a drop of 4.1 absences (column 6, compare Year 0 and Year 1). The gap between the target school absence rate and the national benchmark shrank by 3.3 absences to a mere 0.6 absences (Year 1, column 7). This shrinkage amount to a 31% decline in the gap between the target school and the national benchmark (Year 1, column 10), a decline that is statistically significant at p < 0.0005. Cohen's d for the change is 0.58, making the effect size in the medium-to-large range. This reduced absence rate left the target school a mere 0.6 absences above the national benchmark, a difference so small that it is not statistically significant ( p > 0.05, column 7).

The crux of the field experiment is Year 2, when the 10 a.m. start was operating for its second full year (the target school's GCSE courses last 2 years with examinations throughout). Absences dropped further in the target school, from a mean of 11.3 to a mean of 7.9 (column 6), a drop of 3.4 absences. This brought the target school's absence rate significantly below the national benchmark (column 7). This shift from slightly above the national benchmark in Year 1 to significantly below the national benchmark in Year 2 has a Cohen's d of 0.48, a medium effect size.

The most crucial comparison is between Year 2 when the 10 a.m. start was operating for its second full year and Year 0 in which students had been on the 8:50 start for at least 2 years. The mean number of absences fell by fully 7.5 (Column 6, Year 2 vs. Year 0). The gap between the target school rate and the national benchmark shrank by 55%, amounting to a shrinkage of 4.8 absences. This change is statistically significance at p < 0.0005. The Cohen's d for the change is 1.07, a large effect size.

Thus, the field experiment demonstrates in multiple ways that the experimental treatment is associated with a decline in absences that is large and statistically significant not only relative to the control group but also relative to the national benchmark. The pattern is evident in Figure 1 .

Next comes the natural experiment when the start time in the target school returned to 8:50 in Year 3 due to a change in policy which shifted control of the target school to local education authorities who imposed a uniform early start time on all comparable schools. The mean number of absences rebounded to 11.2, well above the level in the previous year (column 6). This was 20% above the national benchmark, a clear contrast with the previous year's 10% below the benchmark (column 8). Adjusting for yearly changes in the national rate of absences, the gap between the target school and the nation inflated to 2.8 absences a year, a 30% increase (columns 11 and 12). This change is statistically significant at p < 0.0005 and has a Cohen's d of 0.47, a medium effect size.

All in all, for absences the field experiment demonstrates that the change to a 10 a.m. start reduced absences due to illness by over 50 percent compared to national rates, a large and statistically significant decline. The natural experiment demonstrates that reverting to the 8:50 start induced, already in its first year, a medium sized, statistically significant increase in absences. These data are consistent with a dose-dependent response to a 10:00 start.

In the target school's Year 0 (“Field Control Group” in Table 2 ) the baseline cohort of students which had experienced 8:50 start times for both years of their course, the percentage who successfully completed the GCSE examinations was 34, compared to 56.2 nationally (columns 5 and 6). That is a vast difference of 22 percentage points, statistically significant at p < 0.0005 (column 7). This difference amounts to 40% of the national baseline (column 8), marking the target school as having a very low success rate. In value added terms, the actual percentage of successful students was 5 percentage points lower than the FFT estimate for the school based on the cohort's past performance (column 9), showing a negative value-added value. All in all, in Year 0 in the target school, the performance picture was grim.

Table 2 . Effect of experimental treatment (10 a.m. school start time) on academic success.

The situation changed sharply for Year 1, the first year with the experimental 10 a.m. start treatment. The actual percent of academically successful students shot up by 19 percentage points to 53 (column 6, compare Year 0 and Year 1). The gap between the target school and in national benchmark in Year 1 is so small that it is not statistically significant (Year 1, column 7). Between Year 0 and Year 1, the gap between the target school success rate and the national benchmark shrank from 22 to 5 (Year 1, column 7), a shrinkage of 17 percentage points that is statistically significant at p < 0.0005. The value added by the school has also risen: The actual value added by the school is 4 percentage points more than the FFT prediction, up 9 percentage points from Year 0. This amounts to 15% of the national baseline and is statistically significant at p < 0.0005.

The heart of the field experiment is the comparison of Year 2 vs. Year 0. Here again there is extensive evidence for the positive impact of the 10 a.m. start on student success. Student success in Year 2 is 52% compared to 34% for Year 0 (column 6), a gain which is significant at p = 0.001 and of medium size, with a Cohen's H of 0.37. Between Year 0 and Year 2, the gap between the target school success rate and the national benchmark shrank from 22 to 7 (Year 2, column 7). The actual student success in Year 2 exceeds the FFT prediction by 7 percentage points (column 10). Indeed, there is a 12-percentage point gain in the value added by the school, a gain that is statistically significant at p < 0.0005 (column 13) and amounts to 20% of the national benchmark.

Thus, the field experiment demonstrates in multiple ways that the experimental treatment is associated with a statistically significant and substantial gain in performance not only relative to the control group but also relative to the national benchmark.

Then, in the natural experiment in Year 3, the school starting time reverted from 10 a.m. to 8:50 a.m. The student success rate fell slightly to 51 (Year 3, column 6) in comparison to a national benchmark of 60, giving the target school a deficit of 9 percentage points which is statistically significant at p = 0.014 (column 7). The value added by the school has shrunk by 4 percentage points which is 7% of the national baseline (column 14).

Thus, even though these students had the first year of their 2-year course with the 10 a.m. start, reverting to the 8:50 a.m. start for their second year is associated with a reduction in success relative to the national baseline and with a reduction in the value added by the school.

The whole pattern for the combined results of the field experiment and the natural experiment is clear in Figure 2 .

Figure 2 . Academic success: value added by target school.

In Year 0, student success in the target school was actually 5 percentage points below what would have been expected in light of the students' prior performance (FFT). Then the field experiment began. The introduction of the 10 a.m. start halfway through the Year 1 cohort's course lifted the school's value added to 9 percentage points above the expected success percent. There was a further small rise to a value added of 12 percentage points in Year 2 for the cohort which had experienced the 10 a.m. start for both years of their course. The field experiment then ended. The natural experiment then reverted the start time to 8:50, so students in the Year 3 cohort had the first year of their course with the 10 a.m. start and the second year of their course with the 8:50 start. Value added was still positive for this cohort, but had fallen by 4 percentage points compared to the previous cohort which had 2 years of 10 a.m. starts.

Based on this study, moving school start times later so that they are better aligned with adolescent sleep and chronotype patterns is practical and beneficial. Following a change to a 10:00 a.m. school start time, rates of absence due to illness in students aged 13–16 reduced, and academic performance of students aged 14–16 significantly improved. When the school start time was returned to 8:50 a.m., these benefits were abolished. These findings suggest that the general policy recommendation to start high schools no earlier than 08:30 a.m., while helpful, should not be taken as justification to exclude consideration of much later starting times. As the 8:50 a.m. would already be considered appropriate using the 8:30 a.m. recommendation, this study shows further improvements can be made when starting times are much later, in this case 10:00 a.m.

The absence due to illness rate data are consistent with a direct benefit of later school starting times on student health. The differentiation in recording absence and absence due to illness in England offers a more precise measure of illness and a large national data set. Following initiation of the 10:00 a.m. start, illnesses decreased in the second year by over 50%. With the return of an 8:50 a.m. these benefits were reversed, with illness increasing by of 30%. Academic performance of students aged 14–16 also improved with a 10:00 a.m. start. Having 2 years of later start times was particularly beneficial; showing a 12-percentage point gain in the value added that is statistically significant at p < 0.0005 and amounts to 20% of the national benchmark. There is no reason to believe that these outcomes reflected motivation changes. The pupils were studying for their final national exams, which determine their eligibility for continued study and ultimately college or university, or their competitiveness in the jobs market. These were not study-related tests but the real, once-in-lifetime exams that have a major influence on the children's futures and thus would be equally motivated. While there are several possible explanations for the poor performance of students in similar low socioeconomic status areas, the possible impact of sleep restriction linked to early school starts has rarely been considered.

One of the objections raised to changing school start times is that the change is impractical and cannot overcome other barriers, such as bus timetables or sports program scheduling. While the English legal framework makes changing to much later start times a formal process any school can undertake (and therefore more practical than in some other countries), moving all of this school's schedules later produced no practical difficulties. By choosing a 10 a.m. start time, the school aimed to provide benefits for the largest proportion of children possible, given the inter-individual range in phase delays that children experience means some substantially delayed children would still be waking too early in their circadian cycle ( Iglowstein et al., 2003 ; Kelley et al., 2015 ). Even later start times might address this issue, but 10 a.m. was considered a reasonable compromise between maximizing biological benefits for most children while remaining practical. The national US recommendation that middle and high schools should start after 8:30 a.m. is a clearly justified positive step, although the evidence in this study suggests a much later start of 10 a.m.—even when replacing a school start later than the 8:30 a.m. recommendation—brings additional benefits. A recent study of university students aged 18–19 found that later starting times (after 11 a.m. or 12 noon) were optimal and much later than an 8:30 a.m. start recommended for High School students of 17–18. The study also found that using a fixed time for all students would disadvantage one or more chronotypes, and evening chronotypes in particular if starts were early ( Kelley et al., 2015 ; Evans et al., 2017 ). Thus, even with the benefits accrued using a 10 a.m. wake time for all students, this approach does not address the wider variation of wake times in different chronotypes.

The limitations in this study include small sample sizes in some measures, a focus mainly on illness, and an inability to measure students' sleep duration. Although other studies have shown sleep improvements following less substantial interventions, some have tracked sleep improvements over 4 years and found that improvements persist ( Borlase et al., 2013 ; Wahlstrom et al., 2014 ). The English location and measures of academic performance are difficult to contextualize with previous research using U.S. state-wide testing and graduation data. The nationally available data on illness on a school-by-school basis, focus on students in mid-adolescence and the starting time of 10:00 a.m. are, we believe, unique in this research field. A larger, more detailed study is needed of school starts after 9:00 a.m., including those that are later than 10:00 a.m. There is preliminary evidence that such changes can have benefits, particularly for older students ( Carrell et al., 2011 ).

The school-level improvements in performance in this study, if more widely replicated, should be examined from economic and educational perspectives. For example, expenditure to reduce the English attainment gap between rich and poor students reached more than one billion pounds between 2010 and 2015, and yet had relatively little impact compared to the gains made following the 10 a.m. school start time change in this study. The change to smaller schools in key U.S. cities such as New York City have been thoroughly researched after additional expenditure of over a billion dollars to improve performance ( Schneider et al., 2007 ; Stiefel et al., 2015 ). Other educational policy changes including creating new kinds of school such as Charter, Academy, and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) schools, increasing the duration of school times, curriculum and test changes, or No Child Left Behind also have very high expenditure but minimal impact and little scientific rigor in evaluating their effects. In contrast, changing to later start times is a very cost-effective intervention to raise educational standards with substantial scientific backing ( Jacob and Rockoff, 2011 ; Snow, 2015 ; Hafner et al., 2017 ).

The key finding in this study is reduced absences due to illness by over 50% compared to national rates (Table 1 , columns 12 and 13). This huge change is both practically important and highly significant statistically ( p < 0.0005 and Cohen's d for the change is 1.07, a large effect size). The broader impact of later starts on specific aspects of adolescent health, such as sleep duration and quality, mental health, and social development were not assessed, although other studies have shown potential impacts ( de Souza and Hidalgo, 2014 ; Meltzer et al., 2014 ; Minges and Redeker, 2016 ). Additional research into much later starts should measure both actual sleep patterns and optimal performance times for individual students. The most important area for further research may be the impact of later starts on areas of social behavior development and mental health. For example, the daily sleep loss of two or more hours per day imposed by early school starts (which cannot be recovered with 10 or more extra hours of sleep at weekends), may put those with a genetic predisposition to a mental illness at greater risk given that direct links between sleep of <6 h and gene expression have been established ( Möller-Levet et al., 2013 ). Sleep deprivation is also associated with adolescents being less perceptive readers of human emotions ( van der Helm et al., 2010 ; Guadagni et al., 2014 ), during a period of greater sensitivity to sociocultural signals ( Blakemore and Mills, 2014 ) and related brain developments in adolescence. These interrelated factors of significant sleep deprivation, genetic predisposition, the high prevalence of the onset of mental illness during adolescence for a range of disorders ( Schmitt et al., 2014 ) and less a perceptive reading of sociocultural signals, may impact on levels of mental illness and emotional disorders in adolescence ( Wulff et al., 2010 , 2012 ).

Using a research-based approach to determine a school starting time for 13 to 16-year-old students led to the implementation of a 10 a.m. school starting time. This later starting time had a substantial benefit for rates of illness and academic performance. A research-based approach to school starting times is clearly replicable in different contexts, cultures, and countries. More importantly, a post-9:00 a.m. school start strategy is one with few costs and many potential benefits which start to accrue, quite literally, overnight. Application of sleep research in this way demonstrates the powerful impact on society and individuals of making evidence-based policy changes.

Ethics Statement

The Innovation Trust and School Governing Body approved the change in starting times in compliance with English Educational Law. Parents and students were consulted during the change as legally required.

Author Contributions

PK, SL, and JK: study design; JK and ME: data analysis; PK, SL, JK, and ME: writing and critical review of manuscript.

This work was funded by Science + Technology in Learning (Award number 1/2017).

Conflict of Interest Statement

SL has had a number of commercial interests in the last 12 months (2016–17). None are directly related to the research or topic reported in this paper but, in the interests of full disclosure, are outlined below. SL has received consulting fees from the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta Hawks, BHP Billiton and Slingshot Insights; has current consulting contracts with Akili Interactive; Consumer Sleep Solutions; Delos Living LLC; Environmental Light Sciences LLC; Headwaters Inc.; Hintsa Performance AG; Light Cognitive; Mental Workout; OpTerra Energy Services Inc.; Pegasus Capital Advisors LP; PlanLED; and Wyle Integrated Science and Engineering; has received unrestricted equipment gifts from Biological Illuminations LLC, Bionetics Corporation and F. Lux Software LLC; royalties from Oxford University Press; and has served as a paid expert in legal proceedings related to light, sleep and health. He holds a patent through Harvard University and Brigham and Women's Hospital for “Systems and methods for determining and/or controlling sleep quality.” He is a Program Leader for the CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity, Australia.

The other authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Professors David Reynolds, Russell Foster, and Daniel Muijs for their contribution to the thinking behind changing the start time based on sleep research, and David Reynolds contributed in its implementation as Chair of The Innovation Trust.

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Keywords: school start times, sleep, circadian, illness, academic performance, adolescence, circadian social science

Citation: Kelley P, Lockley SW, Kelley J and Evans MDR (2017) Is 8:30 a.m. Still Too Early to Start School? A 10:00 a.m. School Start Time Improves Health and Performance of Students Aged 13–16. Front. Hum. Neurosci . 11:588. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00588

Received: 29 August 2017; Accepted: 20 November 2017; Published: 08 December 2017.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2017 Kelley, Lockley, Kelley and Evans. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Paul Kelley, [email protected]

This article is part of the Research Topic

Time Patterns and their Functions in Human Neuroscience

Why Sleeping In On School Days May Be Good for Teen Health

C alifornia teenagers can snooze a little later this year, thanks to a newly implemented law that says most high schools and middle schools cannot start before 8:30 a.m. and 8 a.m., respectively.

That law—the first in the country to set statewide mandates for school start times—isn’t only big for California students, but also for public-health experts fighting against what the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has called an “epidemic” of teen sleep deprivation . Both the AAP and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have long opposed early-morning class times and advocated for middle and high school bell times no earlier than 8:30 a.m.

Delayed school start times are an attempt to help teens get more sleep , which research shows is a big problem in the U.S. Only about 30% of high school students get their recommended eight hours of sleep on school nights, according to CDC data . Studies suggest sleep deprivation can put teenagers and adolescents at increased risk for obesity, substance use, depression, and poor academic performance, among other issues.

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Research has long shown that circadian rhythms —light-mediated internal cues that help regulate sleep—change throughout the lifecycle. That’s, in part, why adults may find themselves naturally rising earlier as they age. Teenagers’ body clocks, meanwhile, are best synced to bedtimes around 11 p.m. or midnight and wake times about nine hours later—a timeline that’s impossible when classes start before 8 a.m.

Read More : Individual Circadian Clocks Might Be the Next Frontier of Personalized Medicine

Early school schedules are largely a holdover from when most families didn’t have two working parents and thus didn’t need to worry about adhering to a 9-to-5 schedule. The juggling act of scheduling bus routes, classes, athletics, and other extracurriculars has kept bells ringing early.

But these schedules are not grounded in science. The mismatch between teenagers’ internal rhythms and external schedules sets them up to fail, studies have long suggested. One 1998 paper found that when a small group of students started school about an hour earlier than they had previously, they experienced “significant sleep deprivation and daytime sleepiness.”

Moving start times back has been shown to have the opposite effect. A 2002 study conducted five years after seven public high schools in Minneapolis switched their start times from 7:15 a.m. to 8:40 a.m. found that the shift allowed kids to get about an hour of extra sleep per night; students also reported better attendance and fewer symptoms of depression. In a 2010 study , researchers examined students at a Rhode Island high school after it moved its start time from 8 to 8:30 a.m and found that students got an additional 45 minutes of sleep per night, while reporting less fatigue and better moods.

More recently, a study published in 2021 found that significantly more Denver-area middle and high school students got sufficient daily sleep after the local school district delayed start times by 40 to 70 minutes. Another 2021 study on Colorado students found that those who started school before 8:30 a.m. were slightly more likely to attempt suicide than peers who started later, though the results were not statistically significant. While more research is needed, and plenty of confounding variables may muddy the link, the findings suggest that starting classes later could improve teen mental health .

But changing bell times isn’t a panacea. A February 2022 research review that examined links between later start times and academic achievement found mixed results, with some schools reporting positive effects and others reporting negative or unclear consequences of the change.

There are also many logistics to contend with. In 2016, public schools in Durham, N.C., moved their start times from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. In a survey conducted the following year, only 26% of school personnel said kids were better rested, and just 14% said they were learning more. Only 13% of school staff and 27% of parents wanted to keep the new schedule. Why? The drastic shift meant the school day ended later, pushing extracurriculars, after-school jobs, and homework later into the evening, and sometimes keeping kids up well past their former bedtimes.

Read More : Inside the Massive Effort to Change the Way Kids Are Taught to Read

In 2018, schools in Newport, R.I., reverted back to their original start times after a two-year experiment with later bells produced a number of logistical headaches, including difficulty coordinating with nearby schools and scheduling extracurriculars. Transportation can also be an issue, whether it’s rejiggering bus schedules, contending with traffic patterns, or finding ways for working parents to drop off kids later in the morning, some schools have learned after pushing their schedules later .

California teacher Jeremy Adams raised many of these concerns in a January Cal Matters op-ed , adding that the new state law will inconvenience teachers who have to stay on campus for extracurriculars that begin after the academic day ends. “Ultimately,” Adams wrote, “this law will become a case study in ‘unintended consequences.’”

The school start time debate is still an area of active research. A team in Colorado, for example, is studying how changing school start times affects not just students’ health, but also that of their families, teachers, and wider community. And all eyes will be on the statewide shift in California, as education researcher Deborah Temkin told NBC News after the policy first passed in 2019. “If this turns out to be successful, with relatively few consequences, then I think it’s something that other states will likely consider,” Temkin said.

With the academic year only just beginning, it’s too soon to say how the experiment will turn out. But as some California high schoolers told the Mercury News , it’ll take more than a later starting bell to cure their fatigue. “When you’re in high school, no matter what time you wake up, you’re going to be tired,” said senior Anika Bose. “At least I have time to grab a coffee before class now.”

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Write to Jamie Ducharme at [email protected]

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Later School Start Time: The Impact of Sleep on Academic Performance and Health in the Adolescent Population

Valentina alfonsi.

1 Department of Psychology, University of Rome Sapienza, 00185 Rome, Italy; [email protected] (V.A.); [email protected] (A.D.)

2 IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00179 Rome, Italy; [email protected]

Serena Scarpelli

Aurora d’atri, giacomo stella.

3 Department of Education and Human Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 42121 Reggio Emilia, Italy; [email protected]

Luigi De Gennaro

The crucial role of sleep in physical and mental health is well known, especially during the developmental period. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in examining the relationship between sleep patterns and school performance in adolescents. At this stage of life, several environmental and biological factors may affect both circadian and homeostatic regulation of sleep. A large part of this population does not experience adequate sleep, leading to chronic sleep restriction and/or disrupted sleep–wake cycles. Studies investigating the effects of different sleep–wake schedules on academic achievement showed that impaired sleep quality and quantity are associated with decreased learning ability and compromised daytime functioning. This review focuses on the most recent studies that evaluated the effects of modified school start time on sleep patterns and related outcomes. Moreover, based on the available empirical evidence, we intend to propose a direction for future studies targeted to implement prevention or treatment programs by modifying sleep timing.

1. Introduction

The pivotal role of sleep in learning and health has been deeply recognized, especially in the context of adolescence [ 1 ], one of the most sensitive phases of human development.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines adolescents and young adults as individuals aged between 10 and 24 years. Adolescence is a critical period of biological and social changes characterized by dramatic transformations in cognitive, behavioral, and emotional functioning. As expected, there are also significant changes in the sleep–wake pattern.

Over the past century, several studies have consistently described a tendency towards delayed sleep phase, expressed by delayed bedtime and rise time [ 2 , 3 ]. A specific combination of intrinsic (physiological) and extrinsic (environmental) contributing factors leads to a condition of chronic sleep loss in children and adolescents [ 4 ]. As a direct consequence of such sleep restriction, a multitude of adverse outcomes affects the quality of life of this population, especially compromising health and daytime functioning.

Since inadequate sleep among adolescents and young adults represents an alarming and endemic health issue affecting this population, an increasing number of school systems worldwide have implemented later school start time programs to counteract the negative impact of this phenomenon.

The investigation of school start time effects on adolescent sleep, learning, and well-being has received much scientific effort during the past twenty years. Although most studies have consistently indicated the overall effectiveness of these programs, research on this issue is plagued by some methodological biases. Furthermore, the application of these protocols is challenging for several reasons, mainly linked to social and monetary costs of such policy change.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an up-to-date overview of current findings on the topic and a critical evaluation of available literature. More specifically, we intend to give some helpful insights and suggestions for planning future studies and for implementing an acceptable school schedule change.

Studies on delayed school times have largely examined the effects on students of elementary, middle, and high schools. However, since the main biological changes in homeostatic and circadian processes covary during puberty, the studies described in the current paper concern the adolescent population.

In this review, we outline the latest studies on the consequences of delaying school start times, focusing on primary effects on sleep (wake-up time, bedtime, total sleep time, daytime sleepiness) and secondary effects on daytime functioning (school performance, vigilance levels, well-being, and risk-taking behavior). To introduce this primary issue, we briefly depict the most recent findings on current sleep condition in adolescents within a consolidated theoretical framework. Then, we also explore the relationship between adolescent sleep loss and principal domains of human functioning (mental and physical health, cognitive and behavioral performance). Finally, we critically discuss studies investigating the effect of later school start time programs, highlighting strengths and weaknesses of these studies and the potential benefit–cost ratio of the application of this public intervention.

2. Methodological Note

The literature search was conducted using PubMed queries and reference lists of the selected studies. Key search terms included:

• “Adolescence” AND “Sleep” AND “Circadian process OR Homeostatic process” (432 articles);
• “Adolescence” AND “Sleep deprivation” (80 articles);
• “Adolescence” AND “Sleep” OR “Sleepiness” AND “School timing” (170 articles);
• “Adolescence” AND “Health” OR “Academic performance” AND “School Timing” (236 articles).

Search terms had to be included in the abstract, the title, or the keywords. We did not limit results to the year of publication. We considered the available studies up to December 2019.

We grouped the identified citations in the following categories:

• Sleep pattern, sleep homeostasis, and circadian rhythms in teenage students;
• Adolescent sleep loss and negative consequences on (a) mental and physical health, (b) learning abilities and academic performance, (c) risk-taking behavior;
• Experimental evidence on delayed school start time.

We focused on the effects of adolescent sleep deprivation and the impact of delaying school start time, excluding non-English articles and including the peer-reviewed published papers. All the articles resulting from using these selection criteria and related to our focus were included. Following this method, 127 publications were estimated to be of interest for further examination and were included in this review.

3. Sleep in Adolescents: How They Sleep and How They Should Sleep

The main alteration in sleep patterns throughout this period refers to a delay in the timing of sleep phase; adolescents tend to fall asleep and wake up later than children and adults [ 2 , 3 ]. This phenomenon is traditionally described within the theoretical framework of the two-process model proposed by Borbély in 1982 [ 5 ], based on the reciprocal interaction between circadian and homeostatic processes of sleep regulation.

Circadian rhythms are driven by an internal clock, situated in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the anterior hypothalamus. In addition to this endogenous pacemaker, several external conditions entrain the circadian system. The major synchronizer is represented by environmental light, which maintains the circadian period close to 24 h. The light signal received through the retina is transmitted to the SCN and finally to the pineal gland, which produces melatonin, the hormone associated with sleep onset and frequently used as a phase marker.

The available literature on melatonin release in children and adolescents is scarce and inconsistent. Some studies examined nocturnal melatonin patterns and found a global reduction in the basal levels of melatonin during the pubertal stage [ 6 , 7 ], in contrast to previous studies [ 8 , 9 ]. Recent data have also indicated that melatonin seems to exhibit greater sensitivity to evening light [ 10 , 11 ] and less sensitivity to morning light [ 12 ] in young people than adults. Overall, these results emphasize the potential relevance of phase-delaying effects of light stimulus in this population. Coherently with these findings, the circadian chronotype shifts from morningness (up to 10 years of age) to eveningness in adolescence, and then return towards morning chronotype in advanced age (after 50 years of age) [ 13 , 14 , 15 ].

The circadian chronotype is also affected by other factors, such as gender. In particular, females shift toward eveningness earlier than males (17 vs. 21 years of age) [ 15 ], consistently with their early onset of pubertal development.

Recent studies have focused on the other aspect of sleep timing co-occurring with circadian sleep patterns—the homeostatic sleep drive. According to the two-process model of sleep, the pressure to sleep increases as an exponential function during waking period, and, on the contrary, it progressively dissipates during sleep. Spectral power in the low electroencephalography (EEG) frequency band (~0.75–4.5 Hz) represents a sensitive marker of the homeostatic process, showing an increase dependent on previous waking period and a gradual decay throughout sleep episodes.

Preliminary findings on the homeostatic sleep dynamics revealed the absence of any significant variations in sleep pressure decrease between pre- and post-pubertal adolescents, as reflected by the overlapping decline of slow-wave activity (SWA) across sleep cycles [ 16 , 17 ]. These results are corroborated by recent studies using longitudinal measurements [ 18 ] or a different methodological approach [ 19 ]. On the other hand, the increase of homeostatic sleep pressure—reflected by the build-up of SWA—exhibits a slower rise rate in mature adolescents than in prepubertal children [ 17 ]. To sum up, sleep needs and recovery processes are unmodified during adolescence. In contrast, lower sleep pressure and higher tolerance to stay awake at the end of the day characterize this population.

This evidence parallels changes resulting from the circadian process alteration, emphasizing the relevant contribution of both circadian and homeostatic regulation also in the expression of sleep/wake cycle changes typical of adolescence.

Data collected in several studies described the presence of a sleep phase delay during adolescence in different countries, independently of substantial cultural variations in their habits over the world [ 20 ]. Such cross-cultural homogeneity suggests a biological basis in the predisposition to go to bed and get up later. This notion is also supported by studies on neurodevelopmental trajectories in the adolescent brain. Besides the phase shift in circadian rhythms and the dysregulation in the homeostatic process, sleep physiology undergoes many maturational changes during adolescence [ 21 , 22 ]. The most explicit expression of sleep EEG modification is the reduction of EEG amplitude and power (up to 40%) across EEG frequencies [ 23 , 24 ]. Specifically, SWA shows an increase from birth to the beginning of adolescence and a subsequent reduction throughout puberty (inverted U-shaped curve) [ 16 , 25 , 26 , 27 ]. At the same time, the EEG coherence during sleep shows a linear increase across the subsequent sleep cycles [ 28 ]. Such functional modifications in the oscillatory physiology are probably linked to structural changes in the adolescent brain. The reduction of grey matter volume, associated with local synaptic pruning, is observed in the teen years, and it could be related to the decline of EEG activity, as demonstrated by neuroimaging studies [ 29 ]. In the same way, strengthening of the EEG connectivity may be driven by the increase of white matter volume and myelination process, which takes place during puberty [ 22 ]. These anatomical modifications could also be associated with the rise of peak spectral frequency of sleep spindles during adolescence [ 30 ], as a marker of cortical myelination [ 31 ].

Adolescents struggle to fall asleep early because of a combination of bioregulatory processes and external factors related to modern lifestyle. Carskadon and colleagues proposed that the intrinsic tendency of adolescents to go to sleep and wake up at late hours could “open the gate” for evening or night activities [ 4 ]. Several extrinsic factors allow them to stay active and contribute to their sleep loss, including social life and engagements late in the evening or night, increase in homework, afterschool activities, and, above all, the use of electronic media (television, computer, mobile phone) during the night [ 32 , 33 , 34 ]. Light plays a primary role in synchronization of the human circadian system. The long-term night-time exposure to bright light in adolescence leads to inhibition of melatonin secretion and to a consequent delay in falling asleep [ 35 ]. In summary, some dysfunctional behaviors could be exacerbated by a biological predisposition and, in turn, produce a further deterioration in sleep quality. Carskadon and colleagues [ 4 ] described this process with a model called “The Perfect Storm”, illustrating the detrimental and the cumulative effects of biological, psychological, and social factors on sleep.

The adolescent’s nightly sleep need is around 9–9.35 h for optimal health and functioning [ 36 , 37 ]. Based on empirical evidence, many medical organizations, including the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, American Academy of Pediatrics, Sleep Research Society, and American Association of Sleep Technologists, recommend that adolescents (13–18 years of age) should regularly sleep 8–10 h per night to promote an adequate health and performance [ 38 ]. However, delayed biological bedtime and early awakening due to school attendance inevitably result in a condition of chronic sleep debt in this population. Despite the recommendations, most adolescent students (about three quarters) report sleeping less than 8 h per night [ 39 ], and this amount increases as a function of school grade level.

Epidemiologic studies conducted in Europe, Asia, and the United States in the teenage years suggest inadequate sleep in many adolescents (from 6% to 37%) [ 40 ], which is reflected in difficulties at the beginning of sleep, through the night, and towards the end of night sleep [ 41 , 42 , 43 ]. Adolescents also have increased levels of daytime sleepiness [ 44 , 45 ] and frequent diagnosis of insomnia [ 46 , 47 ]. Moreover, morning rising time during school days leads to a large discrepancy between weekday and weekend sleep patterns as a direct consequence of rebound sleep on non-school days due to accumulated sleep debt during the week [ 48 , 49 ].

4. The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Health, Performance, and Behavior

Over the last two decades, our knowledge about the critical role of sleep in well-being and brain function of the adolescent population has notably increased.

Insufficient sleep in the teenage years has been tied with a wide range of adverse outcomes affecting their lifestyle. Three main areas of daytime functioning are affected by chronic sleep restriction: mental and physical health, cognitive and academic performance, and risk-taking behaviors.

There is a solid body of literature pointing to a strong link between sleep quality and physical health. The main physical health consequences of adolescent sleep loss refer to metabolic dysregulation and cardiovascular morbidity. For example, an increase in body weight [ 50 ], a higher risk of obesity [ 51 , 52 , 53 ], and a reduced physical activity [ 54 ] in association with low sleep were observed in the teen population. Furthermore, sleep loss in adolescents is likely to lead to increases in blood pressure [ 55 , 56 ] and high cardiometabolic risk [ 57 ]. Poor sleep in adolescents is also positively associated with other somatic outcomes, such as headache [ 58 ], persistent fatigue [ 59 ], and lower back, neck, and abdominal pain [ 60 ].

Given the well-established relation between sleep and many psychiatric disorders such as depression or anxiety [ 61 ], the side effects of adolescent sleep debt on mental health are not surprising. More specifically, empirical studies showed high odds of depressive symptoms among adolescents with insufficient sleep duration [ 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 ]. Another serious source of concern is represented by the elevated rate of suicidal ideation [ 66 , 67 , 68 ] or suicidal attempts [ 69 ] in sleep-deprived adolescents. A possible explanation for the key role of sleep in the onset of mental disorders could be the physiological alteration of mood and emotional regulation as a result of acute or chronic sleep deprivation [ 70 , 71 ].

Experimental studies applying sleep restriction protocols demonstrated the worsening of several neurocognitive functions, such as memory, attention, and executive functions, as a consequence of sleep loss [ 72 , 73 , 74 ]. In particular, the major impediment referred to circumstances requiring multi-tasking skills [ 75 ] frequently faced by young people.

Naturally, these harmful effects on cognitive functioning impair their academic performance. Several prospective and cross-sectional studies supported the notion of a strong correlation between scarce sleep quality and low school achievement [ 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 ]. However, the modulatory effect of individual and environmental factors could explain some negative findings [ 76 , 81 , 82 ]. As previously described, adolescents have a natural circadian preference for evening chronotype. A recent study on a large sample compared the two extreme chronotypes and found lower school grades in “evening type” compared to “morning type” adolescents [ 83 ].

Several studies described a positive relationship between inadequate sleep and engagement in risk-taking behavior in adolescents, especially with regards to substance abuse [ 84 ]. Insufficient sleep was linked to greater tobacco smoking and marijuana use [ 85 ], alcohol consumption [ 86 ], and abuse of other illegal drugs [ 68 ]. Sleep loss was further associated with unhealthy behavioral strategies [ 87 ], bullying [ 88 ], physical violence [ 63 ], and unsafe sexual activity [ 89 ].

Excessive sleepiness due to sleep restriction represents the main reason for motor vehicle accidents in the adolescent population, especially in the context of late-night or early-morning driving [ 90 ]. A growing number of studies report increased car crashes in sleep-deprived adolescents [ 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 ]. Since motor vehicle accidents represent the principal cause of mortality among youths in the United States [ 95 ], the high crash rate in this age group constitutes a matter of great concern.

Notably, the nature of the relation between health, cognition, behavior, and sleep is often bidirectional [ 96 ]. Therefore, intervening on sleep patterns could engender a cascade of positive outcomes on other areas of functioning. The exact role attributable to sleep restriction is difficult to establish. However, a wide variety of studies show the crucial relevance of poor sleep, especially in a transitional stage such as adolescence. Indeed, problematic conditions arising in this period often increase the likelihood of developing and then chronicizing future disorders in adulthood [ 97 ].

5. Benefits and Challenges of Delayed School Start Times

Insufficient sleep in adolescents represents a major public health issue [ 98 ]. As extensively described above, chronic sleep restriction results in many adverse consequences on both nocturnal sleep and daytime functioning. Sleep–wake schedules set by school do not fit with biological circadian and homeostatic processes regulating adolescent sleep patterns. Consequently, several aspects of quality of life and education of teenage students are compromised [ 99 ]. The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that middle and high schools should begin no earlier than 8:30 a.m. to adequately satisfy the sleep needs of students.

A large number of school systems all over the world have applied later start time programs as a policy change to reduce the imbalance between early waking time and adolescent sleep phase delay in order to address adverse outcomes intervening on the main external factor of sleep curtailment in this population. Indeed, although delayed sleep onset is primarily related to intrinsic factors, it is possible to intervene on school schedule directly.

The pioneering empirical study in this field was conducted by Carskadon and colleagues [ 3 ]. They estimated changes in sleep patterns, sleepiness, and circadian phase across the transition from 08:25 a.m. start time (9th school grade) to 07:20 a.m. start time (10th school grade). They showed for the first time a reduction of sleep duration (about 20 min) and an increase of daytime sleepiness associated with earlier school start times.

Preliminary findings on the beneficial effects of delaying school start time (mostly focused on sleep-related outcomes) [ 100 , 101 , 102 ] were followed by subsequent studies described in this review, illustrating the secondary effects on performance and behavior. To date, the body of work on later school times is extensive and constantly growing, confirming the early work by Carskadon et al. [ 3 ].

The principal results of the key studies are summarized in Table 1 . Since delaying school start times is primarily intended to address the problem of insufficient sleep among adolescents, most studies focused on the association between school start times and sleep variables.

Characteristics of the key studies on delayed school start time.

Abbreviation: WE: weekend; HS: healthcare service; Legend: ↑: “increase” (sleep duration, sleep satisfaction, WE oversleep, sleepiness, school rates, tardies/absences, depressive mood, HS utilization, caffeine use) or “delay” (bedtime, rise time); ↓: “decrease” (sleep duration, sleep satisfaction, WE oversleep, sleepiness, school rates, tardies/absences, depressive mood, HS utilization, caffeine use) or “advance” (bedtime, rise time).

Recent systematic [ 103 , 104 , 105 ] and meta-analytic [ 106 ] reviews provided a qualitative and quantitative synthesis of the strength of delayed school programs in improving several sleep-related outcome variables. The outcomes, mostly estimated by sleep habits survey, illustrated the effectiveness of these programs on rising time, bedtime, or time spent in sleeping. As expected, a significant delay in wake time of students with later start times was observed in an overwhelming majority of studies [ 74 , 107 , 108 , 109 , 110 , 111 , 112 , 113 ]. Specifically, there is substantial empirical evidence that later rise time varies from a minimum of 21 to a maximum of 61 min [ 105 ].

On the other hand, studies evaluating the effects on bedtime showed mixed evidence. Sometimes later [ 108 , 114 , 115 ] or earlier bedtime [ 109 , 112 ] was observed post-intervention. Otherwise, most results indicated the absence of significant variations [ 74 , 107 , 110 , 111 , 116 ]. Therefore, there is no clear association between school start times and bedtime, contrary to the simplistic hypothesis that students tend to delay falling asleep as a result of a clock time delay.

Taken together, most cross-sectional and longitudinal studies reported an increase in total minutes of sleep following later school start times [ 103 ]. The grade level in school (elementary school, middle school, high school) was not a predictor of any variations in the magnitude of increased sleep [ 106 ], suggesting the maintenance of effect regardless of the specific school grade.

As previously described, it seems evident the phenomenon of weekend oversleeping due to progressive deprivation accumulated during weeknights in teenagers. The nature of changes following the delayed school time program suggests that sleep debt during weeknights is reduced in the intervention group [ 109 , 110 , 116 , 117 , 118 ].

Another main problem related to sleepiness is the tendency to fall asleep and napping during school hours, with an obvious negative impact on academic success. Delaying school start times can be a possible method to minimize the difficulty of staying awake during lessons by reducing the levels of daytime sleepiness. The effects on sleepiness have been found in several studies, showing differences between estimated daytime sleepiness in the intervention and the control group. Not surprisingly, students with later start times (and longer sleep durations) appeared to decrease their level of daytime sleepiness in all studies conducted, except for two [ 116 , 119 ].

Delaying school times is also tied to secondary outcomes for teenage students. These programs have been implemented with the express purpose of reducing the negative impact of early school times on student well-being and performance by improving the sleep–wake schedule. Observing the secondary effects of sleep extension on health, behavior, and cognition may aid in understanding the extent of the benefits of later school times.

In their longitudinal studies, Wahlstrom and colleagues [ 107 , 120 ] found better academic performance in the later start times group, in agreement with other works [ 121 , 122 , 123 ]. Otherwise, two studies did not reveal significant effects of intervention in self-reported academic outcomes [ 109 , 110 ] or a specific effect dependent on school-grade [ 108 ].

Attention and vigilance are closely related to learning ability and cognitive function and, therefore, to success in school. Significant enhancement of attention level during class [ 74 ] along with faster reaction time [ 116 ] were observed in the later start times sample.

Another result of great interest relates to the impact on school attendance and tardiness. Studies examining the effects of starting times on absences from school did not indicate significant variations related to starting times [ 108 , 113 , 124 ]. Conversely, samples of students with delayed start times showed a considerable reduction of marks for lateness [ 109 , 110 , 124 ].

Given the strong relationship between sleep and physical and mental well-being, later start times studies also evaluated changes in health-related behavior. Most of the cases showed an increase of positive mood and affect [ 109 , 110 , 113 ] and a decrease in school absenteeism due to illness [ 123 ]. One study measured mental health indicators and reported fewer depressive symptoms in students with later start times than in the control group, although these differences were not significant [ 107 ]. Likewise, reduced healthcare utilization was reported following the intervention [ 109 ].

The school time delay also led to variations of other aspects related to physical health, such as body mass index changes [ 125 ] or caffeine consumption [ 110 ]. Specifically, weight loss and reduced caffeine use were associated with the intervention.

Furthermore, empirical evidence points to a positive association between later school start times and reduction of vehicular accident rates (by 16.5%) [ 120 , 126 , 127 , 128 ], potentially by improving vigilance.

6. Limitations and Future Directions

This review outlines the principal evidence concerning the consequences of chronic sleep deprivation in adolescence, focusing on studies examining the effects of later school time.

Investigations on school start times are of two types: cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. The first category refers to studies observing the effects by comparing the outcomes observed in schools (or classes) having different start times. The second one includes studies comparing the data collected before and after the application of later school programs on the same student group. Clearly, longitudinal studies have the advantage of showing the extent of change through within-subject comparisons. However, this study design does not consider the spontaneous variations simply due to the passage of time.

The available literature does not provide a homogeneous methodological framework. Nonetheless, the discussed results emphasize an overall positive effect following this policy change. Marx and colleagues [ 130 ] proposed two distinct explanations underlying the widespread benefits of school start time interventions; one refers to the net increase of amount or quality of sleep, and the other is related to the existence of an optimal time of day for vigilance and learning potential.

Most studies showed the positive effects of delaying school start time initially on sleep patterns and secondly on daytime functioning. Therefore, just as the endemic sleep loss in adolescents triggers negative consequences through a “vicious cycle” [ 35 ], delaying rise times could, in turn, generate positive outcomes on sleep and lifestyle through a “virtuous cycle”.

As mentioned above, the existing literature shows several weaknesses from a methodological standpoint. It is noteworthy that nearly all studies used self-report instruments (questionnaire, survey, diaries) in evaluating the impact of changing school start times, except for a few studies using actigraphy [ 3 , 74 , 117 , 131 ] or polysomnography [ 3 ] to objectively measure sleep. Recently, in the study by Dunster and colleagues [ 117 ], the effect of an across-the-district change in school start times on sleep was objectively quantified for the first time. Notably, delaying start times (one hour) produced an increase in sleep duration of nearly half an hour, as measured by wrist actigraphy.

Almost all studies to date varied in their sample size and composition, ages of participants, and experimental design. Furthermore, most studies lack the comparison with an adequate control group, preventing attribution of the observed changes to school start time factor. As an example, the recent study by Chan and colleagues [ 113 ] includes a control group with no adjustment in school start time. However, the control school does not represent a valid comparison group because the two schools had no comparable school schedules at the beginning of the intervention with obvious limitations in interpreting their results.

Another critical issue about this literature refers to the exact quantification of how much time (minutes) school start should be delayed for ensuring the desired effect. In a recent meta-analysis [ 108 ], the length of delay was associated with the extension of sleep duration in a positive direction. In other words, the longer the delay is, the greater is the lengthening of total sleep time (TST). The specific conditions were not standardized across studies, ranging from a minimum of 20 to a maximum of 60 min of delay. However, a 60 min change between early and later start times seems to be a critical threshold in determining the effects [ 104 ], as shown by a net gain of TST when the delay was greater than 60 min [ 108 , 110 , 124 , 129 ]. Generally, the increase in minutes of sleep ranges from 25 min to 77 min per night [ 105 ]. Most evidence is based on intervention studies with shifted start times no later than 09:00. Recently, the study by Kelley and colleagues [ 123 ] went beyond the clinical recommendation that middle and high school should start later than 08:30 and examined possible additional benefits of moving starting times from 08:50 to 10:00 (1:10 h delay). They found a considerable reduction of absences due to illness (by over 50% compared to national rates) and a significant improvement in academic performance. However, the lack of sleep measures in this study makes it difficult to interpret the actual impact of intervention, since we cannot directly link positive outcomes to changes in sleep duration or quality.

Furthermore, numerous studies were conducted without any follow-up protocols. A recent study conducted in a Singapore school [ 131 ] investigated the effect of changing start times at 1 month and 9 months after the intervention start. The authors showed sustained gains on sleep duration, daytime alertness, and mental well-being. On the other hand, the beneficial outcomes were not maintained over time in other studies [ 124 ]. Different methodological approaches in each study could explain these contradictory results. Another potential reason could be linked to the possibility that delayed wake-up time allowed adolescents to progressively shift their bedtime as well, as observed in a recent follow-up study by Rhie and colleagues [ 118 ]. Their observational study demonstrated a transient increase in sleep duration with a reduction of the initial effect over time parallel to a delayed circadian cycle. Determining the long-term effectiveness of intervention represents a crucial factor for a stable implementation of this policy shift. Therefore, future follow-up studies are highly desirable because of both practical reasons and inconsistent results.

Different school start times are associated with many variables related to sleep, health, and academic performance. However, it is important to note that the correlational nature of the relationship between observed variables does not necessarily imply causality; therefore, results must be interpreted with extreme caution. Studies exploring the consequences of delayed school start time in the academic context revealed no clear association between start times and school performance. An intrinsic limitation of this kind of study is the absence of standardized test scores and the lack of randomized controlled trials [ 103 ].

An additional aspect closely related to both academic performance and sleepiness is the effect on sustained attention or vigilance, which has never been directly investigated. On this basis, some insights for incoming studies seem opportune. For example, it might be useful to consider using validated and feasible tests measuring reduced behavioral alertness due to sleep loss, such as the Psychomotor Vigilance Task [ 132 , 133 ].

Future studies should also investigate the effects on the well-known phenomenon of sleep inertia, occurring during the transition from sleep to wake [ 134 , 135 ]. Sleep inertia affects several cognitive and sensory-motor abilities, and delaying school start time could interfere with the physiological performance impairment due to this phenomenon.

Along with the methodological limitations described above, this kind of study presents an array of complications related to the implementation costs of changing school start times. The benefits of delaying school start times are well-documented, but several economic and logistic problems remain unresolved.

The main financial concern refers to the changes in school bus schedules. The cost assumption is strictly dependent on the specific characteristics of the district (e.g., rural or urban), and it is mainly related to both potential overlap with elementary or middle school bus systems and eventual increase of traffic. However, one study analyzing the benefit–cost ratio suggested that shifting school start times represents a cost-effective strategy in the long term, resulting in substantial economic benefits relative to costs [ 95 ].

The need for restructuring daily activities represents another great concern. Adequate planning is necessary to ensure the proper execution of extracurricular and sports activities, fundamental for an adolescent’s well-being. In this respect, it is worth pointing out that the study by Chan and colleagues [ 113 ] found positive effects following the shortest delay intervention applied (15 min), which could be considered a plausible compromise.

Additional research is certainly needed. However, given the relevant societal burden represented by chronic sleep loss in the adolescent population, the involvement of stakeholders (students, parents, teachers, school bus drivers) is necessary to improve current school policies and develop the future ones. Sleep hygiene education programs represent a possible countermeasure to address this issue, especially in East Asian societies, where academic success is a priority over sleep quality. These programs generally consist of a set of behaviors (e.g., regular sleep schedule and routine, moderate use of caffeine, reduction of naps, avoidance of stimulating activities at night) to establish a good sleep practice. Although these programs are effective and useful in raising subjective awareness, their exclusive application has scarce and low effects on adolescent behavior [ 136 ]. As a possible solution, the combined application of sleep hygiene and delayed start times programs [ 137 , 138 ] could represent an effective solution in addressing adolescents’ sleep problems by increasing individual motivation and providing a concrete countermeasure to short sleep duration.

In summary, we propose the following possible directions for further research in this field:

• The outcomes of delayed school start times should be investigated using both subjective and objective measures;
• Future follow-up studies are needed to establish the long-term effectiveness of the intervention;
• The effect of the intervention on sustained attention or vigilance should be addressed;
• Future studies should examine the impact of changing school start times on phenomena related to sleepiness and vigilance, such as sleep inertia;
• The combined application of sleep hygiene and delayed start times programs could represent an effective solution.

7. Conclusions

Insufficient sleep among school-aged adolescents has become an alarming health issue. Numerous studies worldwide consistently describe a wide variety of adverse consequences, including health risks, poor cognitive performance, and behavioral accidents.

In addition to biological and social factors, school timing also contributes to inadequate sleep conditions in this population. Early school start time generates an evident mismatch with the natural phase shift in adolescence, leading to chronic sleep restriction. Besides, many studies showed the benefits of the implementation of delayed school start times programs.

This review aims to synthesize evidence relating to the well-known phenomenon of sleep loss during adolescence and to provide an up-to-date overview of research on school start times, with the ultimate purpose of giving suggestions for future studies.

To sum up, we confirm the overall success of delaying school start time and bring to light a twofold problem of this line of research: methodological and practical.

Unlike previous works [ 103 , 104 , 105 , 106 ], systematic and meta-analytic analysis is beyond the scope of this review, and this entailed some basic limitations. Indeed, a rigorous methodological quality review of the included literature was not undertaken, and, consequently, some of the cited studies are less rigorous and have more potential bias than others.

As a concluding remark, we emphasize the clinical and the educational relevance of research in this field and the need for future studies that take into account the identified challenges.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, L.D.G., V.A., S.S.; Writing—Original Draft Preparation, L.D.G., V.A., S.S.; Writing—Review & Editing, L.D.G., V.A., S.S., A.D., G.S.; Supervision, L.D.G. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

This research received no external funding.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Science News Explores

Later school starts linked to better teen grades.

Low-income students also may find it easier to get to school, the new data show

If school starts later in the morning, teenagers are more ready to learn. In a new study, students wore wrist activity trackers that pinpointed when they fell asleep and woke up. The results confirmed the benefit of later start times.

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February 5, 2019 at 6:45 am

If you think school starts too early in the day, you’re not alone. Experts have long argued for later start times in middle and high school. A new study used activity trackers worn on the wrist to see how such a delay affected kids in a real school. And it showed kids slept more, got better grades and missed fewer days of class when their school day started somewhat later. 

Explainer: The teenage body clock

Adolescents are different from younger kids. Most don’t feel ready for bed until after 10:30 p.m. That’s because puberty shifts everyone’s circadian (Sur-KAY-dee-uhn) rhythms. These are the 24-hour cycles our bodies naturally follow. Among their tasks: They help regulate when we fall asleep and when we waken.

The shift in our body clocks may not be as obvious as puberty’s physical changes. But it’s just as important.

The shift is related to melatonin (Mel-uh-TONE-in), the hormone that helps us fall asleep. “When puberty begins, a teenager’s body doesn’t secrete that hormone until later in the evening,” notes Kyla Wahlstrom. She is an expert on human development and education at the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis. She was not involved in the new study.

Explainer: What is a hormone?

Even with their shifted rhythms, teenagers still need 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night. If they fall asleep late, they’ll need more snooze time in the morning. That’s why doctors, teachers and scientists have recommended for many years that school should start later.

Some school districts have listened. For the 2016–2017 academic year, the high-school start time in Seattle, Wash., changed from 7:50 to 8:45 a.m. The new study analyzed the results of that delay.

A real-world experiment

The researchers looked at sleep patterns in high school sophomores a few months before the schedule change. Then they studied the following year’s sophomores eight months after the change. In all, about 90 students at two schools took part in the study. The teachers were the same each time. Only the students differed. This way, the researchers could compare students of the same age and grade.

Instead of just asking students how long they slept, researchers had students wear activity monitors on their wrists. Called Actiwatches, they’re similar to a Fitbit. These, however, are designed for research studies. They track movements every 15 seconds to gauge whether someone is awake or sleeping. They also record how dark or light it is.

Students wore an Actiwatch for two weeks before and after the change in the school start time. They also completed a daily sleep diary. Actiwatch data showed that the new schedule gave students 34 extra minutes of sleep on school days. That made it more similar to sleep periods on weekends, when the students didn’t have to follow a set schedule.

“In addition to getting more sleep, the students were closer to their natural sleep pattern on weekends,” says Gideon Dunster. “That was a really important finding.”

Dunster is a graduate student in biology at the University of Washington in Seattle. He and biologist Horacio de la Iglesia led the new study.

The Actiwatch light-tracking showed that students didn’t stay up later after the shift in school start times. This light analysis was a new feature of the study, notes Amy Wolfson. She is a psychologist at Loyola University Maryland, in Baltimore. She didn’t work on the Seattle study. But she notes that other studies have shown that more exposure to light at night is not healthy.

Explainer: Correlation, causation, coincidence and more

Besides getting more Zzzz’s, students who could sleep in later also got better grades. On a scale of 0 to 100, their median scores increased from 77.5 to 82.0.

The study doesn’t prove that the schedule change boosted their grades. “But many, many other studies have shown that good sleep habits help us learn,” says Dunster. “That’s why we concluded that the later start times improved academic performance.”

The Seattle team published its new findings December 12 in Science Advances .

Links between snoozing and learning

Teens who don’t sleep well may find it harder to absorb new material the next day. What’s more, people who don’t sleep well also can’t process well what they had learned the day before. “Your sleep puts everything you’ve learned into ‘file folders’ in your brain,” Wahlstrom says. That helps us forget unimportant details, but preserve important memories. Every night, a fluid also flushes out molecular wastes that can damage the brain.

And there’s another link between sleep and grades. Kids won’t learn if they don’t make it to class. That’s why teachers and principals worry about kids missing school or being tardy.

To see if later start times affected attendance, the researchers looked at the two schools separately. One had 31 percent of students from lower-income families. In the other school, 88 percent came from lower-income families.

In the wealthier school, there wasn’t much change in missed school hours. But at the school with more low-income kids, the new start time boosted attendance. During the academic year, the school recorded an average of 13.6 absences and 4.3 tardies for the first period. Before the schedule change, those yearly numbers were 15.5 and 6.2.

The researchers don’t know what is behind this difference. It’s possible that lower-income kids rely more on the school bus. If they sleep late and miss the bus, it may be too hard to get to school. They may not own a bike or car and their parents may already be at work.

Lower-income kids sometimes get worse grades than their wealthier peers. Wahlstrom says there are many reasons why this might happen. Anything that helps reduce this achievement gap is a good thing. That includes better class attendance.

Wolfson thinks it’s fantastic that the activity trackers confirmed what sleep researchers had known for a long time. “I hope all this will have an impact on school districts around the country,” she says. “Moving school start times to 8:30 a.m. or later is an effective way to improve health, academic success and safety for adolescents.”

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A New Review of Research on School Start Times

Later start times showed some benefits for students..

Posted July 12, 2022 | Reviewed by Devon Frye

• A meta-analysis of studies of high school and middle school school start times shows that later start times afford some benefits for students.
• Students with later start times slept longer, were less sleepy, and had fewer instances of negative mood.
• There were no benefits found for sleep quality, academic performance, or positive emotional mood.
• Insufficient number of studies did not allow conclusions about comparisons by gender, race/ethnicity, or socioeconomic status.

A study for which I was a co-author was recently published in the journal Pediatrics describing a meta-analysis review of the growing literature on school start times (Yip et al., 2022).

A meta-analysis is a rigorous statistical method for comparing results of all the available studies on a topic. The authors identified 28 studies that met their inclusion criteria and the total number of students was 1.75 million high school and middle school students. In ten of the studies, investigators were able to make assessments after a school district had changed from earlier to later start times.

Results showed some benefits of later start times—including longer sleep duration, lower levels of sleepiness, and lower levels of negative mood. While those relations were significant, the effect sizes were relatively small.

Many variables, however, showed no relation to school start time, including sleep quality, chronotype, and academic performance. For other outcomes of interest, positive emotional well-being, academic performance, and other developmental domains—behavioral, physical, and cognitive—there were too few studies to analyze.

Likewise, because too few studies were available, comparisons by gender , race/ ethnicity , or socioeconomic status were not possible. Some comparisons were made between public and private schools, and students in private schools with later start times tended to have better sleep quality and later wake times.

What This Tells Us About School Start Times

On the positive side, it is heartening that some benefits of later start times were discovered. Advocates of starting school later will welcome these results.

On the other hand, definitive conclusions are not yet possible for many important questions. Besides the lack of sufficient numbers of studies, there are some methodological concerns of the vast majority of studies, including those in this review. While some studies used objective measures of sleep, most relied on student self-report.

And as the authors point out in the Limitations section, there has been no study controlling for the Hawthorne Effect—a phenomenon suggesting that positive outcomes are often reported any time a novel change purported to deliver a benefit is introduced. When people are expecting outcomes to be better, in other words, they tend to report that the change worked in the expected direction. In the sleep domain, more studies with objective measures would likely diminish such an effect.

A more fundamental problem in start-time research is that it is impossible to conduct randomized controlled trials (RCT) studies where the students, teachers, and researchers are blind to which schools are in the experimental or control group. RCTs are designed to control for biases, including expectancy effects.

As more studies are done to address limitations discovered in this review, school policymakers will have more information on which to base their decisions about whether and how to adjust school start times.

Yip, T., Wang, Y., Xie, M., Ip, P. S., Fowle, J., & Buckhalt, J. (2022). School start times, sleep, and youth outcomes: a meta-analysis. Pediatrics, 149(6).

Joseph A. Buckhalt, Ph.D. , is Wayne T. Smith Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Auburn University. He and his colleague Mona El-Sheikh, Ph.D. conduct research on sleep, health, and development in children and adolescents.

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4 Benefits of Later School Start Times

Later school start times bring more sleep and improved health and academic success for teens.

Later School Start Time Benefits

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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on school nights more than 70% of high schoolers don't get the eight to 10 hours of sleep they need.

Getting back on a school schedule can be a difficult adjustment after the lazy days of summer, especially for teens.

Experts say adolescents are biologically wired to stay up later than younger kids, and having to get up early for school contributes to them being chronically short on sleep . But delaying school start times can help.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has called insufficient sleep in adolescents a public health issue and recommends that middle and high schools start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. But as of 2017, the average start time for public high schools nationwide was 8 a.m., and 10% of schools started before 7:30.

This fall, California became the first state to mandate delayed school start times, with public high schools required to start classes no earlier than 8:30 a.m., and middle schools not before 8 a.m. Supporters say the change will not only let California teens and tweens catch a few extra Z’s, but will bring many other important benefits.

“There are resulting improvements across the board: grades improve, attendance goes up and graduation rates go up fairly significantly,” says Lisa L. Lewis, a parenting journalist and the author of "The Sleep-Deprived Teen: Why Our Teenagers Are So Tired, And How Parents And Schools Can Help Them Thrive."

Opponents to later start times say they can cause significant logistical issues with bus routes, parent work schedules and extracurriculars like after-school sports.

But advocates say the benefits are worth the cost. States like New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts are considering also making the change.

“Studies have shown over and over that teens get more sleep when school starts later, with research-based benefits to their physical and mental health, academic performance and beyond,” says Elinore Boeke, communications director for Start School Later, a nonprofit organization that lobbied for California's new law.

California's implementation of the new rules comes at a time when many teens' sleep habits have changed for the worse due to the pandemic .

Here are some of the benefits of later school start times:

• Better mental and physical health.
• Improved academic outcomes.
• Reduced risk of car accidents and injuries.
• Less tardiness.

Better Mental and Physical Health  

Teenagers need eight to 10 hours of sleep per night, but almost 60% of middle schoolers and more than 70% of high schoolers don't get enough sleep on school nights, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In adolescence, changes to the body's "sleep drive" and a delayed release of the sleep hormone melatonin make it more difficult for teens to fall asleep early.

Research shows that when school starts later, teens get more sleep, says Shelby Harris, a sleep psychologist and clinical associate professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine , with "many adolescents able to obtain at least eight hours of sleep per night." That leads to better physical and mental health, including decreased rates of depression and anxiety and less caffeine use, Harris says.

Teens who reported they got at least eight hours of sleep per night were more likely to say they have good overall health and less likely to report being depressed or using caffeine and other substances, per a study by the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement at the University of Minnesota.

“Kids are more likely to eat breakfast, and teachers find kids smiling and awake to learn in first period,” Boeke says.

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Improved Academic Outcomes

When school starts later, "mood, academics, attendance and graduation rates all improve,” says Harris.

For instance, one study by the National Sleep Foundation found that both attendance and graduation rates   "significantly improved" in schools that delayed their start times to 8:30 a.m. or later.

Studying middle schools in Wake County, North Carolina, with variable start times, economics professor Finley Edwards found that starting school an hour later would raise test scores an average of 2 percentile points in math and 1.5 points in English. Effects were larger for lower-performing students.

Using Edwards' methodology, but on a national scale, the authors of another study estimated that National Assessment of Educational Progress math scores for eighth graders would increase as much as 8 points if schools started one hour later, which many experts say is equivalent to almost a full grade-level increase.

Jessica Baltaxe, an 11th grader at Angelo Rodriguez High School in Fairfield, California, is starting school a half-hour later this year, and says students like being able to sleep in.

"A half-hour doesn’t seem like a lot of time, but it makes a big difference," she says.

"Many students go to bed late because of the demands of their coursework and extracurriculars, so by providing extra time in the morning it sets them up to have a more productive day."

Reduced Risk of Car Accidents and Injuries

Multiple studies  have shown that both overall car crash and distracted driving crash rates drop significantly with delayed school start times, which can reduce mortality and morbidity in adolescents.

Research on delayed school start times also show that there are fewer sports-related injuries, Harris says.

Several  studies  show the importance of adequate sleep for student athletes.

"Getting a good night's sleep and getting it at the right time has been shown to improve student athletes' accuracy and reaction time and significantly lessen their risk of injury," Boeke says.

Hansika Daggolu is in 11th grade at Mission San Jose High School in Fremont, California, where the start of the school day has moved from 8 a.m. to 8:30. She's looking forward to the change.

“I think having later school start times would be especially beneficial for me and other kids who have after-school commitments like sports. We will be getting more sleep, so we will be able to perform better,” Daggolu says.

Less Tardiness

Regular tardiness can be an issue for sleep-deprived teens. But starting school later makes it easier for students to arrive on time.

“Repeated studies show that starting secondary schools at 8:30 a.m. or later significantly boosts on-time attendance,” says Joy Wake, advocacy director for Start School Later.

She notes this is especially so for financially disadvantaged or lower-performing students who already face obstacles in getting enough sleep and getting to school on time.

“Being well-rested boosts emotional resiliency,” Lewis says. “When teens get more sleep, they’re better equipped emotionally to deal with all of the daily stressors.”

While tardiness may not have been an issue for Baltaxe, she says the later start times make a big difference for busy students like herself.

“Before, I was still waking up during class, but now I feel more prepared to take on the day,” Baltaxe says.

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Start high school later for better academic outcomes

Subscribe to the center for economic security and opportunity newsletter, david figlio david figlio dean - the school of education and social policy at northwestern university.

May 25, 2017

• 12 min read

Many proposals for improving student performance involve very costly interventions. And while quite a few of these costly interventions surely pass benefit-cost tests, they can be extremely challenging, politically or financially, to implement.

One possible source of “low-hanging fruit” involves changing the ways in which schools are organized. As one example, in a very useful recent policy proposal, Jacob and Rockoff propose three low-cost ways to organize schools to maximize student performance: combining elementary and middle schools into single buildings; optimizing teacher assignment policies; and starting school later in the day for middle and high school students. 1  Of Jacob and Rockoff’s proposals, this third idea seems particularly actionable: New buildings need not be built or retrofitted, and the nature of teachers’ jobs would not appreciably change. School districts that start elementary schools later and high schools earlier could potentially swap these schedules without major transportation disruptions. This would permit adolescents to sleep later and therefore arrive at school more ready to learn.

Why start school later for adolescents? The answer rests in our biology. Circadian rhythms influence our sleep patterns, and the degree of light on the outside of our eyelids affects our melatonin secretion and feelings of alertness or fatigue. 2  As children enter puberty, their nocturnal melatonin production shifts several hours later than what occurred when they were younger—or when they become adults. 3  As a consequence, the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that adolescents sleep until at least 8:00 am. 4  But thanks to a wide range of factors, half of all U.S. high schools start by that time. 5  Given this discordance between natural sleep rhythms and school start times for adolescents, it’s no surprise that students lose as much as two hours of sleep per night when they start school in the fall relative to the summer. 6

It’s difficult to know exactly how this disconnect between teenagers’ optimal sleep times and school schedules affects their classroom performance because school districts that start high schools later might be better-resourced or otherwise support students better than do those that start high schools earlier in the day. One innovative study looks at U.S. Air Force Academy freshmen cadets who were randomly assigned to earlier or later start times (thanks to having a class in the first period or not) and shows that having a first period class substantially reduces achievement—both for the first period class and for the rest of the day. 7  And there exists some case study evidence from Wake County, NC, which changed middle school busing schedules, suggesting that later start times for adolescents improves test scores. 8  Other case study evidence from Minneapolis, which shifted start times later by an hour and a half, is more mixed, with increased teacher-assigned grades and other aspects of student well-being but no improvements in ACT scores. 9

A major just-published study by Heissel and Norris 10  provides the first evidence using large-scale population-level data on this topic. 11  One way in which this paper represents a large step forward is that it is the first study, to my knowledge, to investigate this question using data from more than one institution or one school district—thereby substantially enhancing external validity. This new paper also has strong internal validity as well: The authors focus their attention on the relationship between sunlight and sleep, and take advantage of the fact that the state of Florida, where they conduct their research, is divided into two time zones. The sun comes up an hour later, on the clock, in the Eastern Time Zone than a few miles west in the Central Time Zone, but schools only partially account for this difference when setting their start times, so, on average, students in the Central Time Zone in Florida have more than half an hour more sunlight before school starts than do their counterparts in the Eastern Time Zone, and some have an hour or more additional sunlight, depending on when school starts.

One might be concerned that people living in different parts of Florida are somehow different in other ways as well, and Heissel and Norris are able to deal with this concern by concentrating on students who moved between time zones , while remaining in the northern part of Florida (typically called the Panhandle). Some students moved between the Eastern Time Zone and the Central Time Zone, thereby gaining extra sunlight in the morning before school, while others moved from the Central Time Zone to the Eastern Time Zone, thereby losing some sunlight before school starts. Their strategy, therefore, is to compare the same students’ test performance before versus after their cross-time zone moves. The authors found that people making these eastward and westward moves in the Florida Panhandle were similar across a large range of characteristics, and tended to follow similar over-time test score trends prior to their moves.

What happens when children get an extra hour of sunlight before starting school? (The authors estimate the effect of each additional minute of pre-school sunlight, and I’m presenting the effects of a 60 minute difference for ease of explication.) If they are young, math scores are barely affected—the estimated score improvement is just one percent of a standard deviation—but reading scores increase by six percent of a standard deviation. But once they reach puberty (approximately at age 11 for girls and age 13 for boys) math scores improve by eight percent of a standard deviation and reading score improvements remain at six percent of a standard deviation. The increased amounts of sunlight prior to school start only modestly reduces absence rates—and more for young children than for teenagers—indicating that these improved student outcomes are probably due to increased alertness, rather than to more time in school.

The post-adolescent math performance bumps associated with more daylight prior to school are about the same for boys and girls alike. They are present for both white and non-white students (with slightly higher estimated effects for non-white students). They are present for both relatively affluent and relatively disadvantaged students (with somewhat higher estimated effects for students not eligible for free or reduced-price lunches). In sum, it appears that more daylight before school starts helps a wide range of adolescents better learn math. Moreover, the authors show that the benefits occur immediately and persist for years.

Do these results reflect the cumulative effect of more sunlight over the course of the entire school year, or do they just reflect alertness on the day of the exam? The answer to this question has important implications for whether it makes sense to shift the school day back in general for adolescents, or whether this is really just a test-day phenomenon. To address this question, Heissel and Norris take advantage of the fact that Florida changed the timing of its high-stakes testing from year to year and the dates of the start of daylight savings time changed from year to year. As a consequence, in some years the high-stakes testing took place just before the start of daylight savings time, when pre-school daylight was highest; in other years, the high-stakes testing took place just after the start of daylight savings time, when pre-school daylight was nearly an hour less; and in still other years, the high-stakes testing took place a month after the start of daylight savings time, when pre-school daylight was somewhere in the middle.

When the authors make this comparison, they find that the amount of sunlight on the day of the test can explain a portion of the reading results—recall that they find that more sunlight in general helps pre-pubescent and adolescent children approximately equally in reading as well—but it doesn’t explain much of the math results. Most of the boost in adolescent test performance that we observe when students have more daylight in the morning is due not to the amount of daylight before school on days when children take tests, but rather to the amount of daylight before school experienced across the school year. Daylight before school apparently boosts cumulative learning for adolescents—and not just test-day alertness.

What do these findings imply for optimal school schedules—at least, from the point of view of maximizing student math and reading achievement? Heissel and Norris carried out a thought exercise in which, for every Florida panhandle school district, they assigned the school district’s earliest start times to elementary students, the middle start times to middle school students, and the latest start times to high school students. This calculation would move elementary school start times 22 minutes earlier, middle school start times 13 minutes earlier, and high school start times 44 minutes later, on average.

Heissel and Norris estimate that making these scheduling switches would raise average math performance by six percent of a standard deviation and average reading performance by four percent of a standard deviation. While not earth-shattering performance changes, they are extremely impressive for a policy change that would cost school districts little to implement – and are approximately one-fourth the difference between an excellent-performing school and an average-performing school. (Recall, also, that most parts of the United States have less daylight between September and March than Florida does!)

There are, of course, potential costs associated with this type of schedule change. Parents might be more comfortable with high schoolers traveling to school in the dark than they are with elementary school-aged children doing the same. Starting elementary school relatively early could have implications for parents’ after-school child care arrangements as well. High schoolers have more after-school activities, sports, and the like, and later school start times might put the squeeze on these types of activities. For instance, later school start times might mean that more students participating in after-school activities will arrive home after dark, which might also cause concern. And given a school start time, at least one study shows that students learn more in the morning than they do in the afternoon 12  (though a later start time can put adolescents in a better position to learn).

Nevertheless, there are few “quick wins” in education when it comes to boosting learning at a very low cost, and paying attention to—and scheduling school start times in line with—human biology seems to be one of them.

The author did not receive financial support from any firm or person with a financial or political interest in this article. He is currently not an officer, director, or board member of any organization with an interest in this article.

• Brian Jacob and Jonah Rockoff, “ Organizing Schools to Improve Student Achievement: Start Times, Grade Configurations, and Teacher Assignments ,” Hamilton Project Discussion Paper 2011-08, September 2011.
• See, e.g., Josephine Arendt, “ Melatonin, Circadian Rhythms, and Sleep ,” New England Journal of Medicine , 2000.
• See, e.g., Mary Carskadon, Christine Acebo, and Oskar Jenni, “ Regulation of Adolescent Sleep: Implications for Behavior ,” Annals of the New York Academy of Science , 2004.
• American Academy of Pediatrics, Adolescent Sleep Working Group and Committee on Adolescence, “ School Start Times for Adolescents ,” Pediatrics , 2014.
• National Center for Education Statistics, “ Average Start Time for Public High Schools and Percentage Distribution of Start Times in Public High Schools, by Selected School Characteristics ,” 2012.
• Martha Hansen, Imke Janssen, Adam Schiff, Phyllis Zee, and Margarita Dubocovich, “ The Impact of School Daily Schedule on Adolescent Sleep ,” Pediatrics , 2005.
• Scott Carrell, Teny Maghakian, and James West, “ A’s from Zzzz’s? The Causal Effect of School Start Time on the Academic Achievement of Adolescents ,” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy , 2011.
• Finley Edwards, “ Early to Rise? The Effect of Daily Start Times on Academic Performance ,” Economics of Education Review , 2012.
• For instance, Peter Hinrichs, “ When the Bell Tolls: The Effects of School Starting Times on Academic Achievement ,” Education Finance and Policy, 2011, found no benefits in terms of ACT scores. Kyla Wahlstrom, “ Changing Times: Findings from the First Longitudinal Study of Later High School Start Times ,” NASSP Bulletin, 2002, found improvements in other student outcomes.
• Jennifer Heissel and Samuel Norris, “ Rise and Shine: The Effect of School Start Times on Academic Performance from Childhood through Puberty ,” Journal of Human Resources , published online before print, April 19, 2017.
• In the interest of full disclosure, I was Heissel’s Ph.D. dissertation adviser and I am also editor-in-chief of the Journal of Human Resources, where this paper was published. However, the paper was handled from start to finish by a different Coeditor, and I had no influence over the publication process.
• Nolan Pope, “ How the Time of Day Affects Productivity: Evidence from School Schedules ,” Review of Economics and Statistics , 2016.

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Should Your School Day Start Later?

If it did, would students get more sleep? Or would they just stay up later?

By Shannon Doyne

Find all our Student Opinion questions here.

Do you get enough sleep during the school year? If not, what keeps you from being well rested?

Do you wish your school day started later? In your opinion, what would be the advantages and drawbacks of a later start time?

In “ California Tells Schools to Start Later, Giving Teenagers More Sleep, ” Christine Hauser and Isabella Kwai write about a new California law that pushes back start times at most public middle and high schools. The law cites research that says attendance and performance will improve if teenagers get more sleep. The article states:

The passage of the law followed years of mounting calls for later school start times from sleep experts who said such a move would optimize learning, reduce tardiness and contribute to overall well-being. The law encourages districts to publish research on their websites about the impact of sleep deprivation on adolescents. A frequently cited policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics, made in 2014, called insufficient sleep for adolescents a “public health issue” and recommended that most schools start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine agreed. In one 2006 poll from the National Sleep Foundation, 45 percent of adolescents in the United States said they slept for an insufficient length of time on school nights, and 19 percent of students said they fell asleep in school at least once a week. Another study, published in 2017 by the University of Minnesota, which surveyed 9,000 students across five school districts with varying start times, found that those who started school later slept more. Students who had more sleep reported better mental health outcomes and less use of substances like alcohol and cigarettes. Students who slept more also had improved attendance and enrollment rates, and they were less likely to drive while drowsy. About 90 percent of high schools and 80 percent of middle schools in the nation start before 8:30 a.m., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in 2014.

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

Do you feel like you get enough sleep?

What would be your ideal time to start the school day? What about to end the school day? Why?

How would changing your school’s start and end times affect activities like sports, clubs and part-time jobs?

Anthony J. Portantino, a Democratic state senator who wrote the bill, calls later start times for schools a “magic bullet” when it comes to education. What are your thoughts on this? Can later start times really improve things like test scores, attendance and graduation rates? Explain.

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.

Why School Should Start Later in the Morning

The CDC weighs in: Early class times are taking a toll on adolescents ’ health and academic performance.

For the first time, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging education policymakers to start middle- and high-school classes later in the morning. The idea is to improve the odds of adolescents getting sufficient sleep so they can thrive both physically and academically.

The CDC’s recommendations come a year after the American Academy of Pediatrics urged schools to adjust start times so more kids would get the recommended 8.5 to 9.5 hours of nightly rest. Both the CDC and the pediatricians’ group cited significant risks that come with lack of sleep, including higher rates of obesity and depression and motor-vehicle accidents among teens as well as an overall lower quality of life.

“Getting enough sleep is important for students’ health, safety, and academic performance,” Anne Wheaton, the lead author and epidemiologist in the CDC’s Division of Population Health, said in a statement . “Early school start times, however, are preventing many adolescents from getting the sleep they need.”

In more than 40 states, at least 75 percent of public schools start earlier than 8:30 a.m., according to the CDC’s report. And while later start times won’t replace other important interventions—like parents making sure their children get enough rest—schools clearly play an important role in students’ daily schedules, the report concluded.

While the federal recommendation is making headlines, the data on the potential risks of chronically tired adolescents isn’t new information. Indeed, the research has been accumulating steadily for years, including some recent large-scale studies.

As the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported in April, the University of Minnesota’s Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement “finally put to rest the long-standing question of whether later start times correlate to increased academic performance for high-school students”:

Researchers analyzed data from more than 9,000 students at eight high schools in Minnesota, Colorado, and Wyoming and found that shifting the school day later in the morning resulted in a boost in attendance, test scores, and grades in math, English, science, and social studies. Schools also saw a decrease in tardiness, substance abuse, and symptoms of depression. Some even had a dramatic drop in teen car crashes.

Here’s what the research shows: Adolescents’ “internal clocks”—the circadian rhythms that control a human’s responses to stimuli and determine sleep patterns—operate differently than those of other age groups. It’s typically more difficult for adolescents to fall asleep earlier in the evening than it is for other age demographics. And while teenagers are going to bed later, their school start times are often becoming earlier as they advance through middle and high school.

In a landmark study  in 1998 of adolescent sleeping habits, the Brown University researcher Mary Carskadon followed 10th-graders who were making the switch to a 7:20 a.m. start time, about an hour earlier than their schedule as ninth-graders. Despite the new schedule, the students went to bed at about the same time as they did the year before: 10:40 p.m. on average.

Carskadon’s team found that students showed up for morning classes seriously sleep-deprived and that the 7:20 a.m. start time required them to be awake during hours that ran contrary to their internal clocks. Fewer than half of the 10th-graders averaged even seven hours of sleep each night, which is already below the recommended amount. Indeed, Carskadon’s team concluded the students bordered on “pathologically sleepy.”

So, if the science is so strong, what’s getting in the way of changing the policy?

Carskadon, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior, notes that passionate arguments abound on both sides of the debate—just about all of which she’s heard over the years. In some districts, the start times are largely dictated by local transportation companies, with school boards and superintendents contending they lack the funds or authority to change things. Meanwhile, parents are often reluctant to have teens start later, whether because they rely on having older children at home in the afternoons to take care of younger siblings or because they’re concerned that it will interfere with extracurricular opportunities. Indeed, there’s always a vocal chorus warning that later start times will hurt high-school sports.

But none of those worries override the reality that, as Carskadon put it, “everybody learns better when they’re awake.”

Implementing later start times can be feasible without causing major disruptions, as many school districts have demonstrated, Carskadon said. But it requires that all stakeholders commit to what’s often a time-consuming process of finding creative solutions, which, she added, isn’t always easy.

The medical writer and mother of three Terra Ziporyn Snider, who’s emerged as a national advocate for later start times, also cited widespread challenges hindering schools from making the switch. Getting school systems to change takes more than just presenting scientific evidence, said Snider, the co-founder and executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group Start School Later . The organization deploys volunteers to communities that are considering later school start times to bolster grassroots efforts.

“Social norms are at the root of this problem—most people don’t take [adolescent sleep deprivation] seriously and don’t see it as a public-health issue,” Snider said. “That kind of thinking has to change.”

One of the problems facing advocates of later school start times is that the people sympathetic to their cause seldom have the authority to reset the academic clock, Snider said. Parents typically only care about the issue when it affects their own families’ schedules, she said. That means roughly every four years the key players are replaced, and the grassroots efforts have to start from scratch.

“You start talking about changing start times, and people immediately jump to [all kinds of conclusions]. Teens will miss out on sports. L ittle kids will go to school in the dark and get run over by a car. What will happen to my child care? ” Snider said. “A lot of these fears and speculations turn out to be red herrings. The real obstacles are failure of imagination.”

Snider is hopeful that the policy pressures are reaching a tipping point, though, with the help of major voices like the CDC weighing in.

“It’s becoming increasingly embarrassing to say, ‘If we start school later, what happens to my kid’s three-hour soccer practice?’” Snider said. “We have to convince school systems this has to happen for the health of kids. It’s not a negotiable school budget item—it’s an absolute requirement.”

This post appears courtesy of the Education Writers Association.

New Research

Sleep Scientists Say School Days Should Start Later

For better learning, some researchers say school days should start at 10 AM.

Danny Lewis

Waking up at the crack of dawn for another day of school isn’t fun for anyone: not for the millions of kids who have to be at school before 8:30 AM and certainly not for the parents who have to drag those kids out of bed. And once again, sleep scientists say schools should stop trying to fight teenagers’ circadian rhythms and wait until 10 AM to start.

The fact that more sleep makes teens (and adults) healthier and better at learning isn’t really new . But recently a group of British sleep scientists argued that school shouldn’t start until at least 10 AM for kids to get the most out of their day.

"At the age of 10 you get up and go to school and it fits in with our nine-to-five lifestyle," Kelley said recently at the British Science Festival, David Barnett reports for The Guardian . "When you are about 55 you also settle into the same pattern. But in between it changes a huge amount and, depending on your age, you really need to be starting around three hours later, which is entirely natural."

The problem, Kelley says, is that not many people between the age of 10 and 55 are really suited to waking up at the break of dawn, especially not high schoolers and college students. Even most adults’ circadian rhythms are not suited to rising early, although Kelley says adolescents are most affected by struggling to get up early, Jonathan Webb writes for the BBC .

"Most people wake up to alarms, because they don't naturally wake up at the time when they have to get up and go to work,” Kelley tells Webb . "So we've got a sleep deprived society - it's just that this age group, say 14-24 in particular, is more deprived than any other sector.”

Even the Centers for Disease Control seem to have gotten the message . For the first time, the CDC is urging school districts and policymakers to push back start times after a study of public schools across the country found that more than 75 percent started before 8:30 AM in more than 40 states.

“Getting enough sleep is important for students’ health, safety, and academic performance,” said Anne Wheaton, the study’s lead author and epidemiologist in the CDC’s Division of Population Health said in a statement . “Early school start times, however, are preventing many adolescents from getting the sleep they need.”

While the CDC may now be urging later start times, they don’t go quite as far as Kelley’s 10 AM proposal – in a statement, the CDC reports that an 8:30 AM start time would allow teenagers to get the recommended 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep a night, so long as they went to bed around 11 PM or 12 AM. 

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Danny Lewis is a multimedia journalist working in print, radio, and illustration. He focuses on stories with a health/science bent and has reported some of his favorite pieces from the prow of a canoe. Danny is based in Brooklyn, NY.

Why teen brains need a later school start time

Senior Research Fellow in Organizational Leadership, Policy and Development, University of Minnesota

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Kyla Wahlstrom received funding from the CDC (2010-2013) to conduct longitudinal research on the outcomes for teens in high schools with later starting time.

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Millions of high schoolers are having to wake up early as they start another academic year. It is not uncommon to hear comments from parents such as,

“I have a battle every morning to get my teenager out of bed and off to school. It’s a hard way to start every day.”

Sleep deprivation in teenagers as a result of early school start has been a topic of concern and debate for nearly two decades. School principals, superintendents and school boards across the country have struggled with the question of whether their local high school should start later.

So, are teenagers just lazy?

I have been researching the impact of later high school start times for 20 years. Research findings show that teens’ inability to get out of bed before 8 a.m. is a matter of human biology, not a matter of attitude.

At issue here are the sleep patterns of the teenage brain , which are different from those of younger children and adults. Due to the biology of human development, the sleep mechanism in teens does not allow the brain to naturally awaken before about 8 a.m. This often gets into conflict with school schedules in many communities.

History of school timing

In the earliest days of American education, all students 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 late 1890s-1920s, staggered starting times became the norm across the country.

In cities and large towns , high school students went first, followed by middle schoolers and then elementary students.

Here’s what research shows

Research findings during the 1980s started to cast a new light on teenagers’ sleep patterns.

Researcher Mary Carskadon and others at Brown University found that the human brain has a marked shift in its sleep/wake pattern during adolescence .

Researchers around the world corroborated those findings . At the onset of puberty , nearly all humans (and most mammals) experience a delay of sleep timing in the brain . As a result, the adolescent body does not begin to feel sleepy until about 10:45 p.m.

At the same time, medical researchers also found that sleep patterns of younger children enabled them to rise early and be ready for learning much earlier than adolescents.

In other words, the biology of the teenage brain is in conflict with early school start times , whereas sleep patterns of most younger children are in sync with schools that start early.

Biology of teenage brain

So, what exactly happens to the teenage brain during the growth years?

In the teens, the secretion of the sleep hormone melatonin begins at about 10:45 p.m. and continues until about 8 a.m. What this means is that teenagers are unable to fall asleep until melatonin secretion begins and they are also not able to awaken until the melatonin secretion stops.

These changes in the sleep/wake pattern of teens are dramatic and beyond their control. Just expecting teens to 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 sleep – they just stared at the ceiling until sleep set in around 10:45 p.m.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, the sleep requirement for teenagers is between 8-10 hours per night. That indicates that the earliest healthy wake-up time for teens should not be before 7 a.m.

A recent research study that I led shows that it takes an average of 54 minutes from the time teens wake up until they leave the house for school. With nearly half of all high schools in the U.S. starting before 8:00 a.m., and over 86 percent starting before 8:30 a.m. , leaving home by 7:54 a.m. would be a challenge for most teens in America.

What happens with less sleep

Studies on sleep in general, and on 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. Feelings of sadness and hopelessness increase from 19 percent up to nearly 52 percent in teens who sleep four hours or less per night.

Teen car crashes , the primary cause of death for teenagers , are found to significantly decline when teens obtain more than eight hours of sleep per night.

What changes with later start time?

Results from schools that switched to a late start time are encouraging. Not only does the teens’ use of drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol decline, their academic performance improves significantly with later start time.

The Edina (Minnesota) School District superintendent and school board was the first district in the country to make the change. The decision was a result of a recommendation from the Minnesota Medical Association, back in 1996.

Research showed significant benefits for teens from that school as well as others with later start times.

For example, the crash rate for teens in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in 2013 dropped by 70 percent in the first year after the district adopted a later high school start.

At this point, hundreds of schools across the country in 44 states have been able to make the shift. The National Sleep Foundation had a count of over 250 high schools having made a change to a later start as early as 2007.

Furthermore, since 2014, major national health organizations have taken a policy stand to support the implementation of later starting time for high school. The American Academy of Pediatrics , the American Medical Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have all come out with statements that support the starting time of high schools to be 8:30 a.m. or later.

Challenges and benefits

However, there are many schools and districts across the U.S. that are resisting delaying the starting time of their high schools. There are 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 are also concerned about afterschool sports and activities .

Such concerns are valid. However, there could be creative ways of finding solutions. We already know that schools that were able to make the change found solutions that show “out of the box” thinking. For example, schools adopted mixed-age busing , coordinated with public transport systems and expanded afterschool child care.

I do understand that there are other realistic concerns that need to be addressed in making the change. But, in the end, communities that value maximum development for all of its children would 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.

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Why school should start later for teens

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Why Schools should Consider Starting Later: Benefits for Students’ Health and Learning

This essay about the benefits of later school start times argues that adjusting the school day to begin later can significantly enhance student health, mood, and academic performance. It highlights research showing that teenagers naturally benefit from waking later due to changes in their biological clocks, leading to better sleep quality and duration. Additionally, the essay discusses the positive impact of sufficient sleep on mental health, reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression among students. Improved academic outcomes, such as higher GPAs and better test scores, are also noted as significant benefits of later start times. The potential logistical challenges posed by such changes are acknowledged but are described as manageable with thoughtful planning and community involvement. Overall, the essay makes a strong case for schools to reconsider and potentially adjust start times to align better with students’ physiological needs.

How it works

A burgeoning discourse surrounds the commencement hours of educational institutions and their ramifications on the scholastic performance and well-being of pupils. Conventional school timings frequently mandate student presence by 8 a.m., if not earlier, posing manifold challenges. Here, we shall delve into the potential benefits of delaying the commencement of the school day for students spanning various age demographics.

Primarily, one of the foremost arguments advocating for later school initiations revolves around synchronizing with the circadian rhythms of adolescents. Empirical investigations consistently demonstrate that teenagers naturally retire to bed later and derive advantages from rising later owing to shifts in their biological timepieces during adolescence.

A study disseminated in the “Sleep” journal buttresses this assertion, delineating that tardier start times correlate with prolonged sleep durations, diminished diurnal somnolence, and reduced instances of attention deficits among scholars. This transcends mere elongated slumber; it pertains to securing high-quality repose congruous with the innate cadences of a teenager’s physiology, thereby augmenting their holistic well-being and aptitude for scholastic endeavors.

Furthermore, mental well-being constitutes a pivotal concern that intersects significantly with the discourse on school commencement times. Adolescents find themselves at a juncture ripe for fostering autonomy and undergoing substantial psychological maturation. Inadequate sleep has been causally associated with heightened manifestations of anxiety, depression, and sundry other mental maladies. Schools that have experimented with deferred initiation times report not only ameliorated attendance rates but also an enhancement in pupil morale and a reduction in the incidence of disciplinary measures. Essentially, when pupils are less fatigued, they are predisposed to exhibit heightened engagement, emotional equilibrium, and cognitive presence in the pedagogical milieu.

Scholastic achievement forms another cornerstone of this dialectic. Compelling evidence posits that when students are adequately rested, their capacity to concentrate, assimilate information, and actively participate in classroom endeavors burgeons. These benefits are not merely anecdotal; jurisdictions that have transitioned to later commencement times have documented an uptick in pupil grade point averages and standardized examination scores. This phenomenon can be ascribed to the fact that sleep bolsters cognitive faculties such as problem-solving acumen and the consolidation of memory.

Detractors frequently contend that delaying school timings could engender logistical complexities for parents and extracurricular undertakings, and whilst these reservations bear validity, they are not insurmountable. Many communities that have embraced this transition have reaped favorable outcomes by innovatively recalibrating transportation services, extracurricular pursuits, and athletic engagements. The crux lies in proactive strategizing and community involvement to tackle these logistical impediments.

In summation, the dividends of tardier school commencement times transcend mere augmentation of sleep durations. They intersect with pivotal facets of adolescent well-being, mental equilibrium, and educational attainment. As we advance, it is imperative for educators, guardians, and policymakers to contemplate these advantages in the broader context of nurturing the comprehensive development of students. Tailoring school schedules to better harmonize with the biological and psychological exigencies of pupils isn’t merely a superfluous indulgence—it could constitute a seminal stride towards optimizing the efficacy of our educational frameworks.

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Rick Hess Straight Up

Education policy maven Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute think tank offers straight talk on matters of policy, politics, research, and reform. Read more from this blog.

Does School Choice ‘Work’?

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In “Straight Talk with Rick and Jal,” Harvard University’s Jal Mehta and I examine the reforms and enthusiasms that permeate education. In a field full of buzzwords, our goal is simple: Tell the truth, in plain English, about what’s being proposed and what it means for students, teachers, and parents. We may be wrong and we will frequently disagree, but we’ll try to be candid and ensure that you don’t need a Ph.D. in eduspeak to understand us.

Today’s topic is educational choice and whether it “works.”

Rick: It’s been another busy spring for educational choice, so let’s dig into the heated debate about whether choice “works.” Here’s where I’m coming from: I’ve supported full-spectrum educational choice since the last century, including intradistrict choice, charter schooling, school vouchers, education savings accounts (ESA), and the rest. That said, regular readers also know that I’m critical of the absolutist rhetoric favored by some choice advocates, over-the-top claims for choice, and the insistence that choice works. As I see it, educational choice is part of the answer to our challenges, but it isn’t the answer. Choice enables more parents to find options that are right for their child, creates more room for the emergence of promising new options, and offers educators more say as to where they’ll work. These are all very good things.

But educational choice programs are no one thing. They vary dramatically, from relatively restricted open-enrollment programs that give students some choice among district schools to ambitious ESA programs that radically reimagine how schooling works. Just within charter schooling, there are vast differences from state to state in who is permitted to authorize schools, how they are authorized, the goals they are required to meet, and so forth. Broadly asserting that choice is “good” (or “bad”) ignores that it means many different things depending on context, policy, and practice.

In short, choice isn’t a bag of magic beans. Worse, suggesting it is makes it less likely that anyone will do the hard work necessary to make choice programs deliver. Ultimately, the how of choice matters mightily. How tough is it for good new schools or programs to emerge? How do we ensure that scam artists aren’t ripping off families and taxpayers? How do parents find out what the options are? How does the financing work? The answers to questions like these determine whether a school choice program works for the families that participate or not.

Anyway, that’s how I tend to approach all this. Curious to hear your take, especially given how much you’ve thought about these issues in the context of your scholarship on institutions and deeper learning.

Jal: Yet again, there is a surprising amount of agreement here. Choice can mean very different things depending on the context and the nature of the regulations. In some states, even fairly proven providers can’t open new schools, whereas in others, licenses are offered to schools that have no track record or plan. As I’ve talked with graduate students coming from all over the nation, their views of choice often vary significantly depending on what state they are coming from.

From an innovation perspective, I think the hopes of the choice movement have not been realized. Charter schools, in particular, were created based on the idea that they would use the freedoms they had been granted to try out new possibilities, which might, over time, influence traditional public schools. But in practice, most charter schools, including a number of the most well-known ones, have mostly just done the same old thing—the same seven-period days, same subjects, same teaching methods. Even Nina Rees, the former head of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, acknowledges that charter schools frequently haven’t been as innovative as their advocates have hoped. The reasons for this are almost overdetermined: Teachers teach as they were taught, parents expect school to look the same as what they experienced, external measures like state tests and college admissions reward conformity, etc.

If we wanted to take advantage of some of the benefits of choice to generate more genuine innovation, we would need to make some changes. For instance, we would have to alter the external ecosystem: If we want schools to be organized around students doing more authentic work, then schools have to be evaluated on the basis of students doing that kind of authentic work. These evaluations might include performance assessments or balanced scorecard-style dashboards. Or it might look like the state getting out of the business of measuring outcomes entirely and trusting that parents will be able to select the schools that work for their kids, without having one set of measures that standardizes everything. (Ted Sizer advocated market over state accountability for this reason in The Red Pencil .) A more split-the-middle option would be to have the state perform periodic accreditation reviews, such as those that are used in England. This would allow schools to experiment as they like but offer some protections that public institutions are meeting a certain floor of public goals.

What do you think, Rick? Has choice produced “innovation”? How do we create quality without standardization?

Rick: You know, it’s almost disturbing how much common ground we find in these exchanges, even surrounded by frenzied hyperbole (with Kentucky’s lieutenant governor recently thundering that “‘school choice’ is nothing more than welfare for the well-to-do”). I’m always struck how crazy it is that we’ve ceded so much ground to the self-interested industry of outrage-peddling politicos and culture-war grifters.

But that’s a sermon I’ve preached many times, so I’ll get back to the point. I agree with you both that choice works largely by creating room for better solutions to emerge . . . and that it mostly hasn’t. As you note, this is due to the failure (of even its supporters) to embrace the kind of ecosystem that fuels rethinking. For me, it’s useful to think of this as a humane, organic vision of school improvement. Now, talk of choice as “humane” and “organic” can sound odd when the debate is filled with talk of “wars on public education” and “failing public schools.” But all this wild-eyed rhetoric misses the mark. The promise of choice is not that, tomorrow, schools will magically be “better.” The promise of choice-based systems is that, over time, they create room for educators and families to build better solutions.

This should all be intuitive to anyone who’s spent much time talking school improvement with principals or district leaders. Conversations are peppered with phrases like, “I’d like to do this, but the contract requires . . . ,” “I’d like to pay them more, but HR says . . . ,” or “I’d love to move those dollars, but we’re not allowed. . . .” Educators wrestle with layers of rules, regulations, and contract provisions. That’s why choice can be so appealing: It can make it easier for educators to pioneer promising new school models. School vouchers and ESAs make it feasible to offer alternatives to low-income families who’ve long felt trapped in local schools. Charter schooling enables educators to get a new school approved by a charter authorizer without having to spend years pleading with district officials for flexibility, facilities, and approval.

This kind of inertia is hardly unique to education. Older organizations are rarely good at managing change. They tend to grow rigid, routinized, and hierarchical with time, making it tougher to leverage new technologies or meet changing needs. That’s why the average life span of a Fortune 500 company is just 50 years. When we tell educators they’ve no path other than “fixing” aged systems or schools, we put them in a nearly impossible position.

That’s one reason I’m optimistic about choice today, in the wake of the pandemic. As I noted in The Great School Rethink , the emergence of microschools, learning pods, and hybrid home schools; the adoption of large-scale ESA programs; and the explosion of home schooling have together changed the choice landscape. Choice is no longer mostly about a handful of broadly similar urban charter school networks; today, it’s far more decentralized, dynamic, and geographically dispersed. Of course, these new changes have also surfaced new challenges, ranging from accountability for public funds to questions of staffing and logistics. Our ability to thoughtfully navigate these will determine the success of this next era of educational choice.

Wondering what you make of this changing landscape and what it means going forward, pal.

Jal: Embracing a “humane and organic” approach to school reform? If you don’t watch out, you’re going to get kicked out of the GOP, Rick.

I agree with your idea that the emerging choice landscape—particularly the growth of home schooling, learning pods, and microschools—is much more varied in its goals, means, and approaches than the charter schools that dominated the dialogue in the aughts and 2010s. There also seems to be a much more fundamental willingness to rethink what is taken for granted. This can range from parents who want to resist the standardizing pressures of schools to those whose kids aren’t being served well by the peer or racial dynamics of such schools.

There isn’t yet much research about these efforts, so what I know about them is pretty partial. But still, there is a sense that these folks are motivated by a much more human focus than past reformers. Rather than being committed to grand ideals like social mobility for other people’s children, these are people who are looking at their own kids not as abstractions but as real human beings who are not being served well by school. We can hope that what they generate is much more varied and authentic and that it serves the wide diversity of interests that young people bring to the table.

At the same time, the idea of unschooling and escaping the conformity of public education is not a new one, nor is it a surefire way to educate children successfully. Experience suggests that there are certain Romantic ideas that will turn out to be not entirely true. While intrinsic motivation and self-directed learning are important (and in much too short supply in regular public schools), for most kids, they won’t be sufficient without some structure, community, and routine. Some kids listen better to other adults than they do to their own parents. Thus, there is a lot to be figured out in this emerging world: Who should “teach”; what sorts of structures, communities, and routines should replace the ones previously provided by school; and what models work and for which kids.

To make this a bit more personal, we were home schoolers for most of one year during the COVID-19 pandemic. We had a bright 6-year-old who was bored by virtual school and would click “leave meeting” rather than partake in the community-building activities his school had designed for 1st graders. We enrolled him and his best friend in a little school in our living room. We used some materials for science and social studies that my wife found on a home-schooling site and signed up for Beast Academy , a virtual math program for bright kids who like math. Beast Academy was a hit and lasted well past the pandemic. The home-schooling materials we got were more mixed: Some landed and some didn’t. For ELA, we had him read (what he wanted) and write (what he wanted). This was good, but only worked because his kindergarten teacher had already taught him to read. Eventually, the friend had to go back to school, and our son got sad and lonely without him, and so he went back to school. The lesson here is that what we call “school” is really a bundle of things—curriculum in different subjects, teachers, friends, specials—all of which have to be replaced in ways that work. This is much easier said than done.

One obvious question is what the role of the state is in this process. When we home schooled, we just had to fill out a form with the district at the beginning of the year saying what we were going to do and then one at the end saying what we had done. This seems a little light to me. I think some kind of performance of understanding in different domains is important to ensure that real learning has taken place. But the trick, as is always the case with any alternative arrangement, is that if we put too tight strictures on what counts, we are going to lose the innovation that choice can potentially unleash. Finding a way to manage this balance is the key to making the new choice movement more innovative than the old.

The opinions expressed in Rick Hess Straight Up are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

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The impact of after-school programs on K-12 students’ creativity: a meta-analysis

• Review Article
• Published: 22 May 2024

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• Yanjun Zhang   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4739-3123 1 ,
• Qianqian Xu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3211-8292 1 &
• Ting Zhang 1  

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A Correction to this article was published on 29 May 2024

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In recent years, there was a significant increase in empirical research on fostering student creativity in after-school settings; however, there was no systematic review of the impact of after-school programs (ASP) on student creativity. The aim of this study was to systematically interpret the impact of ASP on student creativity with meta-analysis. This study brought together 25 experimental or quasi-experimental studies and 33 effect sizes. The findings suggested that ASP have a moderate positive impact on K-12 students’ creativity ( Hedge ’ s  = 0.674, 95% CI: 0.513–0.836). Subgroup analyses found that interventions of 0–7 days and 3–5 months had the best effects, with similar best effects in preschool and mixed ASP; the effects were similar across gender and time frame. On this basis, we analyzed the mechanisms or causes of the moderating variables affecting K-12 students’ creativity and discussed measures to enhance students’ creativity by constructing a blended ASP curriculum, optimizing the design of the project time, and focusing on creativity development of students in the lower grades.

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A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-024-09976-z

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Zhang, Y., Xu, Q. & Zhang, T. The impact of after-school programs on K-12 students’ creativity: a meta-analysis. Asia Pacific Educ. Rev. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-024-09966-1

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-024-09966-1

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