Alexandra V. Martinez

Indira Hood-Esparza

Humanities 11

Pod 1

11 March 2019

School Start Times

When someone mentions a teenagers' behavior what's the first thing you think of? Is it that these adolescents are lazy, irritable, and easily distracted? Well, you might not have known that fatigue, inability to concentrate, and moodiness are all common signs of missing out on a good night's sleep. The behaviors mentioned have a strong correlation with early school start times. As stated on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's article, Schools Start Too Early, "According to the 2014 School Health Policies and Practices Study, 93% of high schools and 83% of middle schools in the U.S. started before 8:30 a.m." Schools throughout the US continue to uphold early school start times regardless of the recommended start times from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the National Sleep Foundation. All high schools should have later start times because it can lead to improved academic performance, reduced sleep deprivation, and increase economic benefits.

Delaying school start times could lead to a positive influence on the academic performance of adolescents in the United States. A survey done on over 7,000 high schoolers in Minnesota overlooking their sleeping habits and grades showcases this influence well. Following the Academic Performance article by School Start Time it states, "Teens who received A's averaged about fifteen more minutes sleep than the B students, who in turn averaged eleven more minutes than the C's, and the C's had ten more minutes than the D's." In this case, sleep shows to have such a great impact on education that by decreasing the amount of sleep an adolescent gets by a mere 15 minutes, it can lead to the lowering of a letter grade. " A 2014 CAREI study found significant increases in overall performance on national standardized achievement tests (ACT/ACT Plan) following start time delays at Boulder High School (7:30 a.m. to 8 a.m., with one late start day, 9 a.m.) in Colorado and Mahtomedi High School(7:30 a.m. to 8 a.m.) in Minnesota. A 2017 study of more than 30,000 students attending 29 U.S. high schools found delaying start times to later than 8:30 a.m. increased mean attendance rates by 4 percent and mean graduation rates by 9 percent," (Academic Performance, 2017). Not only does the academic improvement apply to grades but standardized testing as well. Lastly from the Rise and Shine: The Effect of School Start Times on Academic Performance from Childhood Through Puberty research paper by Jennifer Heissel and Samuel Norris they present, "...that moving start times one hour later relative to sunrise increases test scores by 0.08 and 0.06 standard deviations for adolescents in math and reading, respectively." Sunlight also plays a large role in determining school start times for time zones around the US. I'm sure many of us have heard our alarm go off in the morning and have thought "just one more minute". Most of you reading this might find it hard to believe that a couple of extra minutes of sleep or that even waking up from natural sunlight can improve test scores and overall academic performance. The reality is that a well-rested brain is a more focused and attentive brain. Sleep is one of the key factors in whether we struggle or excel in our learning capabilities.

A huge factor as to why school start times should be pushed back is its causation of sleep deprivation in adolescents. "Sleep research suggests that a teenager needs between eight and ten hours of sleep every night. This is more than the amount a child or adult needs. Yet most adolescents only get about 6.5 – 7.5 hours sleep per night, and some get less.", as stated from the Better Health Channel. Regardless of factual based recommendations, adolescents still do not get enough sleep. Taken from the National Sleep Foundations, School Start Times and Sleep, "On April 2 of 1999, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) introduced a congressional resolution to encourage schools and school districts to reconsider early morning start times to be more in sync with teens' biological makeup. House Congressional Resolution 135 or the "ZZZ's to A's" Act would encourage individual schools and school districts all over the country to move school start times to no earlier than 8:30 a.m." Steps have been taken in the past to address this issue of school start times, and we need to continue this effort into the future. According to Science-Based Medicine’s article update: More Evidence Supports Delaying School Start Times for Sleep-Deprived Teens, "Most adolescents gradually shift towards favoring staying up later and subsequently sleeping later. Even without the influence of social media and caffeine, teens often have difficulty falling asleep before 11 PM and waking before 8 AM. With chronic insufficient sleep, a teen may not feel truly alert until after 10 AM. " Teenagers’ minds aren't equipped to function on little sleep, the only difference between teens and everyone else is the biological change in their bodies that causes them to stay awake later at night. Social impact also plays a big role in adolescent sleep times, but the natural shift in circadian rhythms is the main reason why most teenagers find it hard to fall asleep earlier in the night. Adolescent sleep schedules are affected by many aspects, so in order to work around that, we need to delay school start times in the future.

A beneficial factor of changing school start times is the amount of money we could earn for our economy. In 2017 RAND Corporation and RAND Europe released their study analyzing 47 states in the US on the economic changes of moving school start times to 8:30. "The study used a novel macroeconomic model to project gains to the U.S. economy over 15 years from 2017, with this being around $140 billion by the end of the time period. On average, this corresponds to an annual gain of about $9.3 billion each year…" From the RAND Corporation’s article Shifting School Start Times Could Contribute $83 Billion to U.S. Economy Within a Decade, we learn that not only could the economy gain billions of dollars, the model is well rounded as it is not based on just one state but 47 of them. This isn't the only way we can impact the economy, more sleep means better grades as I stated earlier. Previous estimates show that one additional hour of sleep is, on average, estimated to increase the probability of high school graduation by 13.3 percent and college attendance rate by 9.6 percent, (Rand Corporations, 2017). Such change can mean that teens would have greater job opportunities and increase economic contributions based on their earnings. As part of their research, the authors (Center for American Progress researchers and analyzers) also found that the cost for a 9-to-5 school day is somewhere around $4 to $5 per student per hour, though often much higher, depending on staffing and other factors. So if a school has around 500 students—which is the average size of an elementary school—then the costs would be around $2,000 to $2,500 per additional hour. This is about the size of Title I grants for many schools, and it means that schools could pay for the reforms using federal dollars." Mentioned in Workin' 9 to 5 from Center for American Progress, aligning school start times with most working parents schedules, if well planned, could progress through government funds. If the shifting of school start times has shown such economic benefits and overall improvement of student's health then the question we should be asking is, what are we waiting for?

One of the main reasons people are against changing school start times is due to the fixed bus schedules that schools have planned for the minimized cost. As stated on the National Sleep Foundations, Eight Major Obstacles to Delaying School Start Times, "Because most school districts have a delicately balanced bus transportation system designed to run as efficiently and inexpensively as possible, any change in the school schedule can have a severe impact. The specific circumstances in each district vary, but problems that arise can include cost, recruiting drivers, and/or redesign." Many factors play into running school bus schedules and changing them would mean possibly finding a new driver, creating new routes, and a cost increase. A clever solution to this, switch primary school start times with secondary school start times. This way bus schedules stay the same but adolescents get the necessary sleep to properly function at school. Why does this work? According to the National Sleep Foundation, "This solution requires no extra buses or drivers… This schedule also seems to be more appropriate to elementary school students' sleep schedules, because young children tend to wake up earlier in the morning." Children have a recommended 9 hours minimum of sleep, so if they were to switch schedules with teens and start school at 7:30 am, then they would need to be in bed by 10. This gives parents plenty of time to come home, play with their kids, and then put them into bed. Although changing bus schedules can be pricey it is definitely worth it and there are even other solutions, so you can save money too.

By delaying high school start times, students could gain a better quality of sleep, improve their grades, and increase economic benefits. Gaining even 15 minutes of sleep by delaying start times has shown improvements in academic performance. Research shows that adolescents need a minimum of 8 hours of sleep and early school start times conflict that as their circadian clock causes teens to fall asleep late at night. By shifting start times, the economy could gain billions according to a RAND model study conducted on 47 states. Although most people might be concerned with the cost of changing bus schedules as a result of this, there are other solutions such as switching primary and high school start times in order to better accommodate the students. In conclusion, delaying school start times might bring people a sense of panic as there are many components of this shift that could impact lots of people. Instead, you should embrace the change as it could lead to more generations with better sleep that influences academic achievements, and the reduction of mental health issues.

Works Cited

“A. Academic Performance.” The Impact of School Start Times on Adolescent Health and Academic Performance, 14 Nov. 2017, www.schoolstarttime.org/early-school-start-times/academic-performance/.

Breus, Michael J. “How School Start Times Affect the Economy.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 22 Dec. 2017, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/sleep-newzzz/201712/how-school-start-times-affect-the-economy.

Brown, Catherine, et al. “Workin' 9 to 5.” Center for American Progress, 11 Oct. 2016, 06:45 am, www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/reports/2016/10/11/145084/workin-9-to-5-2/.

“Delaying School Start Times.” National Sleep Foundation, www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/eight-major-obstacles-delaying-school-start-times.

Department of Health & Human Services. “Teenagers and Sleep.” Better Health Channel, Department of Health & Human Services, 2 May 2018, www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/teenagers-and-sleep.

“Early School Start Times.” Sleep.org, www.sleep.org/articles/early-school-start-times/.

Harvard Health Publishing. “Sleep and Mental Health.” Harvard Health, July 2009, www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/sleep-and-mental-health.

Heissel, Jennifer, and Samuel Norris. “Rise and Shine: The Effect of School Start Times on Academic Performance from Childhood through Puberty.” Journal of Human Resources, 19 Apr. 2017, www.jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2017/04/18/jhr.53.4.0815-7346R1.abstract.

Jones, Clay. “Update: More Evidence Supports Delaying School Start Times for Sleep-Deprived Teens.” Science-Based Medicine, 14 Dec. 2018, www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/update-more-evidence-supports-delaying-school-start-times-for-sleep-deprived-teens/.

Rockoff, Jacob. “Organizing Schools to Improve Student Achievement: Start Times, Grade Configurations, and Teacher Assignments.” Brookings, Sept. 2011, www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/092011_organize_jacob_rockoff_paper.pdf.

“School Start Time & Sleep.” National Sleep Foundation, www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/school-start-time-and-sleep.

“Schools Start Too Early | Features | CDC.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/features/school-start-times/index.html.

“Shifting School Start Times Could Contribute $83 Billion to U.S. Economy Within a Decade.” RAND Corporation, 30 Aug. 2017, www.rand.org/news/press/2017/08/30.html.

“What's the Big Deal?” Start School Later, www.startschoollater.net/whats-the-big-deal.html.