In the United States, the start school later movement is an interdisciplinary effort by health professionals, students, parents, and educators to shift school hours later. It bases its claims on a growing body of evidence that starting middle and high schools too early in the morning is unhealthy for teenagers. Since the second half of the 20th century, most public schools in the United States have started high school around 8:00 a.m., in some cases as early at 7:00 a.m. Before that, schools rarely began before 8:30 or 9 a.m. According to the CDC, school should begin no earlier than 8:30 a.m. for middle and high school students.
Advocates of a return to later school start times argue that sleep is a public health issue. They say that early school start times cause widespread sleep deprivation among teenagers as well as physical, psychological, and educational problems. Not only do students consistently get significantly more sleep on school nights when their schools move to later start times, but later school hours have been linked with improved school performance, reduced impulsiveness, and greater motivation. They also cause lower rates of depression, tardiness, truancy, and morning automobile accidents. Studies from 2011 suggest that early school start times disproportionately hurt economically disadvantaged students and may even negatively impact future earning potential of students, offsetting any financial savings to the school system attributed to earlier hours. Therefore, many schools and two entire US states have implemented later school start times.
Context Since the rise of suburbs in the mid-20th century, most public secondary schools in the US have started around 8:00 a.m., and some start as early as 7:00 a.m. This is done for three reasons: it allows school districts to use the same fleet of buses and drivers for different grade levels, it allows older students to care for or transport younger siblings after school, and it avoids rush-hour traffic around 8:30 a.m. The CDC recommends that middle and high schools start at 8:30 a.m. or later, but less than 20% of such schools currently follow this guideline.
Origins In the early 1990s, the University of Minnesota's landmark School Start Time Study tracked high school students from two Minneapolis-area districts – Edina, a suburban district that changed its opening hour from 7:20 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and the Minneapolis Public Schools, which changed their opening from 7:20 a.m. to 8:40 a.m. Many positive benefits to students were found, including: Improved attendance and enrollment rates Less sleeping in class Less student-reported depression Fewer student visits to school counselors for behavioral and peer issues More even temperament at home
A longitudinal follow-up study of the Minneapolis Public Schools after five years revealed that these and other positive benefits had persisted. In 2014, a three-year project using data from more than 9,000 students attending eight high schools in three states, found that when schools switched to a start time of 8:30 a.m. or later, attendance, standardized test scores and academic performance improved, and tardiness, substance abuse, symptoms of depression, consumption of caffeinated drinks, and the rate of traffic accidents involving teen drivers decreased.Kyla L. Wahlstrom, Ph.D., Examining the Impact of Later High School Start Times on the Health and Academic Performance of High School Students: A Multi-Site Study. Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement. Final Report. University of Minnesota, February 2014.
Since the 1990s over 250 individual schools or districts in 45 states have delayed their start times,Wahlstrom K, Changing times: Findings from the first longitudinal study of later high school start times NASSP Bull 2002;86(633):3–21, "Success Stories." http://www.startschoollater.net/success-stories.html. and scores of others are considering a change at any given time.Schools Recently Delaying Start TimesStart Time Activity By State Despite sporadic reform efforts on the part of educators, public health officials, legislators, and grassroots groups, however, most American middle and high schools still require students to begin instruction prior to 8:30 a.m. Failure of efforts to delay start times over the years has primarily been due to pushback from community members who fear that a shift to later school hours will be prohibitively expensive and/or disrupt after-school sports and other extracurricular schedules, student jobs, daycare arrangement, teacher training, or time for homework.
Shifted circadian rhythms and sleep deprivation Proponents of a return to later school hours cite abundant evidence that starting middle and high school before about 8:30 or 9 a.m. is incompatible with the biological clocks of teenagers and young adults.National Sleep Foundation. Backgrounder: Later School Start Times http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/hot-topics/backgrounder-later-school-start-times In 1993, a team led by Mary Carskadon, PhD, of Brown University showed that changes in circadian biology during puberty drive a "sleep-phase delay," a shift in the sleep-wake patterns of adolescents that leads them to fall asleep and wake up later than younger and older people. Subsequent studies have confirmed these findings, explored the impact of school start times on the sleep needs and patterns of adolescents., and demonstrated a "phase shift" in the release of melatonin at puberty, which appears to be involved in shifting the sleep-wake cycle several hours later during the adolescent years.Later Start Times for High School Students, University of Minnesota, June 2002, This same shift to a delayed phase in the release of melatonin during puberty has also been seen in other mammals.
The shifted circadian rhythms associated with puberty make it difficult, if not impossible, for many teenagers—who may have to rise at 5 or 6 a.m. to get ready and commute to school in time for 7 a.m. school bells—to get sufficient sleep on school nights. Even discounting for the distractions of homework, extracurricular demands, and electronics, most adolescents find it difficult to fall asleep before about 11 p.m. or rise before about 8 a.m. In addition, they need to sleep in until 8 a.m. or so to get the 9 or more hours of sleep that most sleep research suggests they need. As a result, many teenagers arrive at school sleep-deprived. The most recent data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey show that 70% of American high school students are sleep-deprived and about 40% get six or fewer hours of sleep per night.
A study in the Minneapolis Public School District in 1997-1998 demonstrated that multiple sleep deprivation effects could be alleviated by delaying school start times. Factors such as attendance especially increased. Also, there was a decrease in disciplinary problems, indicating that chronic sleep debt also drove behavioral issues amongst the student population. Health impacts of early school hours
Later school starts are associated with increased sleep for students. According to the CDC students who do not receive the appropriate amount of sleep are at an increased risk of health issues. Almost 70% of teens reportedly do not get enough sleep and there are reported increases in stimulant abuse, weight gain, diabetes, immune disorders, mood swings, depression, and suicidal ideation, as well as reduced impulse control. Early school start times have been associated with drowsy driving in new teen drivers and higher car crash rates. Schools ending early in the afternoon may also increase the risk of engaging in unhealthy, risky behaviors among sleep-deprived adolescents. Sending children to school before sunrise on fall or winter mornings may require them to wait or walk in cold, dark weather, with low visibility. Impact on school performance
Sleep deprivation can result in low motivation, difficulty concentrating, restlessness, slowed reaction times, lack of energy, frequent errors, forgetfulness, and impaired decision-making skills. Studies by Kyla Wahlstrom at University of Minnesota's Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) have tied these effects to early school start times, which, in turn, have repeatedly been linked to increased rates of tardiness, truancy, absenteeism, and dropping out.Morgan LA, The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on School Attendance and Dropout Rates, Sleeping Resources 2012 http://sleepingresources.com/sleep-deprivation-and-dropout-rates/Sleep Loss and Academic Achievement http://startschoollater.pbworks.com/w/page/60412535/Sleep%20Loss%20and%20Academic%20Achievement In 2012, a study using data from Wake County, North Carolina, showed that delaying middle school start times by one hour, from roughly 7:30 to 8:30, increases standardized test scores by at least two percentile points in math and one percentile point in reading. The effect was largest for students with below-average test scores, suggesting that later start times would narrow gaps in student achievement.
A study in the United Kingdom delayed a school's starting bell to 10:00 a.m. for two years then reverted back to an 8:50 a.m. start time. In the years when the start time was 10:00, the school experienced statistically significant improvements in attendance and student performance. When students were returned to 8:50 start times, the school experienced a decrease in performance. This study indicates that even though school start times would benefit students later than 8:50, even more positive outcomes could be reached after 10:00 AM.
Other studies have indicated that school start times may not be the only solution to improving cognitive functioning during the early hours of school. One alternative is to restructure class schedules in which morning classes are focused on fluency based skills instead of implicit memory skills that are shown to be stronger for adolescents later in the day.
Equity
The impact of later start times on school performance—including reduced truancy, absenteeism, and increased overall academic achievement—is approximately double in economically disadvantaged students.Jacob BA, Rockoff JE, Organizing Schools to Improve Student Achievement: StartTimes, Grade Configurations, and Teacher Assignments. The Hamilton Project. Brookings: September 2011 This discrepancy may be explained, at least in part, by the fact that privileged students have opportunities to attend private schools (most of which start instruction after 8 a.m.) and/or save time by driving or being driven to school.
Studies of relationships between sleep problems, socioeconomic status, and negative developmental outcomes in youth indicated that students with lower socioeconomic statuses were more disproportionately affected by stress response system issues, emotional regulation issues, and cognitive functioning issues. Longer and better quality sleep may be protective against socio-emotional and cognitive challenges for low-income youth.
Impact on adults Students are not the only ones to benefit from sleeping in. After new school start times were implemented in a large suburban district near Denver, more parents of middle and high school students reported sufficient sleep duration, and fewer reported feeling tired. Middle and high school teachers reported later wake times, increased sleep duration, and improved daytime performance. The high school teachers said this profoundly changed their lives, allowing them to be a more effective teacher.
Economic impact