Students For A Better Start

urs of sleep each night in order to operate at peak performance and avoid health risks.¹ However, meeting this requirement is proving impossible for 87% of high school students , whose natural sleep cycle makes it difficult to fall asleep before 11 pm due to changing biochemistry during adolescence.² ⁵ ¹³ 85.5% of public high schools in the United States fall short of the physician recommended start time of 8:30.³ This sleep deficit has been shown to increase su***de rates,⁴ ⁶ consumption of alcohol, ci******es, and ma*****na, aggression,⁵ ⁶ diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, depression,⁷ accidental lapses into sleep during the day,⁹ ¹⁰ undertaking of unnecessary risks, and neglect of activities judged to be nonessential,¹⁰ driving accidents.⁸ It also causes decreases in cognitive speed and accuracy, ⁹ performance in divergent-thinking and learning, remembering information in its proper order, physical coordination, and attentiveness.¹⁰

Clearly, this is an issue that must be addressed as soon as possible. Any further delay will only serve to further cognitively cripple and endanger the 87% of students who cannot get the sleep they need. However, rushing headlong into a decision is always ill-advised, so allow us to settle some common arguments against shifting school times as we have proposed. In regard to those who say it would be unwise to implement an untested policy, we - SFABS - agree. It would simply be inaccurate and misleading to speculate what changing the start times could do, instead of what it has in fact done. So we point to Minnesota, Colorado, Wyoming, to Massachusetts, to Kentucky, to Connecticut, and Virginia. Studies of high schools in multiple cities from these states showed increases in school attendance and standardized test scores, improved academic performance in math, English, science and social studies, and decreases in tardiness, substance abuse, symptoms of depression, consumption of caffeinated drinks, and car accidents - all after they switched to later ( around 8:30) start times.¹² ¹³ ¹⁴

In regard to transportation, most school districts already have an intricate system of school bus transportation designed to run efficiently and inexpensively. Many against moving the start time back for high school students believe the possibilities of redesigning, extra cost, and recruitment of new drivers makes this plan unfeasible. However, there is an easy solution. By simply switching the schedules of elementary schools and high schools, a large gap can be covered in this sleep loss issue. As elementary school-aged students typically wake up earlier, are more dependent, and have fewer ways of getting to school than high schoolers, who have the option for carpooling, driving, walking (more safely) as well as elementary modes such as busing and getting a ride from their parents, it would be easier for the parents of these younger students for their children to begin school earlier in the day.¹¹

In regard to after-school activities, past results in districts implementing later start times show that athletic programs had minimal to no difficulty simply pushing practices and games back, and have actually seen an increase in participation in their athletic programs.¹¹ Students with after-school jobs presented a potential drawback, however studies have shown that employers indicate that a change in start times has neither affected their businesses nor the number of hours students work per week. ¹¹

In regard to the change in scheduling, the proposed later start times may create some initial stress on parents and students, as any schedule change does. However, as many schools have been experimenting with schedule changes such as block scheduling, it seems these types of changes have little impact on the stress levels of students or parents when implemented at the start of a new school year. In regard to those who say students will simply stay up later, and therefore not benefit from moving back school start times, studies¹⁵ ¹⁶ ¹⁷ have shown on numerous occasions that students do, in fact, get more sleep as a result of their school shifting start times back. In this document we, the Students for A Better Start, have presented the documented benefits of moving school start times to 8:30 or later, and addressed the primary concerns of making such a change. The studies have clearly shown implementation of a later start time is exceedingly beneficial for students, making the only responsible decision to begin phasing in such a policy immediately.



¹ “Teen Sleep Habits”. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.
² “Let Them Sleep: AAP Recommends Delaying Start Times of Middle and High Schools to Combat Teen Sleep Deprivation”. American Academy of Pediatrics, 2014.
³ “Average start time for public high schools and percentage distribution of start times in public high schools, by selected school characteristics.” U.S. Department of Education, 2012.
⁴ Caris T. Fitzgerald, Erick Messias, Daniel J. Buysse. “Teen Sleep and Suicidality: Results from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveys of 2007 and 2009” Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2011.
⁵ “Teens and Sleep” The National Sleep Foundation.
⁶ Lela R. McKnight-Eily , Danice K. Eaton, Richard Lowry, Janet B. Croft, Letitia Presley-Cantrell, Geraldine S. Perry . “Relationships between hours of sleep and health-risk behaviors in US adolescent students”. ScienceDirect, 2011.
⁷ “Sleep and Sleep Disorders”. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, 2013.
⁸ “Research on Drowsy Driving”. National Highway Traffic Safety Association.
⁹ Jeffrey S. Durmer, M.D., Ph.D., and David F. Dinges, Ph.D. “Neurocognitive Consequences of Sleep
Deprivation”. Perelman School of Medicine - University of Pennsylvania, 2005.
¹⁰ Namni Goel, Ph.D., Hengyi Rao, Ph.D., Jeffrey S. Durmer, M.D., Ph.D.,and David F. Dinges, Ph.D.“Neurocognitive Consequences of Sleep Deprivation”. The National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2013.
¹¹ Miller, G. Wayne. “Eight Major Obstacles to Delaying School Start Times”. National Sleep Foundation.
¹² “The Benefits of a Late Start”. The University of Minnesota, March 14, 2014.
¹³ Kyla Wahlstrom. “Changing Times: Findings From the First Longitudinal Study of Later High School Start Times”. National Association of Secondary School Principals, December 2002.
¹⁴ John Cline, Ph.D..”Evidence supports later school starts for high school students.” Psychology Today, February 27, 2011.
¹⁵ Dexter D, Bijwadia J, Schilling D, Applebaugh G.”Sleep, sleepiness and school start times: a preliminary study.” The National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2003.
¹⁶ Wolfson AR, Spaulding NL, Dandrow C, Baroni EM.“Middle school start times: the importance of a good night's sleep for young adolescents.” The National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2007.
¹⁷ Wahlstrom K. “Later high-school start times still working.” Education Digest, 2003.