School Start Times

The school day should start later in order improve students’ mental health. Survey results have consistently indicated that middle level and high school students who start school at 7:15 a.m. or earlier obtain less total sleep on school nights due to earlier rise times in comparison to students at later-starting schools. () This is just the beginning of the negative impacts that early start times have on students. By starting school at a later time, students’ brains will function better, their grades and learning increases, and will be more mentally stable.

Having a later school start time can increase a student’s academic grades and awareness. Thirty-three percent of teens say that they fell asleep in class. Even though this is a small portion of teens, falling asleep in class shouldn’t even happen once. Also, this means they are getting less than what they need,(eight to nine hours of sleep a night). A school needs to pack as much teaching time as they can in a day, but if that means waking up a student at a time so early, then there's no point.When a student doesn’t sleep as much, students are not aware as they would be if they had a good night’s rest. If students had this sleep, the would pay more attention in class. Therefor, a student would have better grades.

The primary reason for attending school is for adolescents to get an education in hopes of getting a good job.  Attendance, test scores, and GPA’s all play an important role in a student’s success in school, and if they can all be improved by pushing the start time back, then this issue should be pushed further.  The root problem of students not performing to their full potential has to do with the inability to focus from drowsiness in class due to the lack of sleep they are getting.  To support this point, Carskadon, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior, and his 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” (Richmond).  In other words, Carskadon believes that current high school start times go against teens’ natural sleep patterns, making them be awake at a time where their bodies aren’t ready to get up yet.  This causes concentration issues making paying attention in class harder, and kids not getting the best grades they can.  Also, sleep won’t get any

Going to bed at 2:00 in the morning and waking up at 6:30 AM to go to school is a nightmare for anyone. Unfortunately, this situation is far too common in today’s schools. But have you ever wondered how insufficient sleep affects your everyday life? Schools must start later. With early start times thwarting students’ health and safety, adolescents needing more sleep in general, and teens having trouble sleeping early, later start times are essential.

fatigue overwhelms you the whole day. Now imagine that you slept this was every night. Accomplishing simple tasks would be difficult if one is sleep deprived. Performing at your potential would almost be impossible. In order to get rid of these unforgettable feeling many people would sleep late and go to bed early. But with such early start times for high school many students feel sleep deprived and do not achieve their best. Doing so would improve students health. Some individuals feel that keeping the start times at their current time would be best for parents and school districts. However, many people believe that delaying school start times would positively

With early school start times, students tend not to have enough sleep. National Sleep Foundation and American Academy of Pediatrics recommend an eight to ten-hour sleep, which is sufficient. However, 69 percent of the students in the United States sleep less than eight hours per night, which is insufficient. It affects students negatively through health, behaviors, and grades. The lack of sleep promotes students to become sleepy, defenseless, and lead to the inability to concentrate, which may cause injuries and lack of knowledge in school. This dilemma has been around for years and years in the United States. Schools should start later to avoid this dilemma because it provides students with more time to sleep and an efficient work-and-rest

Students all over the United States complain about the start times of the school day. Due to the school start times, students are often unable to receive the amount of sleep recommended by their teachers, as well as being unable to complete everyday activities from lack of energy. It has been proven that delaying school start times causes an increase in students academic performance because it allows students to sleep for longer periods, improve their moods and behavior, and fully apply themselves more in their everyday tasks and functioning.

“Sleep is the best cognitive enhancer we have,” according to Russell Foster Ph.D. who is the Professor of Circadian Neurosciences. This was used in an article by schoolstarttime.org Many students are not receiving the appropriate amount of sleep which is affecting their learning. Starting school an hour later would improve attitudes, increase test scores, and increase attentiveness in students.

Can you believe that more than 26% of students are sleeping less than 7 hours a night? Middle and high school students are expected to wake up around 6 A.M to begin getting themselves ready for school every weekday, some even earlier. Many students can be so sleep-deprived, in the first few hours of the day, that they're not even able to comprehend most of the information being taught to them! Students should not have to live this way, especially with the amount of stress that's already weighed onto them. Here are a few reasons on I why I feel Central Valley Middle School should consider starting later in the morning. With enough sleep, student's overall health would be less of a problem. Later start-times could improve attendance. There

Due to lack of sleep, drowsy driving is common along with risky behaviors and poor attendance. Research shows that a positive outcome from later school start times is it can improve physical and mental health. Students are sleep deprived which increases the risk of driving accidents and dangerous decisions such as the use of drugs and alcohol (Reddy). This shows that the amount of sleep teenagers get can alter the way they behave and can even cause them to make poor choices. Also, “A study by an economist after 146,000 middle school students in North Carolina started school an hour later showed math and reading scores went up two to three percentile points. In addition, students watched TV 15 minutes less per day and spent 17 minutes more on homework per week. In 2011, a study of first- year cadets at the Air Force Academy showed a similar correlation. Freshman take the same courses, but those who began before 8 a.m. scored lower in all classes than whose who started an hour later” (Manning). This quote proves that when students start at a later time, they have more energy and score better on tests Also, children are spending more time on their school work which causes a decrease in the time spent watching TV. Since studies show an advancement in teenagers’ behavior and academic grades, schools should start the day later in the

How many times has this happened to you; it’s six thirty on a Tuesday morning, your alarm has already gone off twice, your still laying in bed and your bus comes in twenty minutes. This is an everyday occurrence at my house. It is a proven statistic that the average high school student does not get enough sleep. While some experts like Dr. Lee Yanku say “It is not the schools starting time that is the problem as to why students don’t get enough sleep, it is because of facebook, myspace and cell phones” The truth behind it is that we can’t budget sports, homework and extracurricular activities into one day and still get nine hours of sleep. This is hurting student’s academic averages and needs to change. Changing the school time will help

For the past three or so years now, there have been many controversies on whether schools should start at a later time. There are definitely many pros and cons if school were to start at a later time, but many teenagers would greatly appreciate it. Nowadays lately, especially in our generation that is full of technology and socializing, students tend to stay up much later than they should be. This not only causes many problems for a student’s health itself, but also pushes many problems into a teacher’s hand. This leads to the conclusion that schools should start a much later time.

Many health and academic issues can arise from an early school day. Research shows an increase in obesity, high blood pressure, car accidents, and sleep deprivation in students who begin school before or at 8 A.M (Richmond). By starting school an hour later, cognitive function increases significantly. Students and teachers are more likely to be well rested and ready for the day. Kelley Smith of the Starline Tribune reports that only 36% of students got the recommended eight hours of sleep when school

On average in today’s society most teens don’t like going to school that early in the morning. To have to wake up so early when they only get about seven hours of sleep, to have students be coming into school at 7:30AM or maybe even earlier in some other schools, is not right. Students need to have time at night to get work done, not only schoolwork but also non-schoolwork. Needless to say, the school schedule for high school students needs to be changed and be made where they go in later. That way they get their work done and get enough sleep because without much sleep students will not be getting high grades. A health survey that the University Health Center administered showed them that one in four students say that lack of sleep has

Today’s students are often having to deal with falling asleep in class, resulting in lowering grades. Many argue that school starting times could be a major cause. U.S. News and World Report released its annual public high-school rankings with the “School for the Talented and Gifted” in Dallas Texas earning the top spot for the fifth year in a row. “The rankings are based on a wealth of data, including graduation rates and student performance on state proficiency test and advanced exams, as well as other relevant factors… But there’s one key metric that isn’t tracked despite having a proven impact on academic performance: school start times” (Slate). Many students all over the world who are having to wake up as early as 6:00 a.m to get to school by 7:30 struggle with not getting enough sleep. “...Problems associated with insufficient sleep can occur, including depression, obesity, migraines, and weakened immune systems” (Slate). Not getting enough sleep is a serious health risk, especially in developing teenagers. “The financial benefits would come primarily from two sources. Greater academic performance is expected to lead to higher lifetime earnings among more well-rested students. Savings would come from lower rates of car crashes among sleepy teen drivers” (Newsela). The United States would gain roughly $9 Billion by making a making a very simple Nationwide change of having school start no later than 8:30 a.m. Students yearly are affected by how early school starts