School Start Times Research Paper

Every morning students in the United States feel the effects the early start time many schools have implemented. These students are lethargic and inattentive, due to the lack of sleep they are getting every night. Typically, adults see these characteristics as the result of teenagers staying up late watching Netflix or using their cell phones. Many reputable organizations, such as the Centers for Disease Control and the American Academy of Pediatrics, have researched this problem and found that teenagers are lacking in sleep due to biological and physiological changes that are occurring within their brains. These shifts cause students to be more inattentive and reckless, resulting in lower grades, tardiness, and higher rates of car

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.

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

One of the biggest struggles for students today, is the struggle to wake up for school in the mornings, and to make it to class on time. Because of the start times that many high and middle schools currently have, students are having to get up early to get ready, therefore providing them with little sleep at night. They are faced with their everyday schedules, things that are happening in other parts of their lives, as well as having to keep up with their schoolwork. All of this results in a loss of sleep, with the added factor of having to wake up early in the mornings. Having a later start time for schools is beneficial for student’s health, safety, and their overall performance in school.

School start times play a very big role in a student’s overall development, especially when they aren’t getting enough sleep because of it. An important factor to consider for a student’s development is the act of sleeping; that a lack of it can cause serious problems to the students’ growing body. According to research done with Brown University’s Julie Boergers, the author of the letter “Benefits of later school start times”, the amount of sleep that adolescents need ranges from 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep. Only 17 percent of these students

The school changed their start time from 7:15 a.m., to 8:40 a.m. (Boergers, 3). After this change, the students acquired an extra hour of sleep and the number of students who were fatigue decreased (Boergers, 3). The school also noticed that there were fewer absent kids and the percent of enrolled students increased (Boergers, 4). Another example is a boarding school with different start times in the spring and winter (Boergers, 4). In the spring, school started at 8 a.m. and in the winter classes began at 8:25 a.m. (Boergers, 4). Although there is not a drastic time difference the school noticed the differences in the students. In the winter, there was a reduced amount of depression, a reduced number of students who depending on caffeine, such as energy drinks or soda, and reduced tardiness (Boergers, 5). Another impact this minor time change created was that there was less daytime napping and less students who fell asleep in class (Boergers, 5). On average, these students only obtained an extra 29 minutes of sleep per night, but the number of students receiving eight or greater hours of sleep nearly doubled (Boergers, 5). Consequently, when the school began their spring hours, the students fell back to the baseline, their test scores dropped and the number of hours they

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

High school students should have a later starting time in school due to students not getting the amount of sleep they need to function. Students that stay up late at night are way too tired to learn when they get to school early in the morning. Most students who do stay up late are unable to sleep due to melatonin not yet being produced. This shows that starting school at a later time would have many positive benefits. These benefits include higher test scores, increased attendance, more participation from students, and higher performance from athletes.

For example, students actually perform worse when sleep deprived, dropping grades, and drop the school’s standardized test scores. With later start times children get more sleep, and children that get more sleep are generally prone to have better grades and overall better test scores. With longer sleep times children wake up with more energy and a better outlook on that day’s activities. Children that have later sleep times are proven to want to go back to school every day, and have a better attitude about learning. Children should have later start times, later

An hour delay may affect availability of a ride to school and back home. Despite this disadvantage, delaying has many positive contributions. Delaying classes to a later time has a positive influence on students. Once students have an extra hour of sleep, their energy levels and mental health will improve. As supported by Center4Research, sleep researchers have found “most adolescents and adults need 9 or more hours of sleep, and our

There are many learning benefits when students start school later. The research, conducted by a sleep expert with Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, R.I., found that a delay in school start time of only 30 minutes was associated with significant improvements in adolescent alertness, mood and health( 1 ). The more sleep we get we can learn more and it would be better. The more

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

A big reason school’s may enjoy having a later start time, is because it can contribute to the school’s success. A later start time can improve the school’s overall test scores (Why We Must - and Can - Restore Safe & Healthy School Hours). Students can learn their best when they are not tired or drowsy. The School Start Later — Healthy Hours campaign stated that, “Academic improvements have been shown, and overall school climate has been measurably improved when high schools have restored later start times,” (Why We Must - and Can - Restore Safe & Healthy School Hours). The sleep researcher mentioned earlier, Wendy Troxel, said in her presentation that when kid’s are woken up by an alarm, they are literally robbed of their dreams. Dreams are associated with learning development. In order for student’s to use the most of their brains, they need to be receiving the right amount of good quality sleep. Not only do test scores rise, but so does the graduation rate, which is a major problem in today’s generation (Why We Must - and Can - Restore Safe & Healthy School Hours). In contribution to the student success, later start times could drastically improve the school’s success. Later start times have increased attendance around

On a normal school day, students in the states drag themselves out of bed and start getting ready for school. Most students almost miss the bus or miss the bus because they are still sleepy and not moving as fast as they should be. Should school start later in the morning and head into the late afternoon? The lack of sleep affects a student’s academic studies because it can lead to weight gain or even obesity, it makes them want to doze off in class, it reduces the student’s ability to think , and it also can create a depressed or anxious state of mind.