School Start Times Research Paper

Despite the overwhelming evidence given by current research, many people refuse to change school start times because of the lack of noticeable impact some schools had or the impact it had on some people’s schedules. Pannoni cites a statement by the Iowa City Community School District which found that “the later start time . . . [did] not reduce the number of tardy students by any appreciable amount.” The principal of Ballard High School agreed by saying that he “would be surprised to see large improvements in either attendance or grade data compared with past years” (Pannoni). Many schools refused to change because of how the later start and dismissal times would affect extracurricular activities and students with jobs. This change would also interfere with bus schedules and childcare habits. However, these seem like small problems that can be overcome when the results are that “later school start times were associated with students sleeping longer at night, less tardiness, having higher test scores, being less depressed, using less caffeine and other drugs, . . . and experiencing fewer morning car crashes” (Fenwick).

Many young students, from the U.S. and abroad, have to wake up at an earlier time in order to get to school. What many of them do not realize however is the effects it can have on their body’s development. Sleep is seen as unnecessary or even pointless to many young children, but as they get older, their appreciation for the act becomes widely apparent. Lots of educational systems all over the country still start school at a time earlier than 8 o’clock in the morning. The developing students who have to wake up at such an early time don’t realize that they shouldn’t have to wake up so early in the morning, and that is because their bodies simply don’t function properly at a certain time and with a lack of sleep. I believe that school start times for students that are in primary and secondary school should start later because doing so will have a positive effect on their overall physical health as well as their psychosocial development.

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.

Research has shown that in schools with a later start time absences and tardies had significantly declined. Also with a later start to school teachers and students would have more time to get ready. Students would not have to wait outside their

In the article “Pediatricians Say School Should Start Later For Teens’ Health” it states,“...... a National Sleep Foundation poll found that 59 percent of middle schoolers and 87 percent of high schoolers are getting less than the recommended 8 ½ to 9 ½ hours of sleep a night. ”(Shute 2). Many people say that school start time is affecting students’ health.

Not getting enough sleep can affect health, safety, and academic performance. What school start times are on average is 7:59 a.m. but should start at 8:30 a.m. said by American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Third, safety is a huge aspect to this topic. There will be less drowsy driving which will minimize accidents involving students, also 31.1% of student who don’t get enough sleep feel depressed or “ sad and hopeless “ all the time well 16.8% of those students have seriously considered suicide. Having later start times will help improve things like after school activities but some say that it will not be beneficial for a schedule change. Later start times will benefit students a lot in the

“When schools have delayed the start of the school day, communities have seen reduced tardiness, sleeping in class, and car crash rates, as well as improved attendance, graduation rates, and standardized test scores” (School Start Later). There has been much debate whether start times for school should be kept where they are at or if they should be pushed back later. Research says that the teenage brain does not fully wake up till eight a.m. or later. So why don’t school systems make the decision to push back school start times for high school students? Although there are a few benefits to school starting earlier such as family time or an after school job, but the benefits of starting school later are much greater. Public schools should initiate later start times to increase the level of academic achievement, create a more positive attitude toward learning, and reduce the amount of stress on students.

You're in bed, feeling serene, having the perfect nights' sleep of your life. You wish it could go on eternally. Suddenly ''BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!", your alarm clock goes off and you comprehend that it's time for school, sound familiar? The subject of start times of school has been a very popular topic.  As many people already know, sleep is an exceedingly significant habit. As stated in the previous newscast, "Sleep physical, emotional, and mental health." Furthermore, students struggle with this habit.

In sixth grade there are plenty of 10-12 year olds who don't get enough sleep. If you are 10-12 years old you need 10 or eleven hours of sleep each night. Having an early school start time means that those people at that age will need to go to bed at 6:30 to 7:30 if they want to wake up at 5:30. Kids at our school are most defiantly not going to bed at 6:30; most people have church, sports, just out of school activities that are usually in the afternoon, some running all the way to 8:30, even 9:00. Because kids aren't getting enough sleep they have harder times controlling emotions and focusing. Someone not being able to function correctly is a big problem. Students can have cognition problems; not being able to focus, make decisions, bad memory, late reactions and hardly any creativity. All of those things are needed for school, but it can be prevented. All we need to do is get a later start time to school for a healthier diet and a healthier student.

The start times of public middle and high schools in America range from 7 am to 9 am, with the majority average beginning at 8 am each morning. In my opinion, early school times have caused adolescents waking up too early for school every day and negatively impact their sleep health. Therefore, early school start times can lead to a decrease in school performance.

“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.

Starting school later in the day would allow teenagers to get an extra hour of sleep, which can be more important than most realize. Due to a delayed chemical release in the brain, most teenagers find it difficult to fall asleep before 11 p.m. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has discovered that by starting schools later, teens could “get an additional hour of sleep per night. . . [which] may even improve students' performance in school”(LA Times 1). This shows that an extra hour of sleep can make a huge difference in terms of the impact on a student's’ academics. Although “later start times could create scheduling problems,” many schools have a policy of “school first, then sports” meaning that doing schoolwork is more important that extracurricular sports (LA Times 1). If schools stay true to this, then there should not be much of an issue, if any, between sports and schoolwork schedules. These reasons provide substantial evidence that starting schools later would only benefit

On top of the extreme costs, lack of sleep is a major problem many students also face. According to Amanda Ripley “athletics even dictate when school starts partially to reserve afternoon daylight hours for athletic practice (11)”. According to Amanda Ripley “despite research showing that later start times improve students performance, many schools begin before 8 A.M (11)”. This is important because kids need to be able to

The government agency associated with the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), surveyed almost forty-thousand middle and high schools around the country and found that most schools start at an unhealthy time (“School Starts Too Early, Says Government”). According to the CDC, minors need a lot of sleep, and skimping on rest is tied to health problems and dissatisfactory grades (“School Starts Too Early, Says Government). The survey they conducted showed that fewer than 1 in 5 schools start at 8:30am or later (“School Starts Too Early”). For example, a school district in Seattle decided to look at altering school start times in light of findings from the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics. They observed that too many high

We live in an age when many growing adolescents are constantly fighting their natural body clocks. It could potentially be one of the biggest issues facing our high school systems. Many school’s across America have started to push back their school start times. Is it worth it? The answer is yes. School should start later in order to unlock our nation’s high school potential.