BLOG: Later High School Start Times Proven to Improve Student Learning and Health
With the beginning of another school year upon us, parents and students are gearing up with back-to-school shopping and transitioning from summer schedules to early mornings. For teenagers, these early mornings are a challenge as many will find themselves nodding off during their classes as high school bells ring around 7:30 a.m. While parents and teachers may attribute falling asleep during class to staying up late checking Facebook statuses and texting with friends, medical evidence suggests that an early school start time before 8:30 a.m. is a greater culprit because classes are occurring when students’ brains and bodies are still in biological sleep mode.
In fact, according to the National Sleep Foundation teenagers ages 13-19 have a natural sleep pattern that leads to a late-to-bed, late-to-rise cycle. This is because in adolescents the brain chemical melatonin, which is responsible for sleepiness, is secreted from approximately 11 p.m. until 8 a.m. – the sleep phase shift. Early school start times interrupt this natural sleep pattern, leaving many high school students sleep deprived. Sleep deprivation negatively affects student learning and overall health which is why the University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) conducted the first research study of its kind in 1996 to determine how shifting to a later school time impacts students and schools.
The School Start Time Study tracked high school students from two Minneapolis-area districts that changed to a later school start time from 7:20 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. (Edina) and 8:40 a.m. (Minneapolis Public Schools). The results showed many positive benefits, 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
Five years later, a longitudinal follow-up study of the Minneapolis Public Schools revealed that the positive benefits continued to persist over time. Despite concerns from coaches, school administrators and teachers, the later high school start time did not affect enrollment in after-school sports and activities or increase transportation costs. In fact, coaches and teachers reported students were more mentally alert at the end of the day. Other Minnesota schools to adopt a later start time include: St. Louis Park, South Washington County and Mahtomedi. Today, several high schools in the Minneapolis Public School district will start their day at 8:30 a.m.
About the study
The School Start Time Study was recently featured in the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development Vision 2020 blog written by Kyla Wahlstrom, director of the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI). Wahlstrom’s research focuses on the politics of change, professional development of teachers and leadership issues. Her research on the importance of later school start times garnered national recognition. Wahlstrom received the National Leadership Award for research having a national impact from the Minnesota Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development in 2000. Learn more about Kyla Wahlstrom and the School Start Time Study at http://cehdvision2020.umn.edu/.
D
5:34 pm on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
just curious as to how eagan students at ehs score so well on tests. they start early.
Maribel Ibrahim
10:13 pm on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Dr. Wahlstrom, I am so glad to see this article on Patch!
I live in Maryland and our county has the earliest school start time of 7:17am. In November 2011, I co-founded Start School Later (www.StartSchoolLater.net) because we believe that changing the start times to a healthier time is something that cannot be achieved at the local level unless key decision makers are aware of the biological sleep needs of students.
The landmark groundwork in Minnesota has been a pivotal force in truly understanding the impact of later school start times and we reference this material often.
Sleep needs are often relegated as a luxury and sleep deprivation is too often blamed on poor parenting or laziness on the part of students. This attitude has to change and I appreciate your concise and accurate coverage of this issue.
We started a national petition in November 2011, with signatures from all 50 states which has been presented to legislators, state and federal agencies and we continue to provide education awareness about the critical need to establish healthy school start times for all public school students.
We have also started local chapters that can help lead the change to healthy school start times within communities.
For more information, visit www.StartSchoolLater.net
Readers can also view and subscribe to our latest newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/mYgbf
Regards,
Maribel Ibrahim
Co-Founder
www.StartSchoolLater.net
Frances Keefe
8:42 am on Wednesday, August 29, 2012
In Pinellas County, Florida, high schools start at 7:05am....all because we don't have enough money in the budget to fix our transportation system, so we have a 3 tiered busing system. Very sad that they have to put their budget ahead of student success.
Dolores Skowronek
7:12 pm on Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Thank you for writing about this very important issue. I am familiar with your 2002 study and shared it with our school board when I tried to change our high school start time in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, our start time did not change and my teenage sons continue to deal with an unhealthy and unsafe 7:10 start time. It is among the earliest in the United States and I see the toll on their emotional health. As a parent, it breaks my heart. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, here is a video of my son waiting for his morning school bus: http://youtu.be/pUSWUFsh7oE
Therese Tuley
3:43 pm on Thursday, August 30, 2012
Dolores, so sorry about your son's too early bus time. In our neighborhood here in Fairfax County VA, our bus arrives at 6:10 for a 7:20 start time for high school. I am Chair of SLEEP (Start Later for Excellence in Education) and we have been advocating for a healthy start time since 2004. We are making some progress with our new school board which is studying how other school systems have successfully changed to healthy start times. For more info, check out our website at sleepinfairfax.org (sign our petition, too) and on Facebook. Love what StartSchoolLater is doing on the national level!
Ken Coy
8:07 pm on Thursday, August 30, 2012
I didn't notice in the article what the school ending times are for the day. If school starts at 8:30, does school let out at 4:30?
I know that farmers will like the later hours. It will give the kids an extra hour or so to do chores before going to school.
N C Bachler
11:55 am on Saturday, September 1, 2012
I don't believe that high schoolers are alone in suffering. In our community 4th graders (age 9) are picked up at 7:15A for a school start of 7:50A. This is much too early for a 9 yr. old. Again it is a budget issues as we also run a 3 tier bus schedule. Something needs to be done on a national level.
Heyitsme
3:40 pm on Saturday, September 1, 2012
Not on a national level, schools are a state concern...leave it there.
Heyitsme
3:39 pm on Saturday, September 1, 2012
I live in Shakopee, MN near Minneapolis, our 10th to 12th graders start @ 8:20 and get out @ 3. They started the late start about four years ago. I am from PA where our start time was 7:40, earliest bus was 6. We got out @ 2:30. What I think is stupid is Shakopee's Junior High (7th, 8th and 9th is Junior High) starts @ 7:45 and gets out @ 2:45....so the older kids do better with a late start, but junior high doesn't need too. Elementary goes 9 to 4.
Casey Cosgrove
9:20 pm on Sunday, September 2, 2012
Interesting that nothing in the article actually proves that later start times resulted in better learning (better grades, tet scores, etc). Where did the author get this idea?
Patty Tanji
7:24 pm on Monday, September 3, 2012
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
.......= learning better
Dolores Skowronek
10:33 am on Monday, September 3, 2012
Casey, I can't speak for Dr. Walhlstrom, but I can direct you to Start School Later's bibliography. Scroll to the section titled "Sleep Loss & Academic Achievement". You should find what you need. Here's the link: http://startschoollater.pbworks.com/w/page/51980713/Start%20School%20Later%20Research%20Articles
Casey Cosgrove
9:13 pm on Sunday, September 16, 2012
Dolores, of course, you can't speak for Dr. Walhstrom. In fact, her own article discusses no evidence of increased learning, just better behaviors. If her research had actually discovered that some evidence of increased learning, I'm sure she would have mentioned it.
Patty Tanji
7:23 pm on Monday, September 3, 2012
Great article. My school district 196...Apple Valley, Eagan, Rosemount, took up this issue of later school starts a couple of years ago. It was voted down.
Maribel Ibrahim
8:48 pm on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
For those of you that doubt the "real world proof" of success with starting schools later, visit our Success Stories page here: http://www.startschoollater.net/success-stories.html
You'll see many cases of improvements on many levels with later school starts.
In short, later starts have been proven to result in more sleep and thus less sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation has been linked to increased depression, obesity, inability to focus, poor judgement, higher teen crash rates, increased drug use and more. Many schools have made the switch and one scholarly paper (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1628693) cites the following findings: "I find evidence that later start times are associated with decreased absences, less time spent watching television and a greater amount of time spent on homework, indicating that these factors may explain why later starting students have higher test scores."
Maribel Ibrahim
8:51 pm on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Also, Heyitsme believes that this is only a state level issue. That would be true if all states made evidence based decisions on maintaining effective standards for health and safety.
Clearly, early school starts are a health and safety issue, and only through widespread education from multiple sources have many states been able to start leading the change to promote healthy school hours.