Jackson Hole High School might have some of the best-rested teenagers in America. The Wyoming high school used to start class at 7:35 a.m. — earlier than the average American high school, but not by much.
In 2012, though, the school district listened to a growing chorus from researchers, pediatricians, economists and others who say high schools should start later than they do. They moved their start time back more than an hour, to 8:55 a.m.
STARTING THE HIGH SCHOOL DAY BEFORE 8:30 A.M. DOESN'T MAKE MEDICAL OR ACADEMIC SENSE
After the change, students reported sleeping more. They were more likely to show up to class on time. It's even possible that the later start date contributed to a dramatic drop in car crashes in the district.
But Jackson Hole's 8:30 start is an outlier. Most high schools start the day way earlier — a survey of 18,000 public high schools in 2011 found that the average start time was 7:59 a.m. The vast majority, 86 percent, started before 8:30 a.m.
And the evidence suggests that's bad for kids' health and their grades. Teens might be able to do better, pediatricians argue, if we just let them sleep a little bit later.
Adolescents are wired to sleep later
Medical research has found, contrary to public opinion, that teenagers aren't lazy —they just have a different relationship to sleep.
Adolescents should get 8.5 to 9.5 hours each night like other kids, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, which recently recommended later high school start times. But here is what's different about teenagers' sleep cycle changes: they shift about two hours later than when they were younger.
That means that while a child in elementary school might be happy to fall asleep by 9 p.m. and wake up before 7 a.m., an adolescent is better off falling asleep at 11 p.m. and waking up at 8 a.m. That's after class is underway in the vast majority of high schools across the US.
THERE ARE HEALTH RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH LOST SLEEP
The gap between how much sleep people need and how much they get is wider for adolescents than for any other age group. A poll from the National Sleep Foundation found that more than half of parents estimate that their 15- to 17-year-olds sleep less than 7 hours per night.
Other studies have found less dire results. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' American Time Use Survey found that high school students sleep about 8.5 hours per night on weekdays.
There are health risks associated with lost sleep — everything from falling asleep while driving to higher risks for obesity and depression. And given adolescent sleep schedules, pediatricians' group suggested that the ideal start time for high school is 9 a.m. Other researchers say even later would be better.
High schools start earlier than teenagers want to wake up
STUDENTS ARE PAYING AN ACADEMIC PRICE FOR WAKING UP TOO EARLY
While none of the research on high school start times meets the gold standard of a randomized controlled trial, some studies suggest that students are paying an academic price for waking up too early.
A study of first-year students at the Air Force Academy found that students who weren't assigned to 8 a.m. classes had higher grades across the board than students who took earlier classes. Research in Chicago Public Schools found that the later in the day students studied English and math, the higher they scored on standardized tests at the end of the year. After controlling for various characteristics, test scores went up in North Carolina's Wake County School District when middle school started an hour later.
A study of later start times in Minneapolis Public Schools found no effect on ACT scores, although researchers point out that students generally take the test early in the morning, which could throw off any benefits from starting school later on normal days.
Starting school later, though, might also have other benefits. A research center at the University of Minnesota studied eight public high schools in three states that shifted to later start times.
The university researchers found that when schools started at 8:30 a.m. or later, more kids got at least eight hours per sleep. At some schools, students were less likely to be tardy when school started later. And at two schools in the study, car crashes fell dramatically: 65 percent, from 17 crashes to six, at a school district in Minnesota, and 70 percent in the Teton County School District, whose high school is Jackson Hole High School.
The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, DC, think tank, estimated that starting high school later could lead to students making $17,500 more over the course of their lives because they'd learn more.
Still, reform isn't likely any time soon
Most policies that are supposed to raise test scores — everything from better-paid teachers to the Common Core — turn out to be highly controversial. Starting school later isn't.
MANY DECISIONS MADE IN AMERICAN SCHOOLING DON'T HAVE MUCH TO DO WITH EDUCATION
But that doesn't mean it's without a downside. In this situation, the problem is usually logistics. Students of all ages usually share the same fleet of buses. High school students get the first shift, and the buses circle back to pick up their younger siblings later in the morning.
Most districts don't want elementary school students to have to wait in the dark for buses early in the morning — nor do they want to pay for a separate fleet of school buses for elementary and middle school kids. Breaking with tradition turns out to be costly.
In Virginia's Fairfax County, for example, the first buses start to pick up high school students at 5:45 a.m.; middle and high schools in the district start class at 7:20 a.m. The school board is considering four proposals to help high school students get more sleep; all would start the school day after 8:10 a.m.
The four proposals have a projected cost of between $2.8 million and $7.6 million. That's only a small fraction of Fairfax's $2.5 billion budget for 2015, but it's a large price tag for a policy change.
In these scenarios, logistical concerns often end up ruling the day. The district's school board will decide on a plan to shift its start time later this year.
Post by lasagnasshole on Aug 31, 2014 17:27:46 GMT -5
My high school started at 8:45. Senior year they pushed it back to 9:15. There was always the option to take "zero hour," which started an hour early. The late start was specifically chosen because of sleep science.
My mom said that in her 3 decades teaching, she'd never had a more alert first period than when the start time was pushed to 9:15.
When I got to college, I was assigned an 8am class. I hadn't had school at 8am since the 5th grade. I was like, "What the fuck is this shit?" I used mono as an excuse to skip that class long after I was going to all my other classes. LOL.
Our schools here are like this. 8:55 or 8:45 for the high school and it's 7:45 for k-5. 6-12 is the later time and the high school has late arrival Fridays which are 9-9:15? I think...something like that.
I hate getting up early enough to get Jackson and Scarlett to school by 7:45 and 8, but I understand.
I'm a complete fan of later starting times. When I went to high school, I had to be at my bus stop by 6:15 a.m. for a 7:30 start time. There's no way teenagers are at their best after getting up at 5 am, especially when many were working until 11 the night before. It's been proven over and over again that teenagers need more sleep and are getting less yet in every town the high school has the first start time.
Good luck changing it though. Later start times means junior is still at home after mom went to work, and how can she be sure he went to school? And a lot of the kids will howl because it means less time for sports or work.
I'm a complete fan of later starting times. When I went to high school, I had to be at my bus stop by 6:15 a.m. for a 7:30 start time. There's no way teenagers are at their best after getting up at 5 am, especially when many were working until 11 the night before. It's been proven over and over again that teenagers need more sleep and are getting less yet in every town the high school has the first start time.
Good luck changing it though. Later start times means junior is still at home after mom went to work, and how can she be sure he went to school? And a lot of the kids will howl because it means less time for sports or work.
I think that's a bigger concern - after school activities and jobs.
Post by RoxMonster on Aug 31, 2014 17:45:39 GMT -5
Where I teach, first period starts at 8:20. If you take an optional zero hour class, it begins at 7:10.
I am torn. I agree it would be better for the students to push back the start to even 8:45 or closer to 9. But as a teacher, I love getting to leave at 3:30 lol. Although it would be really nice to not have to leave my house at 6:30 AM.
My only issue with this is that, invariably, school would go later in the afternoon, and unless all area high schools followed suit, kids would end up missing way more class in the afternoon to go to athletic events. As it is, many kids have to miss seventh hour, which begins at 2:15 at our school, if they have to travel to an athletic event that begins at 4 or 4:30. If the school day went later but athletic events didn't change, they would be missing probably two full classes in the afternoon. I think to make this work well, more high schools would need to get on board and/or the state athletic association should push back game start times.
Our schools here are like this. 8:55 or 8:45 for the high school and it's 7:45 for k-5. 6-12 is the later time and the high school has late arrival Fridays which are 9-9:15? I think...something like that.
I hate getting up early enough to get Jackson and Scarlett to school by 7:45 and 8, but I understand.
This is how my district was. Littles started early and teens started late. It started because they had to stagger start times for bus reasons.
There were two issues:
A) Littles are up and at 'em earlier than teens, and B) Having teens start early while littles start late would mean the littles would need before-school care in addition to after-school care. Teens don't really need to be supervised for the hour between when mom and dad leave for work and when school starts.
I'm a complete fan of later starting times. When I went to high school, I had to be at my bus stop by 6:15 a.m. for a 7:30 start time. There's no way teenagers are at their best after getting up at 5 am, especially when many were working until 11 the night before. It's been proven over and over again that teenagers need more sleep and are getting less yet in every town the high school has the first start time.
Good luck changing it though. Later start times means junior is still at home after mom went to work, and how can she be sure he went to school? And a lot of the kids will howl because it means less time for sports or work.
I think that's a bigger concern - after school activities and jobs.
That's my issue- I don't think school should be structured around sports or jobs. It should be the other way around. Learning is the priority, imo.
I worked and played 2 sports, so I get the importance of both, but still. I think our hours were 8:30-2:45ish?
Post by penguingrrl on Aug 31, 2014 18:04:20 GMT -5
I have to say that I was a morning person before HS and haven't been since about 8th-9th grade. We started at 7:28 and it was rough. The only reason I avoided constant detentions for being late was notes signed "by my mom" saying I had an asthma attack and they couldn't argue with a "medical excuse."
That said, I don't find little kids by and large do well with an earlier start time either. My kids start at 8 this year and getting them out of bed is damn near impossible. My younger one keeps dozing over her breakfast. They both naturally want to sleep 8-8 still and that's not possible, but they also can't fall asleep before 8 (we keep trying and their bodies just won't sleep earlier).
I think anything before 9 is really just hard on almost anyone.
I'm a complete fan of later starting times. When I went to high school, I had to be at my bus stop by 6:15 a.m. for a 7:30 start time. There's no way teenagers are at their best after getting up at 5 am, especially when many were working until 11 the night before. It's been proven over and over again that teenagers need more sleep and are getting less yet in every town the high school has the first start time.
Good luck changing it though. Later start times means junior is still at home after mom went to work, and how can she be sure he went to school? And a lot of the kids will howl because it means less time for sports or work.
I think that's a bigger concern - after school activities and jobs.
The school where I teach starts at 8:25 and ends at 4:10. I love that we have a late-ish start time because my first periods are generally fairly awake and our tardy/truancy rate is low, but I hate that the district allows athletics to begin during 8th period (because otherwise practices would go really late), leaving one fewer period every day for core teachers who also coach to teach. It's not a huge problem for my department since we have no coaches right now, but science and math can offer only a handful of sections at the end of the day because so many of their faculty coach varsity sports.
Post by lasagnasshole on Aug 31, 2014 18:08:20 GMT -5
Re: sports and jobs. Communities will adjust.
I had school from 9:15-4:15. Marching band practice (and football practice and what-have-you) was 4:30-6:30. I went home, ate dinner, did my homework, talked to my friends, and was in bed around midnight and up at 7:30.
Spring semester, I worked 5-9 a couple of days a week. Scarfed down some dinner on my 15-minute break and was home in time to do my homework and pass out around midnight.
But I was a teenager. It's not like I would've been going to bed earlier if school had started earlier.
Unfortunately, a LOT of kids partially make money for their families in our district. Or, if they're not making money, they have to be childcare. They need the time. I hate that answer, but it's true. Until we're willing to tackle these issues for working families, it's hard to see a sensible end. An 8:30 start time is not terrible; it only pushes us back by an hour and ten minutes, so we could get out at 3:15 instead of 2:05.
I'm concerned this would really only help Janie and Johnny Whitebread. All my ESOL students who really need time to work on their skills and get some sleep would just have to work later into the night.
That's a very fair point. I spent a lot of middle and HS watching my brother after school (due to behavioral problems he was not allowed in our district's aftercare program and my mom made too little to pay for a private sitter) and also held p/t jobs from the time I was 16. Had I been unable to watch my brother I'm not sure what my mother would have done since leaving the workforce wasn't possible (she was a single parent and my father never actually made his child support payments) and even with p/t jobs my mother and I coordinated schedules so it wouldn't interfere with her work schedule.
That said, I do think it again brings up the philosophical question of the purpose of school. While working around what works for families, especially those who need more help than others, is very important, I also can see the argument that following the science of when teenagers are best equipped to learn should be a factor in setting school hours to ensure the best possible outcome for the largest number of students.
That's a very fair point. I spent a lot of middle and HS watching my brother after school (due to behavioral problems he was not allowed in our district's aftercare program and my mom made too little to pay for a private sitter) and also held p/t jobs from the time I was 16. Had I been unable to watch my brother I'm not sure what my mother would have done since leaving the workforce wasn't possible (she was a single parent and my father never actually made his child support payments) and even with p/t jobs my mother and I coordinated schedules so it wouldn't interfere with her work schedule.
That said, I do think it again brings up the philosophical question of the purpose of school. While working around what works for families, especially those who need more help than others, is very important, I also can see the argument that following the science of when teenagers are best equipped to learn should be a factor in setting school hours to ensure the best possible outcome for the largest number of students.
I am definitely with you on the real purpose of school. I wish we'd do things like look at income levels, and pay parents enough money so their kids don't have to work/be childcare!
That would be a beautiful thing. If only we could pay everyone a living wage I think a lot of issues, including our national larger-scale economic issues, would be solved. But then, I'm totally a dirty socialist so there is that lol!
Post by lasagnasshole on Aug 31, 2014 19:21:56 GMT -5
Kids can still work if school starts at 8:30 or 9. They just go to bed late, but they're doing that anyway! All that a late start does is shift everything back a bit. It doesn't reduce the number of hours in the day.
My HS started at 825 I think? Maybe 815. Def not earlier than that. And then first period was maybe 830 to 915. We didn't have time between classes though, so there was just a built in time in each class where learning was lost as kids got settled etc.
I mention this bc I think we got at at 235. I would have to double check. But I had sports from 3 to 5, 330 to 530 if it was remote (like the pool). So the later start did not impact activities, work etc. We did not have buses so that is clearly a huge factor but a later start time does not automatically equal a really late dismissal time.
Post by lasagnasshole on Aug 31, 2014 19:34:56 GMT -5
In Virginia's Fairfax County, for example, the first buses start to pick up high school students at 5:45 a.m.; middle and high schools in the district start class at 7:20 a.m. The school board is considering four proposals to help high school students get more sleep; all would start the school day after 8:10 a.m.
This is just fucking insane.
I am guessing that if the younger kids started earlier, nobody would have to wait for the bus at 5:45 because people tend to live closer to their elementary school than their high school.
But work, sports, whatever. There HAS to be a better way than teenagers catching the bus at FIVE FORTY FIVE IN THE GODDAMNED MORNING. I rarely even WAKE UP that early as an adult with a job. This is completely insane.
Not that I was inclined to move to Fairfax County, but this would be a deal-killer for me. I am absolutely never moving any place where my teenagers are going to school that early.
I've been saying this for years. Put the littles in school at 7:30 wen they're awake. Middle school at 8:30 And high school at 9:30. It just makes sense
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
I've been saying this for years. Put the littles in school at 7:30 wen they're awake. Middle school at 8:30 And high school at 9:30. It just makes sense
This is pretty close to what my district went to by the time I was a senior. And it is a large district (bigger than DC public schools).
Kids still participated in sports, music, theater, etc. They still held jobs. And the world keeps turning.
Post by EllieArroway on Aug 31, 2014 20:06:37 GMT -5
Our district shifted the high school start time to 9am this year. I think it is a great thing. I know I was pretty worthless for the first hour or so of each school day in high school. I have never been a morning person, but they were especially rough my teen years. I needed a lot more sleep than I got for sure.
Post by thejackpot on Aug 31, 2014 20:24:20 GMT -5
Yeah, I really wish they would go to later start times. My students start at 7:25 and they are just seat fillers first period. It is also hard for me to get my own children to care as many places are not open at 6:30.
Post by lizlemon19 on Aug 31, 2014 20:26:15 GMT -5
I completely agree with this. School districts may need to push for more before or after school care options if older siblings helped with child care.
The car accident issue is an excellent point.
Another bonus- the littles would get more daylight time after school in fall/winter.
Schools could make gym last period and waive the requirement for athletes. I think it could work. People just get stuck in the mentality "That's how we've always done it.
I've already seen this with my son this year. He used to have no problem waking up at the buttcrack of dawn, all eager beaver and still rocking when he comes from from school. This school year however, the poor kid has been dog ass tired when he walks in the door. He also says he has a hard time falling asleep at night with a 10 pm bedtime. I feel for the kid. He spends his weekends catching up on sleep.
Post by StrawberryBlondie on Aug 31, 2014 22:06:28 GMT -5
My high school was from 8:30 - 3:15. Sports and after school activities still happened. Jobs still happened. Some activities were in the morning before school(I'm looking at you, chamber choir and pep band). But it all worked fine.
I completely agree. We have a 9:10 start one day a week and the difference is amazing.
Our district claims "transportation" as an issue. Bullshit.
Having seen some preliminary numbers on this, transportation is an issue. There is a cost associated with the number of buses a district needs and how to structure the use of buses between schools.
What you have to account for is the time between loading, unloading, traffic and the distance between the schools.
Transportation for a school district is a huge cost. And while plenty of folks say they are for it, they balk at increased tax bills and the need to cut programs to offset transportation costs.
I'm a city kid who went to neighborhood schools, so explain the school bus thing to me, please. How far are people living away from school and how many stops are needing to be made that children have to be at the bus stop at 5:45? That is just insane to me.