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Shaylen Perry

Professor Morean

English Composition II

24 March 2020

Literature Review

School starts times have a huge impact on the physical and mental health of students. The

debate of school start times has become increasingly more relevant in the past several years.

Many schools are looking to push back the start times of high schools to help with the mental

health of high school students. Lots of research has already be done to see if changing the start

times would have enough positive benefits for students. The question I will be researching is,

how school start times affect the mental and physical health of students.

Most schools around the United States, have early start times for middle and high schools

and later start times for elementary. There are a lot of factors that play into this; however, it’s

argued that a later start time for high school and middle school students would be more

beneficial. Some states, such as California, have already set laws in place so that middle school

and high schools start no earlier than 8:30 am (Bangdor Daily News). There are several

disagreements between deciding the start time. Lots of factors play a role such as: bussing, extra-

curriculars, safety, sports, etc. However, a recent study showed that a later start time could save

as much as $9 billion a year (Bangdor Daily News). The biggest arguments on changing the

school start time are: students could get more sleep, drive safer and be more engaged in learning.

According to a 2017 survey of 9,000 students, students that start school later tend to get more

sleep on average (The New York Times). Going along with the next argument, students who get
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more sleep will be better able to focus longer in classes. Data has found that those who do not get

approximately 10 hours of sleep at night, struggle to focus in class (Downs).

When looking at the test scores and classroom achievements in correlation in school start

times, data shows that with a later start time, high school and middle school students test scores

will increase by 8 percent standard deviation in reading and 6 percent standard deviation in math.

(Heissel and Norris). There is also a strong correlation between sleep and the mental health of

growing teens. The biological clocks of teens in puberty can be used to explain the need for a

later start time. Teens bodies don’t release melatonin until 11 pm, which means waking a teen at

6 am is equal to waking an adult at 4 am (Troxel). This has a huge impact on students’ alertness,

mood, participation, etc. Even with all these arguments, some people still believe schools should

keep their early start times.

Some people argue that changing school start times will do more harm than good. The

three main arguments against the change are transportation conflicts, effects of extracurriculars

and parents’ work schedules (Morgan). Lots of parents go to work around the same time schools

are starting, which makes it easy for students to get dropped off on their parents’ way to work.

Changing school start times would affect bus schedules since lots of schools use the same busses

for elementary, middle and high schools. Start times for extra-curriculars will be pushed back,

since schools will get out later.

Overall, there is more research to support pushing back school start times. However,

there are many factors in place that challenges the support. Varying school start times have a

huge impact on the mental and physical health of students. The biggest, being the sleep and

effects thereof not getting enough sleep. All in all, there is a lot of data in place in support a later

school start time in an effort to help the mental and physical health of students.
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Bibliography

Board, The BDN Editorial. “Starting School Later Is Better for Students and Society.” Bangor

Daily News, Bangor Daily News, 22 Oct. 2019,

bangordailynews.com/2019/10/22/opinion/editorials/starting-school-later-is-better-for-

students-and-society/.

Downs, Gail C. On My Own Time: The Conflict between Adolescent Sleep Needs and High

School Start Times. University of Maine College of Education & Human Development,

2001.

Doyne, Shannon. “The New York Times.” Should Your School Day Start Later?, 28 Oct. 2019.

Heissel, Jennifer, and Samuel Norris. “Rise and Shine: How School Start Times Affect

Academic Performance.” Education Next, 12 Feb. 2020, www.educationnext.org/rise-

shine-how-school-start-times-affect-academic-performance/.

Morgan, Lee. “Pros and Cons of Later School Start Times.” 24 March 2020,

https://www.everettsd.org/cms/lib07/WA01920133/Centricity/Domain/2847/Later

%20School%20Times.pdf

Troxel, Wendy, director. Why School Should Start Later For Teens. TED, Nov. 2016,

www.ted.com/talks/wendy_troxel_why_school_should_start_later_for_teens?language=en.