High School Start Times Should be After 8 AM - Why?

Dearborn PTSA Council Pursues Later High School Start Times

Dearborn High Schools like many high schools in the United States start at 7:15 a.m. High school students tend to rise at about 5:45 or 6 a.m. in order to get ready and catch the bus. This start time is out of phase with sleep cycles for teens and is not optimal for their health and education.

From the onset of puberty until late teen years, the brain chemical melatonin, which is responsible for sleepiness, is secreted from approximately 11 p.m. until approximately 8 a.m., nine hours later. Researchers established that this cycle is part of the maturation of the endocrine system. This secretion is based on human circadian rhythms and is somewhat fixed. This means their brains remain in sleep mode until about 8 a.m., regardless of when they go to bed.

These adolescent sleep patterns have a cost for education. Test results have shown that approximately 40% of the 10th grade students are required to be in school at a time when circadian rhythms are in a nocturnal mode and melatonin is still being produced. Surveys indicate that 20 percent of students actually fall sleep at some point during the first two hours of school. Sleep deprivation contributes to challenges such as depression, difficulty relating to peers and parents, and increased likelihood of alcohol and other drug use.

The benchmark school system has two school districts in Minneapolis, MN. The first, Edina, changed their high school start time from 7:20 to 8:30. The second, Minneapolis Public Schools, changed their start time from 7:15 to 8:40. Since then, experts from the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement gathered outcome information regarding the work, sleep, and school habits of over 7,000 secondary students, over 3,000 teachers, and interview data from over 750 parents about their preferences and beliefs about the starting time of school. Their efforts show that there was a significant reduction in school dropout rates, less depression, and students reported earning higher grades.

The Dearborn PTSA Council plans to work with the Dearborn Public School System to evaluate the potential barriers and make a recommendation for a later high school starting time for the School Board to consider. Parents and teachers are encouraged to attend the October 29, 2008 PTSA Council meeting to be held at 18700 Audette 9:15 a.m. to provide input for the Council’s proposal.

Helena Thornton

Dearborn PTSA

8-25-2008

References:

http://cehd.umn.edu/Pubs/Researchworks/sleep.html, University of Minnesota, June 2002.

http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/adolescent.html, Sleep Disorders Ring Site, The Sleep Well, Adolescent Sleep, Oct.1999.

http://www.websciences.org/cftemplate/NAPS/archives/indiv.cfm?ID=19979243, REM Sleep on MSLTS in High School Students is Related to Circadian Phase E.P. Bradley Hospital Sleep Research Laboratory, Brown University School of Medicine, Providence, RI; The College of the Holy Cross Psychology Department, Worcester, MA; Technion University, Haifa, Israel, Sleep Research 1997; 26: 705.