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Courtney Johnson
UWRT 1102
Fran Voltz
1 April 2016
School Start Times

The average teen needs about eight to nine hours of sleep each night. This is essential for
students who want to excel in their studies and after school activities. Teens spend the majority
of their days in school. Due to the early start times, sleep deprivation occurs and interrupts the
ability of students to pay attention, stay awake, and obtain the information that they are taught.
Young people who do not get an adequate amount of sleep daily experience irritability,
depression, rage, health problems, bad decision-making skills and lower performance overall. A
few hours of missed sleep one night can lead to a terrible sleep pattern for days, weeks or months
to follow. Students need to be in school during their most alert hours so that they can fully
achieve their potential.
I plan to target students, parents, and the people in general who have at some point
experienced sleep deprivation and its side effects. Students will relate to this topic on a deeper
level considering they are feeling and experiencing these things and struggling personally.
People should pay attention to this issue and be aware of the side effects because at every point
someone will experience school times causing sleep deprivation whether it is them personally or
their children.
School start times have been a controversial issue for a while now. There are an unlimited
amount of questions, scenarios and opinions that go hand in hand with this topic. That is one of
the many reasons why this is all so intriguing to me. Some people would argue that school times
being changed would ruin the old fashioned flow of things and interrupt or demolish the learning

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process for students but others would agree that it would be extremely beneficial to students for a
change in start times. I plan to lay out the advantages and disadvantages of this change and
conduct research on what ways that this idea could benefit our students, faculty and staff and
parents.
As questions continue to arise about this topic, the main question that I want answered is
Do later school start times actually promote higher academic achievement? The only sensible
reason to change start times in schools would be to better students and their education. If schools
start later than the traditional time of eight in the morning, the idea would be that students would
get more sleep and this would prevent them from falling asleep in class and help keep them
attentive during their time in class. Staying awake and being fully attentive seems to be one of
the biggest struggles for students in todays times. If the solution to this problem is as small as
extending the start time of schools by an hour or two then why wouldnt we try to correct it? The
purpose of school is for students to get the best education possible so that they will succeed. If
changing school start time to nine oclock or even ten oclock benefited students enough to have
a drastic change in their overall grades and GPA then it would also benefit the school as a whole.
With the rise in grades, the school system would have the opportunity to be ranked higher in the
county or even the state based on academics.

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The diagram above proves the point that the more sleep you get, the higher your grade
point average. Getting seven or more hours of sleep is crucial for students to succeed. Students
aren't being allowed to reach their full potential because of school start times and the work load
they are assigned. There isn't enough hours in the day for students to get everything they need
done and still end up in bed at a reasonable time.
The amount of factors that would need to be considered when changing the times for
schools are unlimited. After school activities and work would be the biggest things that would be
affected. With later start times, the lost class time would need to be made up. School hours would
have to be extended to later in the day which would interrupt work schedules and all after school
activity schedules. Sports teams would have a hard time scheduling practices and games without
having to practice and/or play in the dark. Also, they would have a hard time playing away
games. Teams would have to leave school early to make enough time for travel and they would
have to play early games so that they would still be able to get home at a reasonable time.
Students who work would be greatly affected by this change. They would be forced to work less
hours and change shifts in order to do both, work and attend school full-time. For some students,

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this would be a tremendous set back. For faculty and staff, this transition would mean less family
time, late nights at work and crazy tutoring schedules which may all be unappealing to them and
something that is not as beneficial to them as it would be to students causing them to be opposed
to this idea.
The idea of later school start times would be extremely appealing to students. As
appealing as this all sounds, I want to know more. I would like to look so deep into this topic that
I find a previous study or create a new study based on this. If later start times wouldn't have a
positive impact on the education system and individual students then it would be pointless and
waste valuable time that students and teachers need. In the study, I want to obtain the information
needed to know if grades, GPA, test scores and overall performance are higher in the students
who start school at a later time and are actually able to get the correct amount of sleep each
night.
The benefits seem to outweigh the costs of making this specific change in our education
system. I have much needed research to do and endless amounts of scenarios to play out but
overall and from personal experiences and challenges this plan seems like a effective way to
better the education and lives of todays students. This option is seen to be as a healthier and
smarter way for children to get their education.

"Backgrounder: Later School Start Times." Later School Start Times: Benefits & Cons.
Web. 31 Mar. 2016.

"Do Later School Start Times Really Help High School Students?" Psychology Today.
Web. 31 Mar. 2016.

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"How Much Sleep Do I Need?" KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about
Children's Health. The Nemours Foundation. Web. 22 Mar. 2016.

"Should Schools Have Later Start Times?" Should Schools Have Later Start Times? Web.
31 Mar. 2016.

"Sleep for Science : School Start Time." Sleep for Science : School Start Time. Web. 29
Mar. 2016.