Is 8:30 a.m. Still Too Early to Start School? A 10:00 a.m. School Start Time Improves Health and Performance of Students Aged 13–16

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

Steven W. Lockley¹  Jonathan Kelley³  Paul Kelley⁴  Mariah D. R. Evans⁵ 

[1] Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States;Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States;International Survey Center, Sociology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, United States;Sleep, Circadian and Memory Neuroscience, The Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom;Sociology and Applied Statistics Program, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, United States;

关键词: school start times;    sleep;    circadian;    illness;    academic performance;    adolescence;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fnhum.2017.00588

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

While many studies have shown the benefits of later school starts, including better student attendance, higher test scores, and improved sleep duration, few have used starting times later than 9:00 a.m. Here we report on the implementation and impact of a 10 a.m. school start time for 13 to 16-year-old students. A 4-year observational study using a before-after-before (A-B-A) design was carried out in an English state-funded high school. School start times were changed from 8:50 a.m. in study year 0, to 10 a.m. in years 1–2, and then back to 8:50 a.m. in year 3. Measures of student health (absence due to illness) and academic performance (national examination results) were used for all students. Implementing a 10 a.m. start saw a decrease in student illness after 2 years of over 50% (p < 0.0005 and effect size: Cohen's d = 1.07), and reverting to an 8:50 a.m. start reversed this improvement, leading to an increase of 30% in student illness (p < 0.0005 and Cohen's d = 0.47). The 10:00 a.m. start was associated with a 12% increase in the value-added number of students making good academic progress (in standard national examinations) that was significant (<0.0005) and equivalent to 20% of the national benchmark. These results show that changing to a 10:00 a.m. high school start time can greatly reduce illness and improve academic performance. Implementing school start times later than 8:30 a.m., which may address the circadian delay in adolescents' sleep rhythms more effectively for evening chronotypes, appears to have few costs and substantial benefits.

【 授权许可】

Unknown