Does it matter when students have to wake up and get to school? Apparently, it does.
Rhode Island Students Happier and More Productive with More Sleep
A private school in Rhode Island took a bold move and changed the starting time for high school based on research. St. George’s High School in Middletown, Rhode Island took part in a study to see what effects a different starting time would have on high school students. The high school moved the morning bell from 8 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.
The results on the students were:
- better moods
- more alert
- less depressed
- better class attendance
- sleeping 45 min. longer on school nights
- irritation and annoyance reduced
This school has now permanently changed the starting time to 8:30. [1]
School Start Times are Controversial
Dr. Judith Owens was the author of the study as published in the July issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. She was approached by St. George’s School to do a sleep study and she met much resistance from the faculty. After the experiment time was over, faculty enthusiastically supported the later starting time. Students were more ready to learn. Owens has a daughter attending St. George’s School and said, "Mornings are so much more pleasant at my house I can’t even begin to tell you." [2]
13 years ago, the Minneapolis Public School District changed the opening bell times. High schools now begin at 8:40 and middle schools at 9:10 based on sleep research. Again, the results were favorable. However, when other schools in Minnesota proposed later starting times based on Minneapolis, things didn’t go well. Editorialist Kyla Wahlstrom from the University of Minnesota states, "There’s still a lot of resistance to the idea, with some school superintendents actually losing their jobs after supporting the idea of later school times." [1]
Education Resists Change in Many Categories
With supporting sleep research and positive results, why would schools resist this positive change? It is human nature to resist change. "We’ve always done it this way," is a common justification. But, education has many traditions that do not benefit students. The school calendar is one example. The reason school have summer vacations is because the school year was formed around an agricultural society. Parents needed children to work in the farm fields and student enrollment dove during the planting and harvesting months. Farm students got less education and fell behind as students in town continues to attend. So, therefore, schools adopted a calendar that fit the farming schedule.
We cling to this schedule for reasons other than for educational reasons. Businesses that rely on high school students in tourist areas open for the summer months would not be able to survive if cheap high school labor was not available. And, summer baseball, softball, swimming, and soccer events could also be lost in many states.
Research shows that students do better with a longer school day but because of funding, most schools have kept the shorter school day. Why? If the school day would be extended, teachers would need to be compensated for working longer days. So, it becomes a budget issue, not what is best for students. The same holds true for a longer school year.
Students lose knowledge over three months of summer vacation. The lower socio-economic students lose more knowledge than middle class students.
Resistance to change affects several issues in education. Research is often being ignored based on finances, politics, business and political correctness.
References:
[1] Woznicki, Katrina. "Teens More Alert When School Starts Later: Study Shows Later Start Time for High School Can Improve Students’ Mood and Motivation," WebMD, July 6, 2010.
[2] Gardner, Amanda. "Later School Start Times May Foster Better Students: High school pushed back start of day by 30 minutes, with good results," HealthDay News, July 5, 2010.
Barbara Pytel - Email me Experience Although I was never particularly fond of going to school as an ELL student, I ironically became a teacher, ...
