Synopsis:

    For this paper, I decided to research the effectiveness of later start times in my high school. I believe that these early start times are related to the upcoming generation’s diminishing mental health. This topic is important to me because I feel as though many adults do not take the effects of sleep deprivation on teenagers into consideration. I believe that as mental health has become less of a taboo topic in society and more people believe that it is more important to talk about it openly and many social media influencers are using their platforms to speak about and normalize caring for one’s mental wellbeing. I chose this topic because it was something that my school had investigated pursuing, however, the pandemic derailed this conversation. I also chose it because in my experience, I witnessed many of my peers’ mental health decline due to a constant inadequate amount of sleep. My hope for readers is that they will do more research on this topic and bring it to their own district’s school board. 

Later High School Start Times

Persuasive Research Essay Final Copy

Link to Later High School Start Times

Girl Sleeps on school bus on her way to school

In high school, I saw many students, including myself, stressed about the amount of schoolwork given and not finding the time to get the adequate amount of sleep. I would have to wake up at 5:30 in the morning in order to catch my bus which arrived at 6:10 a.m. Classes ran from 7:10 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. After school, I attended club meetings until 4:00 and then went to practice from 5:00- 8:00 p.m. This left me with almost no time to do my homework, and I would go to bed around 2:00 a.m. Each day I was surrounded by my sleeping classmates in my first and second periods, which concluded before 9:00 in the morning. In my first semester of college, I created my schedule so that my earliest class all week does not start until 11:00 a.m. From what I have read, these early start times can be at least partially credited with this generation’s poor mental health. By pushing back these early high school start times, teenagers’ mental health would not be as negatively affected by schoolwork and stress.

In America, around 20% of teens experience depression before the age of 18; of these, only 30% are being treated for it (Wheaton et al. 4). Many attribute this to the stress of high school and sleep deprivation. High school start times vary throughout the United States, but are generally before 9:00 a.m. In New York State, 7.7% of high schools and middle schools start before 7:30 a.m. and only 11% start after 8:30 in the morning (Wheaton et al. 4). At Columbia High School, where I graduated from, students must be in class by 7:10 a.m., causing many teens to wake up before 6:00 a.m. in order to get to the bus stop on time. Many of these students have extracurricular activities after school, causing them to push homework until late at night and not getting the recommended eight to ten hours for this age group. This lack of sleep is directly correlated to the diminishing mental health of the upcoming generation. One study showed that sleep patterns were affected by the changes in instruction due to the pandemic which positively affected adolescents’ mental wellbeing and academic performances (Meltzer et al. 146). They found that the teens in this study got on average more sleep and better grades. Many schools have investigated the benefits of a later start time; however, many have run into too many issues to implement it.

In order to fix these problems, pushing the start time later is usually the biggest and easiest option. In my high school, the High School Start Time Committee started looking into pushing the start time beginning in 2018. This committee stated, “Columbia’s start time of 7:10 a.m., which is the earliest in the Capital Region, has been brought to the attention of district administrators… According to research, later school start times for adolescents may contribute to better physical and emotional health leading to improved academic outcomes for students” (Simons et al.). While members of the committee proposed this change four years ago, the pandemic in 2020 derailed the conversation and has not been seriously brought up again.

The easiest way to fix this issue would be to implement a block schedule such as the one used at a university. Classes would last 60 minutes and there would be five a day including one lunch block a day. With this schedule, school could start at 9:00 in the morning, almost two hours later than the original start time, and still get out at 2:30 p.m. This would not affect after school activities such as clubs or sports practices. These block schedules would switch classes every other day and would follow the same odd/even day that the school already follows. This two-hour change will allow these teens to wake up later while still having the same amount of time after school to complete the necessary schoolwork and extracurricular activities. I think that this block schedule is the most effective and makes the least number of changes to the after-school programs in the district. Schools around the Capital district use this type of schedule such as Saratoga and have reported higher test scores and a more positive school environment.

Some people have found problems with changing the High School start times and believe that the negatives outweigh the positive effects this will lead to. Some of these issues include delaying after school activities, which could affect coaching availability along with field availability (Dunster et al.). As I previously explained, this is a valid concern if the start times were pushed back but there was no change of the schedule; however, with the block schedule no after school activities change is necessary. Another concern is after school childcare for parents who rely on their older children to watch their younger siblings. Again, this would not be a concern with this block schedule and the kids are still able to be properly taken care of. Lastly, a major concern of this change is the bus schedule shift can be expensive and time consuming. This is a very rational concern and may take the Capital district time to produce a satisfactory solution. However, giving these students extra time to rest will result in them being more ready to learn, resulting in higher state test scores which leads to this school getting more money from the government (Thompson). While the concerns with this issue are valid, this block schedule eliminates many of the concerns.

The effects of early school start times lead to the slowing down of developmental changes in adolescence and negative effects of their mental health. If this problem is not addressed, the next few generations will continue to suffer from the same effects as the ones before them. This could lead to an increase in teen suicide, anxiety, and depression. This may also lead to an economic decline if these adolescents are not academically prepared to attend college. This change would increase the energy in high schools and improve grades which is crucial to each school’s government funding. While there are problems that come along with every major change, the positive effects of pushing back to later high school start times far outweigh any negatives.

Works Cited

Dunster, Gideon P., et al. “What Time Should Middle and High School Students Start School?” Journal of Biological Rhythms, vol. 34, no. 6, Dec. 2019, pp. 576–78. EBSCOhost, What Time. Accessed on 11 September 2022

Meltzer, Lisa J., et al. “COVID-19 Instructional Approaches (in-Person, Online, Hybrid), School Start Times, and Sleep in over 5,000 U.S. Adolescents.” Sleep (New York, N.Y.), vol. 44, November 12, 2021, p. 1–, Covid-19 Start Times. Accessed on 11 September 2022.

Simon, Jefferey., et al. “District Studying School Start Times” East Greenbush Central School District. November 30, 2018. EGCSD. Accessed on October 4, 2022

Thompson, Van. Do Standardized “Test Scores Factor in to How Much Money a School Will Receive?” The Classroom. June 27, 2018. The Classroom. Accessed on October 5, 2022

Wheaton, Anne G., et al. “School Start Times for Middle School and High School Students — United States, 2011–12 School Year.” MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, vol. 64, no. 30, 2015, pp. 809–13, School Start Time. Accessed on 11 September 2022.

Persuasive Research Essay Rough Draft

In my High School experience, I saw many students, including myself, stress about the amount of school work given and not finding the time to get the adequate amount of sleep. I would have to wake up at 5:30 inthe morning in order to catch my bus which arrived at 6:10 a.m. I would have class from 7:10 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. I was often surrounded by my sleeping classmates in my first and second periods which concluded before 9:00 in the morning. In my first semester of college, I made my schedule so that my earliest class all week doesn’t start until 11:00 a.m. These early start times are credited with this generation’s poor mental health. By pushing back these early high school start times, teenagers’ mental health would not be as negatively affected by school work and stress.

In America, around 20% of teens experience depression before the age of 18, of these, only 30% are being treated for it. Many attribute this to the stress of high school and sleep deprivation. High School start times vary throughout the United States, but are generally before 9:00 a.m. In New York State, 7.7% of High Schools and Middle schools start before 7:30 a.m. and only 11% start after 8:30 in the morning (Wheaton et al. 4). Many students have extracurricular activities after school, causing them to push homework until late at night and not getting the adequate amount of sleep for this age group. This lack of sleep is directly correlated to the diminishing mental health of the upcoming generation.

In order to fix these problems, pushing the start time later is usually the biggest and easiest option. I believe that the easiest way to fix this issue would be to implement a block schedule such as one used at a University. Classes would last 60 minutes and there would be 5 a day including 1 lunch block a day. With this schedule, school could start at 9:00 in the morning, almost two hours later than the original start time, and still get out at 2:30 p.m. These block schedules would switch classes every other day and would follow the same odd/even day that the school already follows. This two hour change will allow these teens to wake up later while still having the same amount of time after school to complete the necessary school work and extracurricular activities.

Some people have found problems with changing the High School start times and believe that the negatives outweigh the positive effects this will lead to. Some of these issues include, delaying after school activities which could affect coach availability along with field availability (Dunster et al.). As I previously explained, this is a valid concern if the start times were pushed back but there was no change of the schedule, however, with the block schedule no after school activities change is necessary. Another concern is after school childcare for parents who rely on their older children to watch their younger siblings. This would not be a concern with this block schedule and the kids are still able to be properly taken care of.While the concerns with this issue are valid, this block schedule eliminates many of the concerns.

The effects of early school start times leads to the slowing down of developmental changes in adolescence and negative effects of their mental health. If this problem is not addressed, the next few generations will continue to suffer from the same effects as the ones before them. This could lead to an increase in teen suicide, anxiety and depression. This may lead to an economic decline if these adolescents are not mentally or physically healthy enough to hold jobs to support themselves and their family, but it may also lead to essential jobs not having enough workers to operate. This change will also encourage more people to become teachers which are already becoming scarce throughout the United States.

Works Cited

Dunster, Gideon P., et al. “What Time Should Middle and High School Students Start School?” Journal of Biological Rhythms, vol. 34, no. 6, Dec. 2019, pp. 576–78. EBSCOhost, What Time.  Accessed on 11 September 2022 

Wheaton, Anne G., et al. “School Start Times for Middle School and High School Students — United States, 2011–12 School Year.” MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, vol. 64, no. 30, 2015, pp. 809–13, School Start Time.  Accessed on 11 September 2022.