Well before the sun rises, headlights lead cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks to the CHS curb one by one as bleary-eyed student drivers exit the vehicles and passengers walk around to take the wheel and pull away. Not long after driver’s education classes begin, as the first rays of daylight are barely in the sky over Mountain Home, the remainder of the student body - eyes half open, shoulders slumped, and moody - begins to trickle and then gush in to beat the 8:00 a.m. bell. Thus, each autumn day at Cascade High School begins with a feeling in the air that something is not quite right.
Should high school students be starting their day before dawn? Can such an early start result in a truly productive day? Science, data, and most teachers, administrators, and health professionals say no. Having teens wake so early threatens not only their academic performance, but their physical and mental health, and safety. The start time at all high schools that begin so early, including CHS, should be pushed back to 9:00 a.m.
Research categorically shows that a later bell time leads to more sleep, which is especially important for teens who need between eight and ten hours a night. Increased sleep, in turn, leads to better grades, improved attendance, robust mental health, and fewer teen car accidents. Position statements, resolutions, and press releases based on scientific studies from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the U.S. Surgeon General, the American Medical Association (AMA), the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA), the U.S. Department of Education, and hundreds of other health, athletic, educational and civic organizations have long advocated beginning the high school day no earlier than 8:30 a.m. to counter the widespread, deleterious effects of sleep deprivation in teens.
In 2014, the AAP recognized that “insufficient sleep in adolescents as an important public health issue that significantly affects the health and safety, as well as the academic success, of our nation’s . . . high school students.” The AAP abstract continued by stating that “evidence strongly implicates earlier school start times . . . as a key modifiable contributor to insufficient sleep . . . in this population.” Later starts, the piece concluded, will lead to “improve[d] physical (e.g., reduced obesity risk) and mental (e.g., lower rates of depression) health, safety (e.g., drowsy driving crashes), academic performance, and quality of life.”
In 2016, the Seattle School District heeded the warnings and followed the overwhelming weight of evidence by moving the first bell for its high school students from 7:50 to 8:45 a.m. The subsequent sleep patterns, health, and academic performance of students were monitored and studied by the University of Washington’s Department of Biology. The research abstract concluded that “there was an increase in the daily median sleep duration of 34 minutes, associated with a 4.5% increase in the median grades of the students, and an improvement in attendance.” Senior author of the study, Professor Horacio de la Iglesia, stated that “[t]his study shows a significant improvement in the sleep duration of students, all by delaying school start times so they’re more in line with the natural wake-up times of adolescents. Thirty-four minutes of extra sleep each night is a huge impact.”
About a third of school districts across Washington, and the nation, have followed suit. Others, like the Cascade School District, have resisted the positive change of later start times. The reasons given usually are based on the false notions that either later start times will not make a difference, and would only lead teenagers to stay up later, or that they are impractical and expensive.
The first objection is not supported by the research and is easily refuted, as the UW study, and a multitude of others, have concluded: kids who start school later sleep more than kids at schools that start earlier - on average of up to an hour.
The second objection cites obstacles to a late start that are real: the coordination of bus and class schedules for different grades and schools; after-school activities, including outdoor sports needing to get practice and games in before sunset; after-school student work schedules; parent’s morning work schedules; teacher and staff union issues. These hurdles are substantive and come with a cost, it is true. Yet, these costs are far outweighed by the benefits, as investigations and analysis by the likes of the Brookings Institution and the RAND Corporation, both esteemed non-profits dedicated to research that leads to safer, healthier, and more prosperous communities, have found.
The widely reported economic analysis conducted by RAND projected that pushing start times to 8:30 would be constructive to “public health and the U.S. economy.” The study projected that “delaying schools start times would contribute $83 billion to the U.S. economy [over a decade], with this increasing to $140 billion after 15 years.” The analysis also cited “other effects from insufficient sleep, such as higher suicide rates, increased obesity, and mental health issues - all of which are difficult to quantify precisely. Therefore, it is likely that the reported economic benefits from delaying school start times could be even higher across many U.S. states.” The Brookings report calculated that later starts would lead to a substantial increase in individual lifetime earnings.
Ample evidence exists to reject the notion that most high school students will just have to go to school tired, as some sort of rite of passage to the adult world. Insufficient sleep results in reduced attention and impaired memory. It hinders student success and leads to lower grades. Worse yet, a lack of healthy sleep leads to emotional problems, increasing the risk of mental crises. Sleep deprivation is a risk factor for obesity and other health issues and leads to an increase in vehicular accidents.
Changing start times at CHS is central to improving student and community performance, health, and well-being. Senior Olen Johnson gave voice to that common sentiment in the halls of CHS when asked if he would be in favor of a 9:00 start time: “I know I would feel much better. I wouldn’t be as tired and would be more productive because I wouldn’t be half-asleep in class.”
The Cascade School Board, superintendent, and high school administration should put the best interests of students and the community first. They should reject unhealthy school hours and, beginning with the 2023-24 school year, open the doors to CHS for students at 9:00 a.m. To do otherwise is almost reckless and sets up so many for failure at the very institution established to help them and our community succeed.
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