U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan stated the obvious in a tweet last month when he said that high school students would be more productive if they could get more sleep and start their days later.
Now he’s taken the discussion a step further by saying in an NPR interview that “…it’s incumbent upon education leaders to not run school systems that work good (sic*) for buses but that don’t work for students,” according to this UPI story.
I’m happy to see this discussion happening at the top.
*I am dismayed, however, to see our Secretary of Education using such poor grammar.
Yes, there seems to be study after study that confirms high schoolers don’t do well early in the day.
Is there a state law that governs school start times? Maybe there needs to be, since too many schools seem unwilling to adjust voluntarily.
I certainly agree with this. No matter how much they sleep the night before, there is still a “fuzziness” in morning. Seems to take awhile to ramp up. I also remember a certain Mayoral candidate has been saying this for years.
Gail, even before I read your footnote, my head snapped back from the grammar.
And from someone in the Education field! My first grade teacher always stressed double-checking one’s work. Guess Arne didn’t have her for a teacher.
I’m the last to talk about written grammar despite 1.5 years in Journalism school, but sheesh. That could have been written way more better.
The Secretary of Education may not have said it goodly, but I totally agree with what he said. We have three kids, and at least two out of three could have used a lot more sleep in the mornings in high school. I know for sure that all three would have been more productive, and I agree with Dan that the studies all seem to pointing in that direction.
Obstacles to shifting the high-school day later include bus schedules and athletic schedules. I don’t think there’s anything in the teachers’ contract about scheduled hours of the day, but shifting the school day could interfere with other obligations that teachers (and students) may have outside of school. I hope that, given enough notice, these obstacles would not be insurmountable, because this change makes a lot of sense.
Achieving this requires concerted effort. Is anyone on the School Committee addressing this?
Bruce,
That was the point Duncan made that stood out so much. By saying that the logistics of bus schedules shouldn’t take precedence over the needs of children, he’s sending the message from the top that the sleep needs of high school keeps is serious. I don’t think it’s reasonable to think that the Newton School Committee can take this on alone and accomplish much. It would affect sports schedules as well, which means other schools’ schedules. It has to be a state effort.
Gail, I agree with you entirely that this will have to be a statewide effort, and may even require legislation to achieve it.
I think it can be done if you extend the school week and create Saturday as a half day.
@Tom: If you implemented your idea as mayor what would you say to those Newton families who would not send their kids to school on a Saturday for religious reasons?
Just as significantly, where would you get the salary increase that teachers and school staff would understandably deserve if they had to work a six day work week?
I’m just curious but is there anyone (besides Josh) out there who thinks Diana Fisher Gomberg is a far left extremist?
Lights on the baseball and football fields would help alleviate time shifts…
Diana has been a solid first term SC member. Taking pot shots at her on the basis of some “perceived” view of her politics isn’t productive or fair.
Greg,
good point. Just throwing out ideas. We don’t always hit home runs on every pitch.
Dan, which one of Rob Gifford’s candidates are you going to be a cheerleader for next? Which municipal candidates are you going to try to sell your “I opposed the 2008 override but supported the 2013 override because things are different spiel” to next?
Greg, I find you to be very left-wing. I don’t care that you are a left-winger though. I don’t like the fact that you engage in bullying rhetoric towards anyone who doesn’t agree with your little litmus tests.
That kind of personal attack on Diana Fisher Gomberg is unwarranted and irrelevant to improving our educational system.
Diversions like that don’t help.
I supported Josh Krintzman in his race against Diana and have found little support from her, in her first term, for moving the district forward on educational issues, but no-one deserves to be attacked personally in that manner.
I caution Joshua Norman again to desist from these personal attacks. They seriously erode his credibility.
It doesn’t matter what else I say, all of the NDCC and its left-wing supporters will call it a personal attack anyway.
Does this mean that I have to make like Murphy in order to get the NDCC and its supporters to call off their attack dogs against me?
http://www.wickedlocal.com/newton/news/opinions/x902752629?zc_p=1
I waffle on this. If we let kids sleep in and all their other activities get pushed back, they get used to that schedule and will be in the same condition at 10 or 11 as they used to be at 7 or 8.
Kim, that is not what researchers have observed. Teen’s circadian rhythms naturally have them sleeping through the early morning hours. Giving them more sleep during this period when their bodies would naturally sleep leaves them in a better place physiologically.
Here is an interesting link on the subject:
http://www.cehd.umn.edu/research/highlights/Sleep/
The 2011 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Youth Risk Behavior Survey of teenagers found that on an average school night:
– 7.5% obtain optimal sleep (>9 hours),
– 23.9% report “borderline” sleep (8 hours),
– 68.6% report insufficient sleep (<8 hours)
There is much more factual information, medical studies, etc. at this very informative web site – http://schoolstarttime.org/prevalence-weeknight-sleep-deficiency-adolescents/
I just sent the bleary-eyed teenager stumbling out the door to school.
How about encouraging a response to a change in schedule from elementary parents? I lived through the strange circadian rhythms of adolescents for years, but also pushed my young children out of the house by 7:45 so I could get to work on time in another system. It wasn’t always a pretty sight! Frankly, it was six of one and half dozen of another in terms of my kids’ readiness to learn when they arrived at school as young children or as teenagers.
“Getting to work on time” is an obstacle that will probably be more stubborn than the bus schedules, especially for parents of elementary school children.
On the other hand, I would volunteer my bleary-eyed teenager for a pilot project.
The dynamics that define teenagers will always be a topic of study and discussion. As a parent of 10, and formerly a Marine leader that dealt with teenage Marines for years, my observation is that getting up and getting going far better serve teens. One cannot change all of society so that a few can sleep in, but I do realize there is an issue as to how alert and attentive a teen may/may not be. The only schedule alteration that I would recommend would be to start the school day with a schedule that takes this into account. Possible changes could be to have the athletics/clubs/extra curricular activities first thing and then role into class later. Plan study halls, electives, and gym classes, early, and a host of other creative solutions that do not involve rearranging society.
This isn’t about letting them sleep in. In practice, when schools switch to later start times for high school, it’s generally pushing it from 7-7:30am to 8:15 – 8:30am. While we all know they *will* sleep until noon if given the option, the research just shows that their brains are still in sleep mode until 8am or so (regardless of what time they go to bed.)
Ten kids? Is there going to be room in the Aldermanic chamber for Jim Cote’s swearing in?
My eldest got up several times a week at 6am to get to school by 7am for physical education (swimming) without difficult. My younger, on the other hand, two just run on totally different schedules. In talking to fellow parents over the past 17 years, the diversity of sleep schedules is pretty remarkable, but the trend is that teenagers do sleep later and seem to need more sleep. Many years ago I was a Psychology major as an undergraduate at Tufts, and it was not until recently that studies revealed that the frontal lobes of human beings are not fully integrated until much later than previously thought (which is why your teenagers’ judgment may appear to be lacking at times). Until recently, we also did not know the full extent of harm continuing to play contact sports after a concussion can cause. I still remember kids being put back into a football or hockey game in high school after “getting the wind knocked out” of them (i.e., having a concussion). We continue to learn about human physiology and development and it never ceases to amaze me how much we do not know.
What about the METCO kids, they have to get up around 4:30-5am to get to school on time, they could probably use a few minutes to sleep more.
James Cote, I think you offered some well-thought-out and creative solutions regarding this topic.