School start times and academic achievement - A systematic review on grades and test scores

Biller, Anna M; Meißner, Karin; Winnebeck, Eva C.; Zerbini, Giulia

doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2021.101582

Cited by 17 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…For example, prior research in the United States has found that earlier course timing decreases grades among college students (Carrell et al, 2011; Diette & Raghav, 2017); later start times increase math and reading test scores among middle school students (Edwards, 2012); and start times that are later relative to sunrise increase math and reading scores among middle and high school students, with larger effects for older students (Heissel & Norris, 2018). Biller et al (2022) provide a complete review of extant studies of the effects of school start times on grades and test scores among adolescents worldwide.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite evidence that school timing matters for student outcomes (Carrell et al, 2011; Diette & Raghav, 2017; Edwards, 2012; Heissel & Norris, 2018), prior research has produced inconsistent evidence on the effects of school start time policies on educational outcomes, as reviewed by Biller et al (2022). Though most research on high school start time changes in the United States finds that later school start times are associated with fewer late arrivals (Dunster et al, 2018; Lenard et al, 2020; Owens et al, 2010; Thacher & Onyper, 2016; Wahlstrom et al, 2014), fewer absences (Lenard et al, 2020; McKeever & Clark, 2017; Wahlstrom et al, 2014), and fewer disciplinary problems (Thacher & Onyper, 2016), some studies show null or opposite findings (Dunster et al, 2018; Fuller & Bastian, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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School start time delays and high school educational outcomes: Evidence from the START/LEARN study

James

Erickson

Lammert

et al. 2023

Journal of Adolescence

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Introduction: Delaying high school start times extends adolescents' nightly sleep, but it is less clear how it affects educational outcomes. We expect links between school start time delays and academic performance because getting enough sleep is a key input to the cognitive, health, and behavioral factors necessary for educational success. Thus, we evaluated how educational outcomes changed in the 2 years following a school start time delay. Methods: We analyzed 2153 adolescents (51% male, 49% female; mean age 15 at baseline) from START/LEARN, a cohort study of high school students in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN, USA metropolitan area. Adolescents experienced either a school start time delay ("policy change schools") or consistently early school start times ("comparison schools"). We compared patterns of late arrivals, absences, behavior referrals, and grade point average (GPA) 1 year before (baseline, 2015-2016) and 2 years after (follow-up 1, 2016-2017 and follow-up 2, 2017-2018) the policy change using a difference-in-differences analysis. Results: A school start time delay of 50-65 min led to three fewer late arrivals, one fewer absence, a 14% lower probability of behavior referral, and 0.07-0.17 higher GPA in policy change schools versus comparison schools. Effects were larger in the 2nd year of follow-up than in the 1st year of follow-up, and differences in absences and GPA emerged in the second year of follow-up only. Conclusions: Delaying high school start times is a promising policy intervention not only for improving sleep and health but for improving adolescents' performance in school.K E Y W O R D S attendance, behavior, grade point average, late arrivals, school start time, sleep | INTRODUCTIONAdolescents must get an adequate amount of high-quality sleep to function at their best (Beebe, 2011;Shochat et al., 2014). However, 73% of adolescents in the United States do not get enough sleep (Wheaton et al., 2018). High rates of inadequate sleep in adolescence are produced by a "perfect storm" of biological, psychosocial, and contextual factors that intersect in adolescence (Carskadon, 2011;Crowley et al., 2018). Biologically, circadian delays (Crowley et al., 2007) and delayed sleep pressure accumulation (Jenni et al., 2005) push adolescents to feel ready for sleep at later hours than younger children or adults. At the same time, adolescents are gaining autonomy over their own schedules, face increasing educational demands, and have more social interactions than younger children (Crowley et al., 2018). These pressures toward later bedtimes combine with early secondary school start times to curtail adolescents' nightly sleep for much of the calendar year. Thus, delaying school start times has been identified as an effective policy change that can extend adolescent sleep and improve

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

School start time delays and high school educational outcomes: Evidence from the START/LEARN study

James

Erickson

Lammert

et al. 2023

Journal of Adolescence

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“…Previous data showed that Argentinian students attending school in the afternoon exhibit higher levels of SJL than their Brazilian peers and similar short sleep duration than their Canadian peers attending school in the morning (Carvalho‐Mendes et al, 2020; Goldin et al, 2020; Martin et al, 2016; Rodríguez Ferrante et al, 2022a). On the other hand, the increase in the quantity and diversity of SST studies conducted across the world will allow researchers to address more specific questions, as the factors explaining the variability on the effects of later SSTs on academic performance (Biller et al, 2021; Yip et al, 2022). So far, most studies support the idea that the later the SST the better, but the economic and social implications of a SST delay are important.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar clock and school start time effects on adolescents' chronotype and sleep: A review of a gap in the literature

Ferrante

Leone

2023

Journal of Sleep Research

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SummaryCircadian rhythms are entrained by external factors such as sunlight and social cues, but also depend on internal factors such as age. Adolescents exhibit late chronotypes, but worldwide school starts early in the morning leading to unhealthy sleep habits. Several studies reported that adolescents benefit from later school start times. However, the effect of later school start time on different outcomes varies between studies, and most previous literature only takes into consideration the social clock (i.e. local time of school starting time) but not the solar clock (e.g. the distance between school start time and sunrise). Thus, there is an important gap in the literature: when assessing the effect of a school start time on chronotype and sleep of adolescents at different locations and/or seasons, the solar clock might differ and, consistently, the obtained results. For example, the earliest school start time for adolescents has been suggested to be 08:30 hours, but this school start time might correspond to different solar times at different times of the year, longitudes and latitudes. Here, we describe the available literature comparing different school start times, considering important factors such as geographic position, nationality, and the local school start time and its distance to sunrise. Then, we described and contrasted the relative role of both social and solar clocks on the chronotype and sleep of adolescents. As a whole, we point and discuss a gap in literature, suggesting that both clocks are relevant when addressing the effect of school start time on adolescents' chronotype and sleep.

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“…First, while our paper reports cross-national variations in adolescent sleep patterns with accurate time-diary data, our data do not allow exploring the societal and cultural factors behind such variations. Scholars should dig deeper into the role of societal factors that determine adolescent sleep behavior, for example by examining cross-nationally the role of school organizations or parental control in influencing sleep patterns and other related factors, such as school performance (Biller et al, 2022;Yip et al, 2022). Second, while our time-diary approach brings a novel 24-hour look at the multiple ways in which adolescents engage in activities during the evening, we were not able to provide a precise picture of the context and content of these activities prior to sleep onset.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cross-National Variations in Adolescent Sleep Patterns: A Time-Use Study

Garcia-Roman,

Gracia,

Zerbini

2023

Preprint

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INTRODUCTION: Adolescents’ poor sleep is a major public health problem that can be influenced by national context. This study adopts a novel 24-hour approach to examine cross-country variations in adolescents’ sleep patterns.METHODS: We use high-quality 24-hour time-diary data from the Multinational Time Use Study (N = 25,248 diaries; mean age 15.4 years; 50.3% girls) across nine countries (i.e., Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, and the UK) to examine cross-country variations in adolescents’ sleep duration and timing, including sleep onset (i.e., start of the sleep period) and wake-up time (i.e., end of the sleep period). RESULTS: Results show large cross-national differences in sleep duration on both schooldays (from 7:21 hours in South Korea to 8:51 hours in South Africa) and non-schooldays (from 9:26 hours in South Korea to 10:27 hours in the Netherlands), but also in sleep timing, with earliest sleep onsets and wake-up times in South Africa, and latest sleep onsets and wake-up-times in Spain. The incidence of insufficient sleep duration (i.e., less than 8 hours) on schooldays varies from 19% in South Africa to 68% in South Korea. Participation in four key activities (i.e., eating, screen-based time, socializing, studying) during the two hours prior to adolescent sleep onset differs strongly across countries. Boys sleep slightly longer than girls in most countries, and younger adolescents sleep longer, with some relevant country variations. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents’ sleep duration and timing, and the nature of activity patterns before sleep onset, differ markedly across national contexts.

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School start times and academic achievement - A systematic review on grades and test scores

Abstract: doi: medRxiv preprint NOTE: This preprint reports new research that has not been certified by peer review and should not be used to guide clinical practice.

Cited by 17 publications

References 87 publications

School start time delays and high school educational outcomes: Evidence from the START/LEARN study

School start time delays and high school educational outcomes: Evidence from the START/LEARN study

Solar clock and school start time effects on adolescents' chronotype and sleep: A review of a gap in the literature

Cross-National Variations in Adolescent Sleep Patterns: A Time-Use Study

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