Why Do Schools Start Later

A study done in Wake County, NC shows that when school is pushed back one hour later there are 25% fewer absences per day. Less absences means more successful educations. School should start later in the morning because it will help students in many ways, such as; academic performance, health benefits, and staying awake in class. The later a school begins gives students more sleep, and that’s what they need to improve their academic performance. A study done of Chicago public high schools showed that students performed marginally worse in their first and second period classes. When students get a small amount of sleep they are likely to get “catch up sleep” on the weekends. Researchers have found that to be associated with poor performance …show more content…
In states like California where schools are paid by attendance, funding may be greatly increased and this may make up for the loss of funding from changing the bus schedules. Megan Reilly estimates that when attendance is raised by 1% schools may receive up to $40,000 more. If students come to school more often that means more money, more money means more sleep, more sleep means better scores, better scores means better rankings. When students get more sleep they are likely to show up for school more often and get better grades, better grades means higher rankings and higher rankings means more funding. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average start time for public high schools in the US is 7:59 am. This is much too early. In cities the average start time is 8;05, while in suburbs it’s 7:51, in towns it’s closer to 8:01, and in rural areas they also start at 8:01. Schools with later start times have a higher average on test scores, less absences, students also have better performance in the afternoon. Also, the lowest test scores, on average, are in first period classes, many students are late to school and miss their first period class. Moving the start time back would help students grades, absences, and school funding take a positive …show more content…
The student 's health is also very important in school because it is hard to learn with major ailments. Excessive drinking is the cause of more than 4,300 deaths of teens. During the Youth Risk Behavior Study they found that during the span of 30 days thirty-three percent drank some alcohol, eighteen percent binge drank, eight percent drove after drinking, and twenty percent rode with a driver who drank. Also, student athletes that have practice before and after school eat dinner late, wake up around 4:30 am for practice, have two hours of homework per night on average, and most go to bed after midnight. That’s approximately four hours of rest every night, while athletes that got at least eight hours of sleep were 68% less probable to receive injuries from sports. Another thing is depression, out of 12,154 students 16.8% seriously considered suicide, that is 2,041 students. Only 9.8% of students who got 8 or more hours of sleep seriously considered suicide. Each hour of sleep lost was linked to a 38% increase in depression. Also, with more sleep students have been found to have a reduced risk of obesity, eating disorders, diabetes, and substance and alcohol abuse. They also have a stronger immune system and that means that getting sick becomes a rarity so student will miss less school. Finally, as cited in Should Schools Start Later, written by Emi Yasuda and Jayme Wagner, “Production of melatonin, the body’s sleep hormone, occurs later at