2018-19 School Start Times

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to share thoughts and perspectives on the new school start times for the 2018-19 school year. Feedback helps us understand what discussions might need to occur as well as understand the priorities of the community.
We have worked to be transparent and involve the community in the school start time conversation as best we can. In the 2016-17 school year we sent an email, text message and phone message in English and Spanish to every student and parent contact in the VUSD database. These messages featured a link to a webpage with information and surveys. Every school and district website featured a news post soliciting feedback last year as well. Over 4,300 students, staff, and parents responded to the surveys in English or Spanish.
The Reporter newspaper has done seven news stories about school start time meetings and discussions. Two television news stations were invited to do stories about the discussion. Links to these TV news stories were placed on every school and district website as well as social media. We have also placed school start time discussions on eight public board meeting agendas.  Board meeting agendas are posted publicly online and are available weeks in advance.

VUSD has been evaluating school start times for over two years. This evaluation included reviewing research, recommendations, transportation routes, cost analysis, feedback from principals and polls for students, parents and teachers. On September 21, 2017 the VUSD Governing Board of Trustees voted to adjust school start times for the 2018-19 school year so that middle and high schools start later. The following times will be adopted for next school year:
 

*Wednesday schedules are not represented above. Schools will start at the same time, but may release earlier in the day.

Significant research shows that the circadian rhythm (or sleep cycle) for humans changes during the adolescent years. While young children typically are naturally wide awake early in the morning, teens biologically struggle with waking early, regardless of the time they go to sleep. Aligning school start times to better fit students' biological rhythms results in improved student performance and success. 

Because they are drowsy in the morning, teens have more trouble being alert in school, paying attention, solving problems, coping with stress & retaining information.

Researchers have studied the effect of delaying start times for high school students and have found that even a modest shift in start times benefits adolescent students. Student benefits include improvements in academic achievement, reduced truancy, and fewer behavioral problems. These studies also indicate that elementary students would not be adversely affected by slightly earlier start times. Numerous national organizations support changing to later start times for adolescents. These include the National Sleep Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Since the 1970s, studies have indicated that sleep patterns change as children grow into adolescence. Research indicates that teenagers need 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep per night, but average fewer than 7 hours. Most adolescents go through a change in sleep patterns with their natural time to fall asleep shifting to 11 p.m. or later. This biological shift in their internal clocks causes them to be alert at typical bedtimes and to have difficulty waking early in the morning.
In addition, sleep deprivation has many other consequences for adolescents including increased accidents from drowsiness; emotional and behavioral problems such as irritability, depression, poor impulse control and violence; health complaints; tobacco and alcohol use; impaired cognitive function and decision-making; and lower overall performance in everything from academics to athletics.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that high schools should start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. While changing start times has many benefits for adolescent students, there are many complications to implementing the changes. Major issues include alteration of bus transportation schedules; impacts to after school activities; safety concerns with younger children starting school earlier; family stress from altering transportation, meal, and homework schedules; and costs of implementation. 

VUSD has done extensive research on the topic of school start times. Here are some of the research that has been considered.

• Wahlstrom, K., Dretzke, B., Gordon, M., Peterson, K., Edwards, K., & Gdula, J. (2014). Examining the Impact of Later School Start Times on the Health and Academic Performance of High School Students: A Multi-Site Study. Center for Applied Research and Educational. Improvement. St Paul, MN: University of Minnesota.
• 2014 Sleep in America Poll Sleep In The Modern Family, Summary of Findings from the National Sleep Foundation
• Czeisler, Charles A. Duration, timing and quality of sleep are each vital for health, performance and safety. Sleep Health: Journal of the National Sleep Foundation.
• Owens J; Adolescent Sleep Working Group; Committee on Adolescence. Insufficient sleep in adolescents and young adults: an update on causes and consequences. Pediatrics. 2014 Sep;134(3):e921-32. doi: 10.1542/peds.2014-1696. Review. PubMed PMID: 25157012.
• American Academy of Pediatrics (2014). Policy statement: School start times for adolescents. Pediatrics, 134(3), 642-649.
• The Children’s National Medical Center’s Blueprint for Change Team. School Start Time Change: An In-Depth Examination of School  Districts in the United States. April 2014.
• Kyla L. Wahlstrom, The Prickly Politics of School Starting Times, Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 80, No. 05, January 1999, pp. 344-347
• Kyla L. Wahlstrom, Changing Times: The First Longitudinal Study of Later High School Start Times, NASSP Bulletin, Vol. 86, No. 633, December 2002
• Mary A Carskadon, When Worlds Collide: Adolescent Need for Sleep Versus Societal Demands, Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 80, No. 05, January 1999, pp. 348-353
• (Vorona RD, Szklo-Coxe M, Lamichhane R, Ware JC, McNallen A, Leszczyszyn D. Adolescent crash rates and school start times in two central Virginia counties, 2009-2011: a follow-up study to a southeastern Virginia study, 2007-2008. J Clin  Sleep Med. 2014 Nov 15;10(11):1169-77. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.4192. PubMed PMID: 25325600; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4224716.).
• (Hamiduzzaman S, Phillips B. High school start times and death on the road. J Clin Sleep Med. 2014 Nov 15;10(11):1179-80. PubMed PMID: 25325585; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4224717).
• A's from Zzzz's? The causal effect of school start time on the academic achievement of adolescents SE Carrell, T Maghakian, JE West - American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2011
• Never Enough Sleep: A Brief History of Sleep Recommendations for Children
• Lisa Anne Matricciani, Tim S. Olds, Sarah Blunden, Gabrielle Rigney and Marie T.Williams
• Pediatrics; originally published online February 13, 2012; DOI: 10.1542/peds.2011-2039
• Montgomery County Public Schools: Bell Times—Analysis of Additional Options. January 2015
• The Children's National Medical Center's Blueprint for Change Team. School Start Time Change: An In-Depth Examination of the School Districts in the United States (2014)
• Kyla L. Wahlstrom. Examining the Impact of Later High School Start Times on the Health and Academic Performance of High School Students: A Multi-Site Study. February 2014.
• Paul Kelley and Clark Lee.  Later School Start Times in Adolescence: Time for Change. Education Commission of the United States. 2014.
• Impact of School Start Time on Student Learning. Hanover Research. February 2013.
• Brian A. Jacob and Jonah E. Rockoff. Organizing Schools to Improve Student Achievement: StartTimes, Grade Configurations, and Teacher Assignments. September 2011.
• Additional studies of the impact of early or later school start times.

Click here to view summaries of the multiple choice questions in the student and adult surveys.

Hola VUSD Familias,

 Tal vez recordará que nuestro distrito ha estado evaluando los horarios de inicio de nuestras clases con la intención de crear ambientes de aprendizaje óptimos para nuestros estudiantes. Ha bastante investigación que muestra que el ritmo circadiano (o ciclo del sueño) para los seres humanos cambia durante los años de la adolescencia. Más información. 

VUSD Takes a Look at Sleep Research for Students
April 21, 2016, KCRA 3 News

VUSD Considering a Change in School Start Times
April 21, 2016, ABC 7 News

• Davis finds success with late school start, and other districts may follow (Sacramento Bee)

• A Smart Way to Put Children First & Make Mornings Less Hectic (Sacramento Bee)

• Why Schools Should Start Later in the Morning - The CDC weighs in (The Atlantic)

• Sacramento-area school districts consider later start times to accommodate sleep needs (Sacramento Bee)

• Pushing school start times is good for students’ mental health and safety, experts say (Los Angeles Times)

• Montgomery County Schools offers new options to open county high schools later (Washington Post)

• UCD researchers hope to determine just how much sleep adolescents need (Davis Enterprise)

• NPR Insight: Teen Sleep with Laura Barger
• Laura Barger's Presentation titled An Epidemic of Sleep Deficiency: Undermining Student Success from the February 3, 2015 Parent Engagement Night
• Teens and Sleep Conference by CAREI, October 2013
• Link to a list of presentations that provide a comprehensive view of research on teen sleep and its associated issues. Presentations begin with basic biological background and move towards policy implications.
• Teens & Sleep, Later Start Times Kyla Wahlstrom, Ph.D., presentation speaks to the updates elicited by changes in school start times
• Implementing Later Start Times by Kenneth Dragseth, Ph.D, Edina School District (retired Superintendent)
• The Biology of Teen Sleep by Mary Carskadon, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
• Sleep, Memory and Learning, by Dr. Robert Stickgold, Harvard Medical School
• Link to series of web-based documentaries on sleep and its disorders developed for the general public in the Division of Sleep Medicine at the Harvard Medical School in collaboration with WGBH