Two sleep experts are urging policymakers to start the school day later—a move they say is backed by a review of the latest research on school starting times and adolescent health.
Paul Kelley of the University of Oxford’s Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute, in Britain, and Clark Lee, a senior law and policy analyst at the Center for Health and Homeland Security at the University of Maryland, in Baltimore, make their case in a report released by the Denver-based Education Commission of the States last week.
While legislators in states such as Maryland, Massachusetts, and Virginia have shown interest in instituting later start times for their students, most U.S. schools start before 9 a.m., according to the report. Schools in the United Kingdom and New Zealand start at 10 a.m. or later for older adolescents, the report’s authors note.
