Why Schools Are Struggling to Let Students Sleep In

Several years ago, Jodi McClay, assistant superintendent of the school district in Temecula, Calif., started fielding a bizarre complaint from parents and students. It was too hard, they said, for teens to rise in time for homeroom. Initially, she was puzzled. Classes started at 7:30 a.m. The solution seemed simple: go to bed earlier.

That’s when McClay learned about sleep phase delay, the medical term for how puberty affects bedtime. As hormones change, so do circadian rhythms, making it biologically unfeasible for some teens to go to bed before 11 p.m. and wake up before 8 a.m.–let alone get dressed, transported and ready to learn.

Concerned, McClay met with a group of parents, teachers and administrators to discuss a question that doctors have been posing for years, lately with growing urgency: Should school start later? Among adolescents, getting the recommended amount of sleep (around nine hours) has been linked to higher test scores and better behavior. Surely, McClay thought, Temecula could revise its policy.

Others were skeptical. Starting classes at 8:30 or 9 a.m. might make it harder for parents to get to work on time, and shifting the bus schedule would cost at least $1 million, more than the district could afford. “We wanted to change,” says McClay. “But ultimately, we couldn’t.”

Temecula’s struggle is not unique. In the U.S., more than 4 in 5 middle and high schools begin at or before 8:30 a.m. That can contribute to sleep deprivation, making it harder for students to concentrate and even increasing their risk for obesity and depression. The American Academy of Pediatrics confirmed as much in 2014, when it made a formal recommendation to delay school start times. By now, hundreds of districts have started to explore alternatives. Seattle Public Schools is the latest and largest to embrace one: this fall it will push morning bells from around 7:50 a.m. to 8:45 a.m.

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