High school and junior high students 7:45 a.m. school starting time may result in a lack of high grades. Look into the studies and see that it is more effective for middle and high school students to start school at a later time rather than earlier. School should not be starting at 7:45 a.m. for the benefits of the students’ health and wellness.

When the alarm clocks ring in the morning, it is still dark out for most students who dread the early wake up for school five days a week. “Bright and early” means dark and early for students. The late bell rings at 7:45 a.m. and 2:50 p.m. marks the end of the day. Isn’t that a little too early for students to be starting class?  

Many studies and data collections showed that students who begin classes before 8:30 have lower test scores attendance, and awareness in school.

“Researchers analyzed data from more than 9,000 students at eight high schools in Minnesota, Colorado and Wyoming and found that shifting the school day later in the morning resulted in a boost in attendance, test scores and grades in math, English, science and social studies. Schools also saw a decrease in tardiness, substance abuse and symptoms of depression. Some even had a dramatic drop in teen car crashes,” according to a study from University of Minnesota’s Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement.

North Carolina Education Research and Data Centers found that a later start time increased standardized test scores on math and reading roughly three percentile points which improves the school’s overall ranking.

The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) found that 59% of middle school students and 87% of high school students are getting one to two hours less than the needed amount of sleep which is a result in sleep deprivation. The growth and development of adolescents and teens is falling behind because of the lack of sleep acquired every week. The melatonin levels are being messed with since we don’t fall asleep at night until an average 10:45 p.m. time and waking at and average 6:00 a.m. This causes teen bodies to believe it is still night time since they didn’t get the right amount of sleep and the sky is still dark when we wake.

Schools play a very active role in schedule,s so they should play a healthy role at that. Homework, extra curricular activities and after school jobs keep students up at night so they add more stress to the chronic sleep deprivation.

The schools needs to take into considerations the health of the students and how the early start time effects our academic levels. These wake up times are causing chronic sleep deprivation and affecting sleep rhythms of many kids. Adolescents need the correct amount of sleep to not just  better their health but their academic futures. Pushing the start time back even to 8:30 can result in better health, fewer teen car crashes, better school rankings, more school attendance and an overall improvement of students and schools.