High school start times and student achievement: Looking beyond test scores

Lenard, Matthew; Morrill, Melinda Sandler; Westall, John

doi:10.1016/j.econedurev.2020.101975

Cited by 15 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The 11 longitudinal studies all included a change in SSTs and hence had an intervention group 48,49,67,51,52,55–57,64–66 . However, only 6 studies had an additional control group with no change 48,56,65–67 or advance of SSTs 55 (Fig. 2b).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, since some studies did not provide explanations whether scores originated from standardised tests, a clear distinction between course grades and test scores was not always possible. Clearly defined scores were ACT scores (American College Test) 54,56,59 , national achievement scores or PLAN scores 63 , standardised test scores from Regents Exams 57 , standardised end-of-course exams 59 , annual national assessment of achievement in South Korea 67 , GCSE in the UK (General Certificate of Secondary Education) 68 , and Woodcock-Johnson Revised Test of Basic Achievement scores 58 , all of which were objectively reported (except for Groen et al ., for which the source was unclear 58 ) (Fig. 2d).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lenard et al . (2020) 56 looked at 19 high schools in Wake Country, North Carolina, USA, of which 5 had advanced their SSTs from 8:05h to 7:25h, while the control group (14 high schools) kept their start at 7:25h. They found no significant change in objective standardised American College Test (ACT) scores, neither in their longitudinal nor their cross-sectional comparison of about N students ~10,000 in 8 cohorts.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Well-designed studies also reveal no clear picture What do studies with low risk (i.e., a ≥75% good-evidence-score) conclude about the influence of SSTs on academic achievement? Lenard et al (2020) 56 found that advancing SSTs by 40 minutes did not affect ACT scores, while Jung (2018) 65 showed that delaying start times by 40-60 min also did not affect grades when personal covariates were controlled for. If studies with a good-evidence-score of 50% are also considered, the picture is more complex: two studies report small gains in math and reading 48,55 , and one reports small effects on math but not on Korean nor English 67 .…”

Section: Methodological Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the positive side, especially the longitudinal studies with a control group showed a high evidence quality with 2 56,65 out of 6 studies reaching at least a 75%-score and 3 more studies 48,55,67 >50%. Two studies 48,67 could have improved their score to 75% simply by ensuring sufficient reporting of outcomes and statistical analyses.…”

Section: Risk Of Bias Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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School start times and academic achievement - a systematic review on grades and test scores

Biller

Meißner

et al. 2021

Preprint

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School start times have been at the centre of many scientific and political debates given the accumulating evidence that bell times are generally too early, and thus lead to an epidemic of sleep restriction in the student population. Recent media attention has conveyed the message that later school starts not only improve sleep but also result in better academic achievement. Several studies have been recently published on this topic requiring a comprehensive review of the results to clarify the relationship between later school start times and academic achievement to inform the general public and policy makers. To this end, we conducted a systematic review of the current literature on school starting times and academic achievement in middle and high school students, considering grades and standardised test scores as achievement measures. We followed the PRISMA guidelines for searching, including, and reporting relevant literature and identified 21 studies for detailed analysis. Evidence quality of included studies was assessed with a pre-defined risk of bias assessment using modified items from the GRADE scheme and ROBINS-I tool. About half of the reviewed studies reported no (positive or negative) effect of delaying school times on grades and test scores, while the other half reported either mixed or positive results. Given the strong heterogeneity of included studies, we grouped them according to various characteristics, such as academic outcomes, dose of delay, evidence quality, or study design to identify potential hidden effects. Despite this, we could not identify any generalisable effect beyond single studies as to whether delaying school times has clear beneficial effects on academic performance. Given that grades and scores determine future career trajectories and predict future success, the question whether school start times contribute to academic achievement is of great interest for the general public and needs to be further clarified. Mechanistically, it is very likely that improved sleep leads to or mediates improved cognitive performance and learning, but definitive conclusions on whether this also translates into better grades and scores across all students requires better evidence at this stage. Importantly, this does not preclude other positive outcomes of later start times such as improved sleep (quality), motivation or learning but draws attention on current gaps and shortcomings. To this end, we also highlight critical methodological aspects and provide suggestions to increase the evidence-level and to guide the direction of research in future studies.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodological Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Risk Of Bias Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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School start times and academic achievement - a systematic review on grades and test scores

Biller

Meißner

et al. 2021

Preprint

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School start time delays and high school educational outcomes: Evidence from the START/LEARN study

James

Erickson

Lammert

et al. 2023

Journal of Adolescence

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Introduction: Delaying high school start times extends adolescents' nightly sleep, but it is less clear how it affects educational outcomes. We expect links between school start time delays and academic performance because getting enough sleep is a key input to the cognitive, health, and behavioral factors necessary for educational success. Thus, we evaluated how educational outcomes changed in the 2 years following a school start time delay. Methods: We analyzed 2153 adolescents (51% male, 49% female; mean age 15 at baseline) from START/LEARN, a cohort study of high school students in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN, USA metropolitan area. Adolescents experienced either a school start time delay ("policy change schools") or consistently early school start times ("comparison schools"). We compared patterns of late arrivals, absences, behavior referrals, and grade point average (GPA) 1 year before (baseline, 2015-2016) and 2 years after (follow-up 1, 2016-2017 and follow-up 2, 2017-2018) the policy change using a difference-in-differences analysis. Results: A school start time delay of 50-65 min led to three fewer late arrivals, one fewer absence, a 14% lower probability of behavior referral, and 0.07-0.17 higher GPA in policy change schools versus comparison schools. Effects were larger in the 2nd year of follow-up than in the 1st year of follow-up, and differences in absences and GPA emerged in the second year of follow-up only. Conclusions: Delaying high school start times is a promising policy intervention not only for improving sleep and health but for improving adolescents' performance in school.K E Y W O R D S attendance, behavior, grade point average, late arrivals, school start time, sleep | INTRODUCTIONAdolescents must get an adequate amount of high-quality sleep to function at their best (Beebe, 2011;Shochat et al., 2014). However, 73% of adolescents in the United States do not get enough sleep (Wheaton et al., 2018). High rates of inadequate sleep in adolescence are produced by a "perfect storm" of biological, psychosocial, and contextual factors that intersect in adolescence (Carskadon, 2011;Crowley et al., 2018). Biologically, circadian delays (Crowley et al., 2007) and delayed sleep pressure accumulation (Jenni et al., 2005) push adolescents to feel ready for sleep at later hours than younger children or adults. At the same time, adolescents are gaining autonomy over their own schedules, face increasing educational demands, and have more social interactions than younger children (Crowley et al., 2018). These pressures toward later bedtimes combine with early secondary school start times to curtail adolescents' nightly sleep for much of the calendar year. Thus, delaying school start times has been identified as an effective policy change that can extend adolescent sleep and improve

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The Relationship Between School Start Times and Educational Outcomes

Fuller

Bastian

2020

Curr Sleep Medicine Rep

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High school start times and student achievement: Looking beyond test scores

Cited by 15 publications

References 36 publications

School start times and academic achievement - a systematic review on grades and test scores

School start times and academic achievement - a systematic review on grades and test scores

School start time delays and high school educational outcomes: Evidence from the START/LEARN study

The Relationship Between School Start Times and Educational Outcomes

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