Should Colorado schools have later start times?
Should Schools in Colorado consider making later start times? For teenagers in Middle and High school, school on average starts at 7-8 AM, which can be stressful, especially when they aren’t getting enough sleep. Having a late start time around 9 AM can be beneficial because it aligns with their need for 8 hours of sleep, which can improve academic performance and support their physical and mental health. This is important today because studies have found that around 60% of middle school students and more than 70% of high school students consider themselves sleep-deprived.
Later Start times in Jeffco Schools.
Across Jefferson County, many Schools before the 23-24 school year had over 100 different start and end times. Chatfield Senior High School even started at 7:15a AM on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Jeffco Public Schools launched a healthy and equitable start and end time districtwide for the 23-24 school year.
Jeffco Schools found research that shows how later start times for middle and high school students resulted in: improved student attendance, increased student achievement, higher graduation rates, and better physical and emotional health, especially for high school students.
More Sleep=Better Mood
Adolescents need 9 hours of sleep each night to maintain their physical and emotional health throughout the day. The American Medical Association has even recommended starting Middle and High School classes after 8:30 AM. When teens are well rested, they are less likely to experience mood swings, anxiety, and depression. Sleep significantly affects the brain’s ability to regulate emotions, so later start times could help balance emotions.
How late start times personally affected me.
During the 2022-2023 school year, before Chatfield had changed to a later start time, I was a freshman who didn’t have a car and had to rely on my parents to get to school. I would wake up on average around 5:30 in the morning to do extra homework and to shower and get ready, which took about an hour. I live pretty close to Chatfield, about five minutes or so. However, I would still have to leave 20 minutes early to get dropped off at school before the traffic started if I wanted to get to first period on time. Throughout my high school career, I have stayed up late, until 12:30 AM, which changed my sleep schedule drastically when I was a Freshman. I would stay up late and wake up early, which typically made me agitated and irritable during the day since I was only getting around 5 hours of sleep each night. When Jeffco Schools changed start times later during the 23-24 school year, I was able to get at least an extra hour and a half of sleep. It was beneficial for me in the long run. I do believe that when school starts later, students who get enough rest are more engaged in learning and are more positive overall.
https://www.jeffcopublicschools.org/about/initiatives/healthy-equitable-start-end-times
