“The Coronavirus Has Made It Obvious. Teenagers Should Start School Later” is the headline over a New York Times opinion article by Aaron Carroll, a professor of pediatrics, who reports on a new study in JAMA Pediatrics of 455 high school students at five schools in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The researchers used wrist monitors to track the effect of later school start times on student sleep habits.

In the Summer 2019 issue of Education Next, Jennifer Heissel and Samuel Norris wrote (“Rise and Shine“) about how school start times affect academic performance. Heissel also appeared on the EdNext Podcast to discuss the article. In the same issue, Danielle Dreilinger wrote “How To Make School Start Later,” an article with practical advice for districts, or sleepy students, hoping to bring about change.

Education Next also tackled this topic in Summer 2012, in the article “Do Schools Begin Too Early? The effect of start times on student achievement,” by Finley Edwards. Edwards also appeared on the EdNext Podcast to discuss that article.

— Education Next