Colorado School Districts Consider Later Start Times To Improve Student Learning
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - For the last five years, the Jefferson County School District has had a task force assigned to weigh the pros and cons of a later start to the day. While the district could see a change as early as the end of this year, it wants parents to weigh in on the final decision.
"We believe that this change will be in the best interest of students and their learning and it's important to move forward so we're trying to assess whether it's something we can move forward for the start of this coming school year, or we can move forward in the 2023-24 school year," said Lisa Relou, the Chief of Strategy and Communications for JeffCo Public Schools.
While the suggested new start times will vary across schools, most will start near 8 a.m. with many starting after.
The goal is not only to allow students to get more sleep, but to have more uniformity with classroom time district-wide.
"JeffCo Public Schools has 100 different start times, and I believe that there were even more than that at some point so yeah, it's about making sure that every student at various levels in our district has the same amount of classroom instructional time and also that our teachers have equitable time across the district for the important work of planning and professional learning," said Relou.
The overall goal comes down to the health of the students, it's also why Denver Public Schools will be switching to later starts beginning in the 2023 school year.
"Last spring our board had the opportunity to hear from Dr. [Lisa] Meltzer, who is a renowned doctor and her specialty is sleep science, and they had the opportunity to learn a little bit more about the benefits of delayed start times for adolescents, I think hearing that and the science behind a delayed start was so compelling that they adopted this resolution," said Amber Elias, the Lead Operational Super Intendant for Denver Public Schools.
DPS has outlined three options for the 2023 school year and says the best thing parents can do is take the survey, and weigh in.
"Making sure that they're completing the survey weighing those options and helping us unpack the implications for each of them is the best way that families can participate right now," she said.
Studies have shown that adolescents are significantly sleep-deprived, with school start times as one of the strongest contributing factors. Adolescents need 8.5 to 9.25 hours of sleep per night, but in the United States, almost 75% of adolescents get 7 hours or less of sleep per night.
Many school districts have already made the switch. The Cherry Creek School District made the switch in 2017 and says it's proved worthwhile.
"You know sometimes we laugh because I was here when we used to start at 7:10 and I was teaching and that was so extremely early," said Dr. Lisa Roberts, Principal of Grandview High School.
Now, students report to school at 8:20.
According to a study the district did with National Jewish Health, High school students slept 45 minutes longer per night after the change in start times, increasing to an average of 8 hours and 8 minutes. Students getting sufficient sleep, defined as eight hours for high school students, more than doubled from 30% before the change to 63% after the change. Notably, during the time period of the study the percent of adolescents in the U.S. getting sufficient sleep dropped to 25%. Students often sleep longer on weekends to make up for inadequate sleep during the week. High school students cut weekend oversleep almost in half, from 2 hours and 3 minutes to one hour and 13 minutes. The percentage of high school students reporting daytime sleepiness dropped from 76% to 55%.
"I would tell you that it feels like, and I know that we have data to support it that our students are benefitting from it that we can see a difference in their everyday routines, we can see that they're more well-rested, and I know that that was the goal from the start," said Roberts.
For more information on the proposal by Jefferson County School District's proposal or to weigh in, click here: Jeffco Public Schools Start Times Survey.
For more information on the proposal by Denver Public Schools, or to take the survey click here: Denver Public Schools Healthy Start Times Survey.