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What emerged from the in-service contribute to adolescents having design team made a recommendation
day was a curiosity and commitment difficulty going to bed before 11 p.m. for an 8:20 a.m. start. Throughout
to continue the professional learn- and a need to sleep until at least 8 the spring of 2018 our transportation
ing through ongoing study and data a.m. Most high school students try to director worked closely with the district
collection. In December 2016, we counter this sleep deprivation by get- and high school administration to work
undertook data collection through ting extra sleep on the weekends, but out bussing issues associated with
the Challenge Success survey from this pattern can add to the disruption the change. We hosted a variety of
the work of Denise Pope at Stanford to the sleep cycles and difficulty get- community meetings to communicate
University. (Pope, 2010) The survey ting up early during the school week. the plans we were making and the
measures several indicators regarding The reports were describing what we “why” behind them. While there was
stress related to high schools, but also have been seeing; students walking some concern with the later start
specifically sheds light on the lack of into school like zombies, suffering times, few were able to counter the
sleep that adolescents are getting as from lack of sleep, poor attendance, “why” of needing such a change. We
a result of staying up doing homework and a noticeable increase in cases needed to take care of our students
and getting up early for school each of students experiencing anxiety and and a later start time was a significant
day. Our students were reporting an depression. The studies, with only two change to counter many ill-effects of
average of 6.25 hours of sleep per mentioned in this article, were numer- lack of sleep.
night compared to the recommended 8 ous, supported by leading medical We are in our first year of imple-
-10 hours of sleep needed. organizations, and provided sound mentation, but early on we observed
Our data, combined with the emerging evidence in their recommendations a change in the students as they
research on adolescent sleep from the that school start times of 8:30 a.m. or entered the building each morning.
University of Minnesota, made the con- later would greatly benefit students. The “zombie - walk” was less ap-
sideration of a later start time a priority We formed a design team to look parent and students were reporting
in our efforts to address the perennial at our use of time, otherwise known satisfaction in the time change. We
issues that we had been seeing regard- as a bell schedule committee. Our are recording fewer students late to
ing student wellness and performance. initial meetings in the design process school and a recent survey of the
(Wahlstrom et al., 2014) involved identifying the “specifications” faculty indicated agreement that the
In addition, a 2014 report from The of the new daily schedule and to agree changes in our daily schedule are
American Academy of Pediatrics to these parameters as we built a supportive of efforts toward enhanc-
outlined the ill-effects of lack of sleep new schedule. The first and foremost ing student-wellness.
on adolescents and made recommen- “spec” was a later start time. We didn’t The research is remarkably clear
dations for later start times for middle allow the barriers of “how” questions on the need for high schools to start
schools and high schools. (Adolescent slow us down and instead focused on later. We found that with an informed
Sleep Working Group, 2014) The the “why”. and collaborative process, change is
report explained the biological and For as long as most people could possible, and we are pleased to be a
circadian phase reasons why adoles- remember, Princeton High School leader in the movement to later school
cents have difficulty getting the recom- began classes at 7:50 a.m., but the start times across the state.
mended hours of sleep. Both factors
References

Adolescent Sleep Working Group. (2014). School Start Times for Adolescents. Pediatrics, 1697.
Pope, D. (2010). Beyond. Education Canada, 50(1), 4-8.
Wahlstrom, K., Dretzke, B., Gordon, M., Peterson, K., Edwards, K., & Gdula, J. (2014). Examining the Impact of Later
High School Start Times on the Health and Academic Performance of High School Students: A Multi-Site Study.

About the Author

Gary Snyder is in his 16th year as Principal of Princeton High School. Gary is also an instructor with the
NJEXCEL program.

Jessica Baxter is an Assistant Principal at Princeton High School since 2012. Gary and Jessica pre-
sented their work together in 2018 at Kean University's Educational Thought Leaders Conference.

Educational Viewpoints -105- Spring 2019