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Nicole Borchers

Professor Dunham

ENG 1201-Online

17 March 2019

Online Casebook

My essay will be answering the question of whether or not schools should start later. I

would like to find out if delaying school start times would allow students to work more

efficiently and effectively. Would a later school start time increase a student’s overall success?

How will changing school start times affect extracurriculars? How hard will it be to change the

school start times from the already existing start times?

Boergers, Julie. “Benefits of Later School Start Times.” Brown University Child & Adolescent

Behavior Letter, vol. 31, no. 1, Jan. 2015, pp. 1–6. EBSCOhost,

sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d

b=ccm&AN=103860283&site=eds-live.

In the article, “Benefits of Later School Start Times,” by Julie Boegers, the author

explains the true effects of delaying school start time. In Boeger’s most recent study at a

Kentucky high school, not only did she see a reduction in absences, fatigue, and moodiness, but

she also saw a huge reduction in the amount of high school car crashes when the students were

going to school later. In addition, she brought up the counter argument that delaying start time

will just cause students to go to bed later. However, she quickly shot this idea down stating that

studies did not show that.

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The article was written by Julie Boergers who is an associate professor of psychiatry and

human behavior and pediatrics at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, as well as the

co-director of the Pediatric Sleep Program at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, Rhode

Island. The article was found in EBSCOhost, from the Sinclair library, making it a credible

source. It was published in 2015, however, the information remains in compliance with today’s

statistics. The article is targeting schools as Boergers wants to bring awareness to pushing back

school start times.

I will use this article in one of my body paragraphs to create a strong argument that

delaying school start times will decrease the number of high school car crashes. I will also use

this article, along with my second source, to bring up counter-arguments.

Carroll, Aaron E. “The Economic Case for Letting Teenagers Sleep a Little Later.” The New

York Times, The New York Times, 13 Sept. 2017,

www.nytimes.com/2017/09/13/upshot/the-economic-case-for-letting-teenagers-sleep-a-

little-later.html?module=inline.

In the article, “The Economic Case for Letting Teenagers Sleep a Little Later,” by Aaron

E. Carroll, the author goes in depth on how later school start times will affect the school districts

financially. In many of the studies, Carroll found that for many families, the benefits of earlier

school start times outweighed the costs of moving back bus transportation. In addition, the author

offered multiple counter arguments. She states that it isn’t the high school activities that prevent

teens from getting sleep, it is the early school start times.

This article is targeting adults who think delaying school start times would cause chaos

and cost more money. The point of this article is to persuade them that it is actually a good idea
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to start school later. The author, Aaron E. Carroll, is the professor of pediatrics at Indiana

University School of Medicine, making him credible. The article was published in 2017, making

it current and credible. Lastly, it was found from the New York Times, which is a credible

mainstream news source.

I will use this article toward the end of my essay to present counter-arguments that will

further support my claim. Secondly, I will use this article to describe how delaying school start

times will work financially as well as bring up a different viewpoint on the subject.

Garey, Juliann. “Teens and Sleep: What Happens When Teenagers Don't Get Enough?” Child

Mind Institute, Child Mind Institute, childmind.org/article/happens-teenagers-dont-get-

enough-sleep/.

The article “Teens and Sleep: The Cost of Sleep Deprivation,” by Juliann Garey, from the

Child Mind Institute, explains the true effects of sleep deprivation. Some of the major effects

talked about in the article include increased risk of injuries, inability to have self-control,

increased substance use, increased risky behavior, and moodiness. In addition, Garey talks about

sleep deprivation leading to mental disorders, particularly depression, which is already at an all

time high in the United States.

This article is targeting everyone to inform people of the risks that go along with sleep

deprivation and how deadly getting no sleep can be. This article was found from the Child Mind

Institute, which is a national nonprofit organization that deals with children and families

struggling with mental health and learning disorders. The author, Juliann Garey, is a clinical

assistant professor at NYU making him a credible source. For currency, there was no date

mentioned, however, the website is nationally recognized and all the facts are credible.
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I plan to use this article in the middle of my essay to show what lack of sleep can do to

the body and how serious sleep is for teens. I hope to use the main points of this article to help

me with creating a thesis statement.

Heissel, Jennifer A., and Samuel Norris. “Rise and Shine: The Effect of School Start Times on

Academic Performance from Childhood through Puberty.” Journal of Human Resources,

vol. 53, no. 4, Fall 2018, pp. 957–992. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3368/jhr.53.4.0815-7346R1.

The article “Rise and Shine: The Effect of School Start Times on Academic Performance

from Childhood through Puberty,” by Jennifer A. Heissel, describes the effect that sleep loss has

on academic success. Heissel explains how important sleep is when it comes to memory and

memorization. When a student is sleep deprived, it often lowers their learning ability. One study

conducted proved this idea, showing how the students with later school start times had increased

math scores.

This article is targeting parents to inform them that sleep loss does indeed affect students’

academics. The article was found from EBSCOhost in the Sinclair library, making it credible. In

addition, the author, Jennifer A. Heissel, is an assistant professor at the Graduate School of

Business and Public Policy at the National Postgraduate School. It was posted in October of

2018 making it current.

I will use this article in one of my main paragraphs to show how later school start times

can increase academics which, in turn, not only helps the students, but also helps the schools as it

increases their performance rate.

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MacMillan, Amanda. “Teens May Do Better When School Starts Later.” Time, Time, 17 Apr.

2017, time.com/4741147/school-start-time/.

The article “Teens May Do Better When School Starts Later,” by Amanda MacMillan,

found in Time magazine, discusses the positive outcomes that result from a later school start

time. MacMillan states that schools should start no earlier than 8:30 am. She credits the

American Academy of Pediatrics stating that teenagers should sleep 8 to 10 hours, however,

most high schoolers are not meeting this requirement. This causes high schoolers to have poor

school performance and other health risks.

This article is targeting everyone. The author wants to inform parents, teachers, students,

even superintendents how important sleep is in hopes of persuading them to have a later start

time. The article is found from Time magazine which is a popular and credible magazine. It is

current as it was written in 2017. Lastly, the author, Amanda Macmillan, is a credited health and

science writer.

I plan to use this article as my first source. I want to start off my paper discussing exactly

how much sleep teens should be getting and show how many are not meeting this requirement. I

think this point will be a good attention grabber.

Rivero, Tanya. “Why Teens Need to Start School Later in the Day.” The Wall Street Journal,

Dow Jones & Company, 25 Aug. 2014, www.wsj.com/video/why-teens-need-to-start-

school-later-in-the-day/81FABBAD-6352-4BA6-8C00-B77E42AA5DF2.html.

In the interview, “Why Teens Need to Start Later in the Day,” Tanya Rivero talks to Wall

Street Journal’s health reporter Sumathi Reddy and Dr. Mary Carskadon, the coauthor of The

Sleep Study at Brown University. While interviewing, both Reddy and Carskadon bring up the
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point that earlier school start times are not only a mental health issue, but also a safety issue and

not something to be taken lightly. When asked about what the optimal start time should be, Dr.

Carskadon says she believes any time at or later than 8:30 am is ideal. Lastly, they discuss

Fairfax county, a top performing school district who recently voted to delay start times and are

having positive results.

This video is targeting everyone as they want to show just how serious sleep deprivation

is. The video was found from the Wall Street Journal, which is a credible mainstream media

source. It was published in 2014, however much of the information is still relevant and being

used in today’s studies.

I will use this article in my essay to create another compelling case as to why schools

should start later. I will also use it in compliance with my first and fourth source to further credit

my point that later school start times can decrease many risk factors. Lastly, I will use this article

along with the first source when talking about the biological changes that happen within teens.

Troxel, Wendy. “Why School Should Start Later for Teens.” Ted, Ted, Nov. 2016,

www.ted.com/talks/wendy_troxel_why_school_should_start_later_for_teens.

The video “Sleep Teens: A Public Health Epidemic,” by Wendy Troxel, from Ted Talks,

addresses the biological change that happens within teen’s bodies that contributes to teenagers

being sleepy. She compares waking a teen up at 6 am as being the equivalent of waking an adult

up at 4 am. She supports this comparison by further describing the delay in a teen’s biological

clock. She states that a teen being sleepy is an unavoidable change that society should notice and

address.
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This article is targeting society as a whole. Troxel wants to inform people that teenagers

being sleepy is a real epidemic that people should be acknowledging. She also wants to inform

people about the ways that we as a society can help it. The speaker of the talk, Wendy Troxel, is

an active clinical psychologist and the former director of the American Academy of Sleep

Medicine. Ted Talks is credible as it is a source where renowned scientists or publicly acclaimed

figures, whose work has been peer reviewed, can give speeches. Lastly, the article was written in

2016, making it current.

I will use this as my first body paragraph to explain biologically why teens get tired in the

first place and why schools should adjust to teenagers’ schedules.