Let 'em Sleep, Let 'em Sleep, Let 'em Sleep

 If a baby and an adolescent are home for the holidays, adults will find one gets up too early and the other too late.

     Studies continue to show a teen's biological clock ticks sleeping and waking times very differently for older adults and younger children. When a teen is on vacation, see if he or she prefers to stay up closer to midnight and to sleep in later each morning. This finding caused the American Academy of Pediatrics to call on school districts to move start times to 8:30 a.m. or later.

     In the U.S., the National Center for Education Statistics found only 17% of public middle and high schools now reflect this natural pattern of teen sleeping schedules even though later start times reduce tardiness and absences. Teachers report students are less groggy and are more likely to engage in active discussions and make fewer mistakes in lab sciences, consistent with negative findings that sleep deprivation undermines learning and retention of new information. In one study, students who began school with a later start time received final grades that were slightly higher than those who began their school days earlier.

     Changing the start times of middle and high schools does create problems. Administrations have to reschedule extracurricular activities and bus routes for lower and upper grades. Families also need to adjust to adults and students leaving at different times. And students who work after school or take care of younger siblings also are affected.

     The earlier post, "Sleep Deprived Test Scores," suggested moving standardized tests to later times could improve scores and would have less impact on everyday school schedules. The post, "Big Projects Combat Climate Change," claims classes may need to shift to night time to avoid the heat of the day. 

Education for All or One?

Is it possible to reconcile the two approaches to education that are at odds these days?

     On the one hand, there is an emphasis on using standardized tests to evaluate students, teachers, and schools. Even writing assignments require a student to follow a standardized five paragraph format that begins with a thesis followed by three paragraphs presenting arguments to justify the thesis and a conclusion.

    The other approach to education recognizes everyone's need for decent housing, health care, food, clean water, a certain amount of sleep (See the blog post, "Sleep Deprived Test Scores."), and, yes, education. But this approach also sees individuals with different abilities and argues that setting the same goals for every student is a waste of time, money, and energy. It unfairly blames students for not working hard enough and/or not wanting success badly enough. Yong Zhao, a professor of education at the University of Oregon, also observes that what is not measured, such as creativity, sports ability, and music, unfortunately becomes unimportant.

     Researchers David Z. Hambrick, Fernanda Ferreira, and John M. Henderson point to skilled Olympic sprinters who were faster than competitors even before they were trained. They found the popular idea of a certain amount of deliberate practice only explained 26% of the variation in the skill of expert chess players and novices; 21% of variation in musical skill, and 18% of the variation in skill in sports. Genes could explain up to half the variations between experts and less skilled performers. Innate talent makes a big difference.

     In response to these differences, some have suggested engaging students in more project-based opportunities, where they can put their individual interests and talents to work creating products and services that satisfy particular needs. Through interactions with other cultures, students also can broaden their interests and discover they are good at foreign languages or new styles of painting, music, or dance (See the blog post, "Introduce Disadvantaged Kids to the World.")

     Recognizing the different abilities of students leads to the idea of evaluating students differently in ways that do not involve standardized tests. Software might be used to: 1) monitor day-to-day answers students give in math and reading assessments and in video games that test higher order thinking, 2) provide feedback, and 3) allow students to make corrections and proceed at their own paces.

     Findings that social and emotional qualities account for at least half of a student's long-term chances of success also suggest the value of learning to interact with each other during periods of undirected free play (See the earlier blog post, "Learning Can Be Fun,") and using something like the Gallup student poll to help each student understand how important his or her maturity is.

     Finally, standardized tests given on a few days during a student's education are no substitute for portfolios that look at multiple factors, such as a student's projects, group presentations, teacher-created assessments, and technology proficiency. Nor can an occasional standardized test measure the graduation rates, demographic information, and future student employment that indicate how well a school is accommodating various student abilities.

Sleep Deprived Test Scores

When do students in Shanghai, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan take key standardized tests, such as those in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)? Of the 15-year-olds who took these tests in 65 countries, students in these four countries came out on top in the latest (Dec. 3, 2013) PISA. Could timing contribute to testing success?

     After a Friday night when high school students hang out with friends at football games and movies or stay up playing video games, my granddaughter was among classmates who had to turn up at her high school at 7:45 am on Saturday to take the standardized PSAT exam that determines National Merit Scholarships and has a big impact on which colleges students attend. A policy statement, published online by the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics on August 25, 2014, challenges the timing of such an important test.

    According to the findings of the Academy's Adolescent Sleep Working Group and Committee on Adolescence and the Council on School Health, "making middle and high schoolers start classes before 8:30 am threatens children's health, safety, and academic performance." Lack of sleep contributes to a teen's risk of traffic accidents, depression, and obesity. Since biology determines a shift in a teenager's sleep-wake cycle, these students find it difficult, if not impossible, to go to sleep before 10:30 pm. Studies show the average teenager can't even fall asleep at 11 pm. (Incidentally, on the "Dr. Oz" television show October 21, 2014, a woman who couldn't fall asleep when she went to bed at 9 pm was advised to go to bed much later when she was really tired.)

     Based on these findings, the American Academy of Pediatrics called on school districts to move start times to 8:30 am or later so that teenagers who are getting six to seven hours of sleep a night can get at least 8 1/2 to 10 hours of sleep. Those who do get enough sleep do better academically, have better standardized test scores, and enjoy a better quality of life. Nonetheless, at present, research shows only about 15% of high schools begin at 8:30 am or later and 40% start before 8 am. But Stacy Simera, the outreach director for Start School Later Inc., reports "the number of schools opening later has grown exponentially," with positive results, such as those reported by researchers at the University of Minnesota. In the eight Minnesota high schools that began using later start times, grades, attendance, and punctuality all improved, and there was a 70% reduction in teen-aged auto accidents.

    Simera acknowledges that there are critics of starting high schools later who complain that parents can't get their students off to class that late because they have to leave earlier to get themselves to work. Then, there are the problems of school bus schedules that have to change two shifts that accommodate elementary and high schools, problems scheduling after-school activities, the needs of older siblings who need to get home before the younger ones they care for, and the time when after-school jobs begin. Sumera has found, however, that despite these concerns, schools have been able to adjust.

   Even if criticisms continue to block changes in some school week day schedules, they do not apply to important tests given on weekends. It would be worthwhile to see if beginning tests at a later start time could improve the lagging performance of U.S. students on the PISA. When administering tests of the new Common Core State Standards to teenagers in the United States, it also would be worthwhile to compare performances on tests that began at various times.