I grew up in a small town and lived close to the school, so my first time seeing a bus schedule that included a pickup before 6:30 a.m. was a shock.
Since then (and my goodness, my oldest started school nearly two decades ago!) I’ve paid a lot of attention to school start times and bus schedules, and increasingly believe that I was mighty lucky as a kid to have such a short and late morning commute. Now, with the advice of health professionals, many schools are moving to later start times, but not all have successfully managed the shift.
Here’s what’s becoming the new norm, and where schools are still waking kids up at earlier hours.
Almost Half Of High Schools Start Before 8 am
In the late 1990s, my high school classes began at 8 am, with a tardy bell at 8:05. In data released in 2020 by the National Center for Education Statistics, that was still the average start time for high schoolers, with 10% of schools getting a much earlier start, before 7:30 am. Only 17% begin their school day at 8:30 or later.
Broken down by school size and location (rural, suburban, city, or town) there’s no apparent single reason for the range of times, but we do know some of the factors that affect schedules.
Mental Floss found that bus access is one of the most significant factors, and many of us are seeing the effects in our districts. When there are bus driver shortages, we see our districts make plans for one bus to run two routes, dropping off the first wave of students and going back for a second.
Thus, districts that can’t afford to hire more bus drivers or raise the pay rate to attract potential applicants (it’s a stressful job that requires a lot of focus and carries heavy responsibility) end up struggling to balance routes in a way that would allow for later start times.
While patterns aren’t strictly linear, we do see earlier start times in suburban areas, followed by rural areas, and larger schools tend towards earlier start times, too.
Why Do Health Professionals Advocate For Later Starts?
Every child has their own sleep patterns, and family schedules can impact these. Still, broadly speaking, most of us have noticed the pattern in which our younger kids like to get up early (even on days off, to parents’ great frustration) and our teens want to sleep in (and may be hard to drag out of bed when necessary).
This isn’t a coincidence, chance, or kids just being difficult. The American Psychological Association (APA) recognizes that our bodies’ circadian rhythms change during our teens, and while your 14-year-old still needs a full 8-10 hours of sleep, it’s harder for his body to cooperate with a 10 pm bedtime than it was just two years ago. (And bear in mind a 10pm bedtime still doesn’t provide 8 hours of sleep if the bus comes so early that a child has to be up before 6 am.)
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) actively advocates, sending letters to state governors and legislators to plead for changes that would benefit students’ sleep patterns. In these letters, the organization says:
“Simply going to bed earlier is not a realistic option for most teens. As a result, about 78% of high school students report getting fewer than 8 hours of sleep on an average school night, increasing their risk of depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, and motor vehicle accidents.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are also circulating information advocating for high school days to begin no earlier than 8:30. In a 2015 push for later start times, the CDC cited information from the AAP noting that a lack of sleep contributed not only to depression and suicidal thoughts, but to poor grades, less physical activity and more overweight students, and to the use of alcohol and illicit drugs.
In short, medical and developmental experts across the board agree that starting the school day at 8:30 a.m. or later is the best choice for healthy teenagers.
How States Stack Up (And Other Nations)
While individual school districts vary, there are also noticeable trends by state.
In four states, the average high school start time is at 8:15 or later: South Carolina, Alaska, Iowa, and Minnesota. (Of these, only SC has an average start time that meets the medical recommendations cited above — 8:34 am.) Louisiana has the earliest statewide average start time of 7:30 am.
The rest of the states are divided relatively evenly between the 7:45-7:59 a.m. and 8:00-8:15 a.m. time ranges.
By the way, when TeachStarter compared U.S. schedules to those of others around the world, a notable trend surfaced. Not only do many other developed nations start their school day a bit later, but they also tend to have shorter days overall.
For instance, Finland’s school days may start at 9am or later, and only be 5 hours long. Australia’s school hours are more similar to those in the U.S., but still begin later, between 8:30 and 9 am, and run until 3 or 3:30 pm. Italy’s school days may start at 8am, but only run until about 1:30.
How Does Your Child’s School Compare?
How does your child’s school measure up? If the start times don’t align with the rest of the country, you can examine factors like the size of your child’s school, the area, and the budget.
However, another factor in school start times can be tradition and resistance to change. District administrators may also be unaware of parental preferences for later start times.
If you’re seeing that early mornings are negatively affecting your teenager, you can make contact with officials at the school, district, and state levels, and let them know what you’d prefer. Ask other parents in your area if they’re having the same problems.
In the meantime, if your teen is overwhelmed and short on sleep, you can encourage them to prepare as much as possible at night, so that they can sleep even a few extra minutes in the morning, to get extra rest on weekends, and to try to get to bed a little earlier, even if it takes a while to fall asleep.