Should middle and high school start later in the day?  Will it improve our education system?  According to numerous studies and an op-ed in yesterday's New York Times, teenager's bodies are set to a different sleep schedule than younger children and adults. Teenagers naturally go to bed later due to the sleep-inducing hormone, melatonin, kicking in around 11 pm, instead of earlier in the night.  Thus, they wake up every school day with what some call sleep deprivation.   It is estimated that over 28% of teenagers fall asleep during first period class, wasting precious class time.  Additionally, insufficient sleep has been linked to teenage dropout rates and failing grades, along with learning disabilities and obesity.

Nancy Kalish, the op-ed author, recommends that politicians address this problem by changing the hours of the school day, pushing it back for teenagers and lengthening it for younger children.  For example, teenagers could attend school from 9 - 5, while younger children could start at the earlier time but extend the school day  until 4 or 5 by increasing both scholastic and creative subjects.  Kalish bases her recommendation on several examples of schools across the country who have done this and who are seeing improvements in test scores, drop out rates, attendance rates, grades and reduced behavioral problems.  It seems to be true that starting school later could have tremendous results.

But is that enough?  Obviously, there have been successful results in some schools, plus there are numerous benefits to having parents and children on the same schedule.  But in today's failing education system, I am not so sure this will cause a nation wide effect.  Instead I think this is a small recommendation for a much larger policy initiative.  We can not simply forget about other elements for education reform, such as overhauling our standardized testing system.  Instead our politicians need to develop/restructure our education policy, taking every aspect into consideration.