Education Chief: Maybe Start School Later in Day - ABC News
School districts would still be free to set their own start times, Duncan insisted in a broadcast interview, but he pointed to research that backs up his comments that rested students are ready students. Duncan said he would not be telling local school leaders when their first bells should ring and said it was up to local leaders to make the decisions on their own.
"There's lots of research and common sense that lots of teens struggle to get up ... to get on the bus," said Duncan, the former chief of Chicago Public Schools.
The main reason?
"Teen brains have a different biology," said Kyla Wahlstrom, director at the University of Minnesota's Center for Applied Research and Education Improvement.
For the last 17 years, Wahlstrom has studied teenagers' sleep cycles, brains and learning. She has concluded that schools that want ready students must have students arrive rested. Absenteeism, tardiness, depression, obesity, drop-out rates and even auto accidents all decline when students head to school after a good night of sleep.
Schools are starting to take notice.
Take, for instance, Virginia's Fairfax County Public Schools.
Most medical professionals recommend between 8.5 and 9.5 hours of sleep for students. The