Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Essay and revisions


 

Change In High School Start times

Ring. Ring. The sound of the alarm going off in the morning can be one of the most dreaded sounds for some people. High school students across the United States are having to be at school as early as 7:00 a.m., for five days a week. Forcing their bodies out of bed, students are struggling to get the preferred eight hours of sleep that are recommended for young adults, while the younger kids are already up and ready to start their day. On average 10% of adolescents are only getting a total of 5 hours of sleep each night (Duval). Furthermore, a survey made by the National Sleep Foundation showed,"only one fifth of American teenagers are regularly getting a good night sleep." More and more students are suffering from sleep deprivation due to sleepless nights followed by an early morning. The school boards who have not made the change are failing to see how sleep deprivation is affecting high school students across the nation. Memory loss, poor alertness, as well as stress are all a few of the factors from not getting enough shut eye during the night (Breus). These are all more of a reason for high schools to start later because it will improve academic performance, increase attendance and completion, as well as improve students overall health.

Looking at the big picture, a student’s grades are the most important thing needed in order to graduate. Without passing grades, they [DK1] will not be able to move on with a high school degree. However, how are students supposed to give their full, undivided attention if they are unable to get enough sleep at night? Studies have proven that when there is lack of sleep, grades will lack as well. Dr. Kyla Wahlstrom, professor at the University of Minnesota conducted a survey consisting of over 7,000 high school students dealing with the correlation between their sleep habits and their grades and concluded, "Teens who received A’s averaged about fifteen more minutes of sleep than the B students, who in turn averaged eleven more minutes than the C’s, and the C’s had ten more minutes than the D’s" (Wahlstrom). Not only does how much sleep affect academic performance, the time of day a student is being tested is also a factor. As children get older most of their cognitive functioning is geared towards the afternoon rather than the morning. If major classes such as reading and mathematics are being taught in the morning, the material will be taught at student’s less-preferred time of day, ultimately resulting in poor grades (“The Impact”). With countless amounts of papers to write and chapters to read, high school students are up at late hours of the night trying to get it all done. By the time they get into bed with the lights out, they aren't able to get the hours needed for a good morning. A 2005 study published in Pediatrics, the official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, concluded, “School schedules are forcing adolescents to lose sleep and to perform academically when they are at their worst” (Hansen, Janssen, Schiff, Zee, Dubocovich).

In addition to improving academic performance, if high schools had a later start time more students would be motivated to go to school each day and on time. With high schools starting at the normal times ranging from 7am to 8am, students are coming into class later and later as the school year progress. The more students go into class late, the more material they are going to miss, resulting in failure as well as dropout rates (Kalish). Approximately 1.3 million students drop out go high school each year. Many reasons contribute to drop out rates depending on the individual; however, the main reason is due to low attendance or failing grades (“High School Dropout Rates”). Wahlstrom had followed up on a school in Minneapolis who went through with the time change at their high school. The school had changed the original start time, 7:20 to 8:40 a.m., giving the students who attended an additional 80 minutes to sleep in and prepare themselves for an 8 hour school day. The professor found a significant decrease in the number of students who were dropping out of school or changing schools (Whalstrom). Another case was in Jessamine, Kentucky where schools had pushed back the start times by 50 minutes. Lu Young, the School District Supervisor mentioned, "We found that our students were more on time and in better attendance first period than they had been in the past" (Trudeau).

Another positive result due to later start times would be an overall improvement on young adult’s health. Health problems like depression, weight gain, and immune problems can all be due to lack of sleep. Growing up, students have so many issues outside of school they are being forced to deal with and for some it can become too much at times. When not getting enough sleep is added into the mix of everyday issues, things could start to get serious. In 2004, a study of 2,259 students showed that students who didn't obtain enough sleep showed lower initial self-esteem and higher levels of depressive symptoms (“The Impact of School Start Times on Adolescent Health and Academic Performance”). If people are getting enough sleep while they are young, they are less likely to experience depressive symptoms as they grow up. Something that a lot of people struggle with every day is their weight. When a person is younger, their [DK2] weight defiantly ties into their self-esteem and how other people few them, however when a person isn’t getting enough sleep, you [DK3] are more likely to gain weight. Susan Redline, a Harvard Professor of Sleep Medicine stated "The demonstration of chronically altered dietary patterns in adolescents with shorter sleep provides insight into why shorter sleep has been associated with obesity in prior experimental and observational studies” (“Less is More”). A little more sleep goes a long way and with high school times pushed back later, students wouldn't have to struggle to find those extra minutes to get some rest.

Aside from all the positive effects the change of a start time would have on students across the nation, there are still individuals who believe the change would only cause more issues. One major problem that was pointed out was after school activities. The students who participated in sports had the most concern that if schools were to start later, there would be less time and daylight for games to be played. Looking further down the road[DK4] , some even saw the possibility of canceling JV sports all together because of issues sharing the field or the gymnasium (“Eight Major Obstacles”). In addition to game schedules, Nancy Yarnell, a troubled parent, expressed in an interview, "I'm concerned about the later start time, later finish time, and how that is going to affect practices whether they are going to be practicing in the morning or in the afternoon" (Baker). If high schools were to make the switch with the elementary schools, parents also feared that there would be nobody to watch the younger siblings if they got out before the older ones (Baker). Although the arguments are all valid and can be backed up by facts, they are not relevant. The main purpose of high school is to prepare students for college and for their careers. Extracurricular activities are exactly that, extra. Participating in a sport isn't what high school was made for. If schools started later then students would be able to give all their focus on what it should be on, academics. In today’s society people have become so dependent on always being busy but with the wrong things. According to the U.S. Census, more than 1 in 4 high school students who are 16 or older have a part-time job (Coppernoll). The decrease in part time jobs may not be a badly reflected on the quality of high school student’s school work.

The school board has created a core curriculum in hopes to keep all of the students on track across the nation (Burris). However, over the past years there have been multiple attempts to tweak the curriculum. Changes such as cuts in elective classes and adding direct, merit, honors and advance placement were all put in place to help students scores be where they needed to be. Although the changes have helped, the school board hasn’t been satisfied. Perhaps if students were in their best state of minds when going to take a test, they would start to see the changes they wanted to see. As Albert Einstein stated, "We cannot solve our problems the same thinking we used when we created them." Schools in Minneapolis have been successful when going through with the change. Scores have gone up and dropout rates have decreased. If more schools start to make the changes, then the United States would start to see their scores back on top where they were years ago.

 

 

Baker, Shelby. "Some Knox Co. Parents against Later School Start Time." Wate News. N.p., 01 Apr. 2009. Web. 29 Apr. 2013. <http://www.wate.com/global/story.asp?s=10115365>

 

Breus, Michael. PhDWebMD. "Chronic Sleep Deprivation and Health Effects." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2013. <http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/important-sleep-habits>.

 

Burris, Carroll. “Principal: ‘I was naïve about Common Core’. The Washington Post. 4 March 2013. Web. 1 May 2013. < http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/03/04/principal-i-was-naive-about-common-core/>

 

Coppernoll, Carrie. "1 in 4 High School Students Work, U.S. Census Finds, including Many in Oklahoma to Support Families." NewsOK: Oklahoma City News, Sports, Weather, Business & Entertainment OKC. N.p., 25 Jan. 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2013.<http://newsok.com/1-in-4-high-school-students-work-u.s.-census-finds-including-many-in-oklahoma-to-support-families/article/3748886>

 

Duval, Sylviane. "Most High School Students Are Sleep Deprived | Center for Advancing Health." Most High School Students Are Sleep Deprived | Center for Advancing Health. Center For Advancing Health, 5 Jan. 2010. Web. 25 Apr. 2013. <http://www.cfah.org/hbns/2010/most-high-school-students-are-sleep-deprived#.UXnNWysjofI>.

 

"Eight Major Obstacles to Delaying School Start Times." National Sleep Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2013. <http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/hot-topics/eight-major-obstacles-delaying-school-start-times>

 

Hansen, Janssen, Schiff, Zee, & Dubocovich, The Impact of School Daily Schedule on Adolescent Sleep (Jun. 2005) 115 Pediatrics 6, pp. 1555-1561. <http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/115/6/1555.pdf>.

 

"High School Drop Out Rates In America". Allieance For Excellent Education. Web. 27 April 2013. <http://www.all4ed.org/files/GraduationRates_FactSheet.pdf>.

 

Kalish, Nancy. "The Early Bird Gets the Bad Grade." The New York Times. The New York Times, 14 Jan. 2008. Web. 27 Apr. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/opinion/14kalish.html?_r=0>.

 

"Less Is More." AASM. American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 23 Aug. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2013. <http://www.aasmnet.org/articles.aspx?id=1857>.

 

"The Impact of School Start Times on Adolescent Health and Academic Performance."The Impact of School Start Times on Adolescent Health and Academic Performance. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2013. <http://schoolstarttime.org/early-school-start-times/academic-performance/>.

 

Trudeau, Michelle. "High Schools Starting Later to Help Sleepy Teens." NPR. NPR, 18 Jan. 2007. Web. 27 Apr. 2013. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6896471>.

 

Wahlstrom, Kyla. "Changing Times: Findings From The First Longitudinal Study of Later High School Start Times." CEHD. December 2002. Web. 27 April 2013. <http://www.cehd.umn.edu/carei/publications/documents/Bulletin200212Wahlstrom.pdf>.

 

 

 

 


 [DK1]Pronoun agreement
 [DK2]Agreement
 [DK3]POV shift
 [DK4]Cliché

Outline with Thesis and main points


Outline:

 

Thesis- High schools should start later because it will improve academic performance, increase attendance and completion, as well as improve students overall health.

I.                    Introduction

a.       What time schools starts now? 7:30

b.      What is the preferred amount of sleep time? 8 hours

c.       The negative effects of sleep depravation

II.                  Improving academic performance

a.       Sleep deprivation study/ cognitive test

1.       Performance drops over time without sleep

b.      Student performance at different times of the day

1.       1st period class vs. 4th period class

c.       Statistics showing how students with more sleep do compared to students with less sleep

d.      Medical school residence errors from lack of sleep

III.                Increased attendance/ completion

a.       What is the average attendance every day?

b.      Today’s dropout rates/ graduation rates

c.       Schools that have actually made the change, and the positive effects of it

IV.                Improved health

a.       Health effects of lack of sleep

1.       Depression

2.       Weight gain

3.       Immune problems

V.                  High school should remain at the time it already is

a.       Students have afterschool sports and jobs

b.      Parents can’t provide transportation because they are at work

c.       Older siblings can’t take care of younger siblings if they are getting out later

VI.                Points are not a valid argument

a.       The reason for high school is to prepare you for college and a career

1.       You don’t NEED a part time job in order to be successful after high school (etc.)

2.       These considerations  do not support the main point

VII.              Conclusion

a.       The USA has fallen international ranked for students

1.       Quote from Einstein “the definition of insanity…”

b.      If we do the same thing, we can’t expect change

1.       If the USA is dropping internationally then we need to find the root of the problem.

2.       The problem may not be the curriculum, but it could be sleep deprived students

What I know, Need to know, Found out


Topic Selection: Schools should start later

1.       Sleep deprived effects of fatigue on high school students (improve students performances)

2.       Increase attendance/ completion

3.       Less likely to skip  breakfast (improve health)

 

 

What do I already know?

-          High school students are often tired in the morning while the younger kids are already up and ready to start their day

-          Students skip breakfast because they over sleep and don’t have enough time in the mornings

-          Suffer from mood swings and depression

-          Falling asleep in schools

-          Attendance goes down because students want sleep

 

What do I still need to know?

-          What time to schools start now?

-          What is the preferred amount of sleep time?

-          How long do students actually sleep for?

-          What are the negative effects of sleep deprivation?

-          What’s a specific case of a cognitive test/ sleep deprivation study? What were the results?

-          What are students’ performance levels at different times of the day?

-          How much better do well rested students do vs. students who aren’t well rested

What is the average attendance every day in high school?

-          What are todays dropout rate/ graduation rate?

-          Have any schools made the change of the start and end time in high schools?

-          What are the health effects of lack of sleep?

-          What could skipping breakfast do to the body?

-          Why do people want to keep high school early?

-          How can I refute those opinions?

-          Has the USA fallen in the international rank?

-          Is the curriculum the real problem? Or is it sleep deprived children?

 

What my research told me

-          This research indicates that school bells that ring as early as 7:00 a.m. in many parts of the country stand in stark contrast with adolescents' sleep patterns and needs. (http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-topics/school-start-time-and-sleep)

-          Most teens need about 8½ to more than 9 hours of sleep each night. (http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_body/take_care/how_much_sleep.html)

-          The authors found that 10 percent of adolescents sleep only five hours and 23 percent sleep only six hours on an average school night. More females than males have sleep deficits as do more African-Americans and whites compared to Hispanics. Nearly 20 percent more 12th-grade students have sleep deficits than do those in ninth grade. (http://www.cfah.org/hbns/2010/most-high-school-students-are-sleep-deprived)

-          Decreased Performance and Alertness: Sleep deprivation induces significant reductions in performance and alertness. Reducing your nighttime sleep by as little as one and a half hours for just one night could result in a reduction of daytime alertness by as much as 32%.

-          Memory and Cognitive Impairment: Decreased alertness and excessive daytime sleepiness impair your memory and your cognitive ability -- your ability to think and process information.

-          Stress Relationships: Disruption of a bed partner's sleep due to a sleep disorder may cause significant problems for the relationship (for example, separate bedrooms, conflicts, moodiness, etc.).

-          Poor Quality of Life: You might, for example, be unable to participate in certain activities that require sustained attention, like going to the movies, seeing your child in a school play, or watching a favorite TV show.

-          Occupational Injury: Excessive sleepiness also contributes to a greater than twofold higher risk of sustaining an occupational injury.

-          Automobile Injury: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates conservatively that each year drowsy driving is responsible for at least 100,000 automobile crashes, 71,000 injuries, and 1,550 fatalities. (http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/important-sleep-habits)

-          Peter Tripp: 201 Hours

-           

-          The New York DJ, Peter Tripp, set a world record for sleep deprivation in 1959. He went for 201 hours (8.4 days) without sleep. He spent most of the time in a glass booth in Times Square, and the rest in a hotel room across the street, set up as a laboratory to monitor his reactions.

-           

-          The stunt produced strange results. After three days, Tripp began to find things hilarious that weren't funny at all. At other times, he became upset for no reason. He was also confused, asking why there were bolts in the window frames.

-           

-          By day four, he was suffering from hallucinations and paranoia. At first they were simple patterns - like cobwebs on the doctors' faces, or imagining that paint specks on the table were insects.

-           

-          But soon his hallucinations became 3D. Tripp imagined mice and kittens scurrying around the room...

-           

-          Eventually, Peter Tripp became psychotic. He rummaged through draws looking for non-existent money. He accused a technician of trying to harm him. He then claimed he was not Peter Tripp but an imposter. Nothing made sense to him.

-           

-          On reaching his 200-hour target, Tripp was made to stay awake for one final hour while doctors did more tests. They left the EEG in place as he finally closed his bloodshot eyes and entered a deep 13-hour slumber.

-           

-          He may have been physically restored, but Tripp's family soon noticed a difference in his personality. His wife said he was moody and depressed. He fought with his boss, became involved in the payola scandal, and was fired from his high profile job as a radio DJ. He went on to have four divorces. Some would say the sleep stunt changed Peter Tripp forever. (http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/sleep-deprivation.html)

 

PAPER ON MY TOPIC


 

-          “Since children’s time of day preference shifts towards eveningness as they get older, their cognitive functioning is likely to be at its peak more towards the afternoon than in the morning. Thus, if important basic classes such as reading and mathematics are taught in the morning, older school children will be learning this critical material at their less-preferred or non optimal time of day, resulting in poorer school performance than might be found were the courses in greater synchrony with circadian arousal rhythms.” (Cardinali, Chronoeducation: How the Biological Clock Influences the Learning Process, publish. in, The Educated Brain: Essays in Neuroeducation, supra, p. 122, citation omitted.)

 


 

-          DROP OUT RATES

 

 

 

-          Each year, approximately 1.3 million students fail to graduate from high school; more than half are students of color.1 The graduation rate among students of color is as much as twenty-five percentage points below their white peers.


-          Students drop out because they  are failing. They are failing because of lack of sleep!

SPECFIC SCHOOL WHO CHANGED THEIR START TIME

-Data collected from the two Minneapolis-area school district—Edina, a suburban district who changed their high school start time from 7:20 to 8:30, and the Minneapolis Public Schools, who changed their start time from 7:15 to 8:40—provided Wahlstrom and her colleagues information regarding the work, sleep, and school habits of over 7,000 secondary students, over 3,000 teachers, and interview data from over 750 parents about their preferences and beliefs about the starting time of school.

The study has laid the groundwork for similar changes in other school districts, supplying concrete results of putting the research into practice.

For example, initially Edina parents were concerned about the effect of later starts on such logistical issues as busing, athletics, and child care for younger students. But at the end of the first year of implementation, 92 percent of respondents on a survey for Edina high school parents indicated that they preferred the later start times.

Additional data from the study done in Minneapolis schools showed that there was a significant reduction in school dropout rates, less depression, and students reported earning higher grades.

This research has had a major impact nationally. Wahlstrom receives numerous inquiries on a daily basis from teachers, superintendents, parents, and school nurses from every state in the nation requesting more information about the findings of their research and how they can use that research to change policies in their districts.