The Huffington Post – Sharon Peaslee
“The adolescent brain needs far more sleep than most get, and most teens are night owls due to changes in their brain chemistry. This isn’t their fault or the fault of their devices. It’s a hormonal reality of adolescence. No matter what we do to improve academic outcomes, it won’t work if we don’t give adolescents the opportunity to get enough sleep and come to school in an alert and engaged mode…Switching to later school start times for adolescents won’t cost us a billion dollars a year…research shows that teens will come to school with higher functioning brains and immune systems. Their mental health will improve. They will be less prone to accidents, substance abuse and even teen pregnancy. As more districts make this switch there will be ample data on the impact on test scores and other indicators of academic achievement.”(more)