Abstract
The increasing scientific evidence that early school start times are harmful to the
health and safety of teenagers has generated much recent debate about changing school
start times policies for adolescent students. Although efforts to promote and implement
such changes have proliferated in the United States in recent years, they have rarely
been supported by law-based arguments and messages that leverage the existing legal
infrastructure regulating public education and child welfare in the United States.
Furthermore, the legal bases to support or resist such changes have not been explored
in detail to date. This article provides an overview of how law-based arguments and
messages can be constructed and applied to advocate for later school start time policies
in US public secondary schools. The legal infrastructure impacting school start time
policies in the United States is briefly reviewed, including descriptions of how government
regulates education, what legal obligations school officials have concerning their
students' welfare, and what laws and public policies currently exist that address
adolescent sleep health and safety. On the basis of this legal infrastructure, some
hypothetical examples of law-based arguments and messages that could be applied to
various types of advocacy activities (eg, litigation, legislative and administrative
advocacy, media and public outreach) to promote later school start times are discussed.
Particular consideration is given to hypothetical arguments and messages aimed at
emphasizing the consistency of later school start time policies with existing child
welfare law and practices, legal responsibilities of school officials and governmental
authorities, and societal values and norms.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Sleep Health: Journal of the National Sleep FoundationAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- School start times, sleep, behavioral, health, and academic outcomes: a review of the literature.J Sch Health. 2016; 86: 363-381
- High school start times and the impact on high school students: what we know, and what we hope to learn.J Clin Sleep Med. 2016; 12: 1681-1689
- Later School Start Times in Adolescence: Time for Change.Education Commission of the States, Denver, CO2014
- School start time change: an in-depth examination of school districts in the United States.Mind Brain Educ. 2014; 8: 182-213
- Committee on adolescence, council on school health. School start times for adolescents.Pediatrics. 2014; 134: 642-649
- School start times for middle school and high school students—United States, 2011-12 school year.Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2015; 64: 809-813
- Delaying middle school and high school start times promotes student health and performance: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine position statement.J Clin Sleep Med. 2017; 13: 623-625
- Success stories.
- Case studies.
- Organizing Schools to Improve Student Achievement: Start Times, Grade Configurations, and Teacher Assignments.The Hamilton Project, Brookings, Washington, DC2011
- School start times and sleepy teens.Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2010; 164: 676-677
- The sleep of school children, its distribution according to age, and its relation to physical and mental efficiency: part I. The distribution of sleep according to age.J Educ Psychol. 1913; 4: 138-147
- The sleep of school children, its distribution according to age, and its relation to physical and mental efficiency: part III. The conditions of children's sleep.J Educ Psychol. 1913; 4: 269-282
- Neither “creatures of the state” nor “accidents of geography”: the creation of American public school districts in the twentieth century.Univ Chic Law Rev. 2010; 77: 177-199
- Characteristics of Public School Districts in the United States: Results From the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (NCES 2013-311).National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC2013
- The Slumbering Masses: Sleep, Medicine, and Modern American Life.University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN2012
- Historical view of high school start time: preliminary results.Sleep Res. 1997; 26: 184
- School Start Time and its Impact on Learning and Behavior.in: Ivanenko A. Sleep and Psychiatric Disorders in Children and Adolescents. Informa Healthcare, New York, NY2008: 79-94
- The impact of sleep on learning and behavior in adolescents.Teach Coll Rec. 2002; 104: 704-726
- Accommodating adolescent sleep-wake patterns: the effects of shifting the timing of sleep on training effectiveness.Sleep. 2012; 35: 1123-1136
- Insufficient sleep in adolescents and young adults: an update on causes and consequences.Pediatrics. 2014; 134: e921-e932
- Adolescent daytime sleepiness as a risk factor for adult crime.J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2017; 58: 728-735
- Relationships between school start time, sleep duration, and adolescent behaviors.Sleep Health. 2017; 3
- Delayed high school start times later than 8:30 AM and impact on graduation rates and attendance rates.Sleep Health. 2017; 3: 119-125
- Longitudinal outcomes of start time delay on sleep, behavior, and achievement in high school.Sleep. 2016; 39: 271-281
- School start time and sleep in Canadian adolescents.J Sleep Res. 2016;
- Early to rise? The effect of daily start times on academic performance.Econ Educ Rev. 2012; 31: 970-983
- Adolescent sleep, school start times, and teen motor vehicle crashes.J Clin Sleep Med. 2008; 4: 533-535
- Dissimilar teen crash rates in two neighboring southeastern Virginia cities with different high school start times.J Clin Sleep Med. 2011; 7: 145-151
- Adolescent crash rates and school start times in two Central Virginia counties, 2009-2011: a follow-up study to a southeastern Virginia study, 2007-2008.J Clin Sleep Med. 2014; 10: 1169-1177
- Sleep duration and injury-related risk behaviors among high school students—United States, 2007-2013.Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2016; 65: 337-341
- Adolescent changes in the homeostatic and circadian regulation of sleep.Dev Neurosci. 2009; 31: 276-284
- Health advisory: teen sleep duration.
- “Sleepiness” is serious in adolescence: two surveys of 3235 Canadian students.BMC Public Health. 2006; 6: 116
- Sleepless in Fairfax: the difference one more hour of sleep can make for teen hopelessness, suicidal ideation, and substance use.J Youth Adolesc. 2015; 44: 362-378
- Synchronizing education to adolescent biology: ‘let teens sleep, start school later’.Learn Media Technol. 2015; 40: 210-226
- Current legislation.
- Start school later at work.
- Characteristics of the 100 Largest Public Elementary and Secondary School Districts in the United States: 2008-09 (NCES 2011-301).National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC2010
- Setting adolescents up for success: promoting a policy to delay high school start times.J Sch Health. 2016; 86: 552-557
- Accommodating the sleep patterns of adolescents within current educational structures: an uncharted path.in: Carskadon M.A. Adolescent Sleep Patterns: Biological, Social, and Psychological Influences. Cambridge University Press, New York, NY2002: 172-197
- A survey of factors influencing high school start times.NASSP Bull. 2005; 89: 47-66
- Incognizant “educators.” the impact of school start times on adolescent health and academic performance..2011-2017 ([https://schoolstarttime.org/2011/09/23/oblivious-educators/])
- Bridging the gap between research and practice: what will adolescents' sleep-wake patterns look like in the 21st century?.in: Carskadon M.A. Adolescent Sleep Patterns: Biological, Social, and Psychological Influences. Cambridge University Press, New York, NY2002: 198-219
- The prickly politics of school starting times.Phi Delta Kappan. 1999; 80: 344-347
- Education and the Law.4th ed. West Academic Publishing, St. Paul, MN2016
- Educational Policy and the Law.5th ed. Wadsworth Publishing, Belmont, CA2012
- The superintendent as instructional leader: findings from effective school districts.J Educ Adm. 1986; 24: 213-236
- School Boards Circa 2010: Governance in the Accountability Era.National School Boards Association, Alexandria, VA2010
- The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education.Basic Books, New York, NY2010
- Why are teens going to school so early? research shows educators may need a wake-up call.Courier-Journal, 2017 ([http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/education/back-to-school/2017/07/19/jcps-other-districts-starting-too-early-teens-research-may-wake-up-call/440533001/])
- Tort liability of public schools and institutions of higher learning.in: American Law Reports. vol. 160. Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Co, Rochester, NY1946: 7-246
- Tort liability of public schools and institutions of higher learning for injuries resulting from lack or insufficiency of supervision.in: American Law Reports 3d Series. vol. 38. Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Co, Rochester, NY1971: 830-900
- Chapter 5. Negligence and liability.in: Lentz School Security. New York, NY, Thomson Reuters2016
- Bullying in schools: the disconnect between empirical research and constitutional, statutory, and tort duties to supervise.Temple Law Rev. 2004; 77: 641-699
- Educational malpractice law in the USA.http://www.rbs2.com/edumal3.pdfDate: 2013
- Leadership for Student Learning: Restructuring School District Leadership.Institute for Educational Leadership, Washington, DC2001
- Education Law, Policy, and Practice: Cases and Materials.2nd ed. Aspen Publishers, New York, NY2009
- First, kill all the school boards: a modest proposal to fix the schools.The Atlantic, 2008 ([https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/01/first-kill-all-the-school-boards/306579/])
- Parental rights in the twenty-first century: parents as full partners in education.St Mary's Law J. 2001; 32: 611-808
- Legal implications of circadian rhythm sleep disorders.in: Reference Module in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology. Elsevier, 2017
- Public policy, sleep science, and sleep medicine.in: Kushida C.A. Encyclopedia of Sleep. vol. 2. Academic Press, Waltham, MA2013: 156-166
- Teen crashes declined after Massachusetts raised penalties for graduated licensing law restricting night driving.Health Aff. 2015; 34: 963-970
- State Laws by issue: teen and novice drivers.
- Garner B.A. Black's Law Dictionary. 10th ed. Thomson Reuters, St. Paul, MN2014
- American state constitutional equalities.Gonzaga Law Rev. 2010; 45: 773-795
- Restatement (Second) of Torts.American Law Institute Publishers, St. Paul, MN1965
- § 3529 Justiciability.in: Federal Practice and Procedure. 3rd ed. vol. 13. West Publishing, St. Paul, MN2008
- Modern status of rule excusing governmental unit from tort liability on theory that only general, not particular, duty was owed under circumstances.in: American Law Reports 4th Series. vol. 38. Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Co, Rochester, NY1985: 1194-1205
- Handbook of the Law of Torts.4th ed. West Publishing, St. Paul, MN1971
- Litigated learning and the limits of law.Vanderbilt Law Rev. 2004; 57: 2417-2461
- Rethinking Special Education Due Process: A Proposal for the Next Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.American Association of School Administrators, Alexandria, VA2016
- International Classification of Sleep Disorders.3d ed. American Academy of Sleep Medicine, Darien, IL2014
- Sleep: a human rights issue.Sleep Health. 2016; 2: 6-7
- High school start times and healthy sleep.Public Health Law Blog, 2015 ([https://www.networkforphl.org/the_network_blog/2015/03/03/553/high_school_start_times_and_healthy_sleep])
Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 16, 2017
Accepted:
September 8,
2017
Received in revised form:
August 24,
2017
Received:
July 2,
2017
Footnotes
☆Authors' Note: The contents of this article should not be construed as legal advice in any way and should be used strictly for informational purposes only. Please consult with appropriate legal counsel for formal legal advice.
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 National Sleep Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
