Running head: MY “BLUEPRINT FOR CHANGE” 1
My “Blueprint for Change”
Jonathan L. Harnish
Towson University
MY “BLUEPRINT FOR CHANGE” 2
Abstract
Although delaying school start times gives less time for after-school activities, delaying school
start times is beneficial to high school students because it decreases sleep deprivation, increases
academic achievement, and reduces tardiness, truancy and drop-out rates. Studies from well-
known researchers like Carskadon, Owens, and Wolfson, have been conducted to understand
what happens when school start times are delayed. Carskadon, Owens, and Wolfson have shown
that delaying school start times, not only benefits adolescents but the community as a whole. The
most important benefit adolescents get out of delaying school start times is decreasing sleep
deprivation. When an adolescent is sleep deprived due to an early school start time, their
attention span is low, their memory is short, and their language processing is weak. This is all
due to adolescents brains not being “awake” or ready until about 10 AM because they are not
getting a sleep duration of at least 8 hours. Perkinson-Gloor, Lemola, and Grob (2013) show
evidence why delaying school start times will help this problem in the results of their study.
Perkinson-Gloor et al. (2013) states that the students who attended the delayed start time school
slept about 27 minutes later than students who attended the normal start time school.
Keywords: school start times, sleep deprivation, academic achievement, adolescents
MY “BLUEPRINT FOR CHANGE” 3
My “Blueprint for Change”
Introduction
High school students need to acquire a sleep duration of at least 8 hours in order for them
to have a sufficient amount of sleep. A vast amount of studies have found that academic
performance is unfavorably connected with these factors: reduced sleep duration, unpredictable
sleep schedules, late bed times, and deficient sleep quality. Menna-Barreto and Daniela Wey
(2008) know that school schedules, mostly starting hours, often conflict with the sleep needs of
students, especially adolescents. Further, sufficient sleep is important for learning and cognitive
performance, which is particularly relevant for adolescents striving to meet academic demands at
school (Perkinson-Gloor, Grob, & Lemola, 2013). In comparison, all six of the scholarly articles
state solutions and suggestions for sleep deprivation in adolescents. For example, Wolfson and
