1. Sunday February 5, 2012
MEMORANDUM TO: Minister John E. Dudley
FROM: Assistant Deputy Minister Vincent Ostberg
THROUGH: Deputy Minister - JVM
SUBJECT: A small study indicates that teens who start later in the day benefit by having
more alertness in class, better moods, less tardiness, and healthier breakfasts.
Purpose: The purpose of this memorandum is to seek the Minister’s approval of the
recommendation to pursue the issue of having later starts during the day for
teens in school.
Background: A small study was conducted in the setting of St. George’s School in Middletown,
RI of which the students were allowed for thirty extra minutes to start their school day. This
resulted in 201 high school students who participated in the study. Students had completed
the sleep survey before and after the nine-week experiment last year. Starting times were
shifted from 8 to 8:30 and classes were cut 5 to 10 minutes to avoid longer school day that
would interfere with after-school activities. The effects of the study were that the students
were more alert, had better moods, less tardiness, and healthier breakfasts.
The results of the study were that students reporting at least eight hours of sleep on
school nights jumped from 16 percent to nearly 55 percent. Reports of daytime sleepiness
dropped substantially - from 49 percent to 20 percent. This resulted with St. George’s School
making the change permanent for later start days for teens. Also, some public schools in
Minneapolis and West Des Moines have adopted later start times.
The results of the study were published in July’s Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent
Medicine. This study was conducted by Brown University sleep researcher, Dr. Judith Owens,
who is also a pediatrician at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, RI, and is the study’s lead
author. Patricia Moss, academic dean at the Rhode Island boarding school, where the study
was done, has stated that the results were stunning and that they didn’t think they would get
that much bang for the buck.
First-period tardiness dropped almost by a half, students reported feeling less
depressed or irritated during the day, health center rests visits dropped significantly, and the
number of hot breakfasts served more than doubled. Patricia Moss acknowledged that the
healthier breakfasts probably aided classroom alertness. A recent graduate who is 18 years old
noted that the students took part in the morning classes and that it was a positive experience.

2. Considerations/Issues:
 Researchers indicate why thirty minutes can make a difference. Teens tend to be
sleepiest around dawn during the time they are expected to rise for school. Interrupted
sleep can leave them groggy considering that they have difficulty falling asleep at 11
p.m.
 Dr. Judith Owens acknowledged that there might be more hurdles to overcome at
poorer, public schools, including busing schedules, parents’ work hours, and day care for
younger siblings.
 Mel Riddle, an associate director at the National Association of Secondary School
Principals, said that he favours later start times but that most districts oppose it. The
reasons cited that the issue is about adult convenience not student learning. Also,
budget cuts make this difficult to implement.
 Most parents and teachers were opposed to the change in start times at St. George’s
School but reluctantly agreed to the study after a presentation by Dr. Judith Owens,
whose daughter was a junior there.
 The study was designed to look at changes in sleep habits and behavior and didn’t
examine academic performance. It also lacked a control group who didn’t experience a
change in start times. In spite of that, researchers claimthat delaying school start times
is worthwhile.
Options/Recommendations:
Option 1: Allow school boards to develop their own legislation/policies as to whether they
want to allow for later start times in their schools.
Pros:
 School boards that participate will likely experience the same positive results as listed in
the study. There will likely result in increases in alertness, more participation in
morning’s classes, and less tardiness by the students.
 School boards may see an increase in student academics and student retention by
students who are committed to attending school and participate in the school’s
activities like learning in class and participating in extra-curricular activities.
 Parents and students who are committed to academic excellence will see better grades
and improved attendance rates by students,

3. Cons:
 The parents of the students will likely have to make adjustments in their schedules in
transporting the students and this may affect parents of the students who have younger
siblings.
 Not all school boards have a large budget to provide transportation for the students
who start at later start times.
 Parents will not be able to monitor their students while at work and this could result in
students sleeping in for longer periods of time.
 Not all parents are well off financially to afford providing alternate transportation
especially where the public school systemprovides bussing for primary students who
attend schools at earlier times.
Option 2: Implement a provincial legislation that allows for later start times for high school
students
Pros:
 This could result in more alertness in the students across the province. This could result
in increases in academic levels province-wide if the students are better rested and
participate more in school with their school lessons.
 Teachers would have lesser instruction time and focus on quality of education instead of
quantity of education deliverable to students.
Cons:
 This will have considerable impacts in the workforce especially where parents are
expected to be at locations at specific times like airports, police, medical practitioners,
and so on.
 This would leave to an overhaul of existing education policies in the Ministry of
Education which would put strain on employees and departments that will need to hire
additional policy analysts.
Option 3: Status Quo (leave things as they are)
Pros:
 There are no changes in the school systemand everything remains as they are.
 There are no strains on the school operating budgets within provincially funded schools
and private schools.

4.  There will be no controversy in not passing legislation considering that there was no
control group to support the study’s hint that later start times will result in
improvements in academic levels by the students.
 There will be no criticismby the public or critics of the current government for
implementing a new legislation that status quo may deem controversial or irresponsible.
Cons:
 Students may continue to be irritable in school, may continue to be tardy, and have
negative attitudes in school.
 We may continue to see a decline in student academic levels of which students are
behind provincial grade levels from two to three grades.
Recommendation: We are seeking your approval to proceed as outlined in Option 3.
Vincent Ostberg Vincent Ostberg
cc. Minister’s Executive Assistant Doreen Guimont
Assistant Deputy Minister Peter Constantinou – Ministry of Education