| Changes in school start times have a “significant effect” on the amount of sleep and reported grade point averages of students, according to a working paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. The researchers examined eight districts in Minnesota, four of which transitioned to later start times between 2016 and 2019, affecting 38,019 students in grades 5, 8, 9 and 11. Findings suggest districts that moved to later start times saw students’ GPAs increase by an average of 0.14 points overall, while predicted GPA increases ranged from 0.10 to 0.17 points. Although the effect on GPAs was “small,” said coauthor Rik Lamm, a doctoral student at the University of Minnesota, “it is still meaningful for every student whose grades were helped by only the policy decisions of district leaders.” |
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