"Despite compelling research and mounting calls to action, over 80% of US middle and high schools still start at times that make it virtually impossible for most students to get healthy sleep, jeopardizing physical and mental health, safety, and school performance. Nearly 1 in 10 U.S. high schools start before 7:30 a.m., with buses arriving as early as 5:15 a.m. and more than 4 in 5 (82.

3%) of U.S. secondary public schools require students to attend class before 8:30 a.m., the earliest time recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and American Medical Association. While it was typical for school days to begin at 8:30 or 9 a.m. until the late 20th century, restoring these more traditional hours has proven to be next-to-impossible, even as the scientific case for returning continues to mount.

There are widespread public myths surrounding early start times, that have been difficult to circumvent. Many claim that changing this policy will undermine afterschool sports and other extracurriculars, prevent students from having afterschool jobs, cause a teacher exodus, be cost-prohibitive, prevent parents from getting to work on time, destroy daycare possibilities, and/or cause massive traffic problems. In reality, the primary obstacle to returning schools to 20th century schedules is a clear lack of political will, which, in turn, is attributable to 1) fear of change, 2) failure of imagination, and 3) pervasive lack of understanding about sleep and the negative impact of insufficient and poor-quality sleep. In their prospective manuscript, Sleep Science and the Start School Later Movement: Tales from the Trenches, authors Terra Zipoyn and Amy Wolfson, look at a half century of transformative research on adolescent sleep and circadian rhythms and the challenges of translating that research into evidence-informed policies that ensure safe, healthy, and equitable school hours"-- Provided by publisher.