News Update

Early start times OK for elementary schools, study finds

Elementary schools that start before 8 a.m. have almost the same academic outcomes as those that start closer to 9 a.m., a new study found.

The study, published in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association, looked at test scores, attendance, suspension rates and other metrics of 1,417 schools in North Carolina from 2011 to 2017. It found little variation in outcomes at schools that start before 8 a.m., before 8:45 a.m. and after 8:45 a.m.

The research is in contrast to outcomes for high school students, who tend to perform better academically with later school start times. California recently passed a law requiring middle schools to start after 8 a.m. and high schools to start after 8:30 a.m.

“As a number of districts and, notably, the state of California, adjust school start times to allow high schools and middle schools to start later, our findings offer reassurance that moving elementary schools to earlier start times is unlikely to harm the educational outcomes of the youngest students,” said Kevin C. Bastian, a co-author of the study and a research associate professor in the department of public policy at the University of North Carolina.