High School Later Start Based on Adolescent Sleep Patterns
The decision to change the Edina High School start time from 7:25 to 8:30 was made in the spring of 1996 and implemented in the 1996-97 school year. The decision was made in response to a request from the Minnesota Medical Association (to all superintendents in Minnesota) to start high schools later, and that was in response to definitive medical research on adolescent sleep patterns from Brown and Johns Hopkins Universities. USA Today states that Edina was the first district in the nation to change start times based on that research.
The goal in Edina Public Schools was to create the best academic learning day for our students. With a great deal of national and international discussion on lengthening the school day or school year in the USA, we believed ensuring the best opportunity to learn throughout the day would, in effect, lengthen the day.
More information on adolescents and sleep, the Edina decision, and research is available through this site.
- Edina High School Later Start Program Summary
- Edina Public Schools Press Release
- Minnesota Medical Association Letter to Superintendents
- Minnesota Medical Association Press Release
- Edina High School Start Time Decision Process
- Media Coverage of Edina's Later Start Time
- Supportive Web Sites:
- Center for Applied Research & Educational Improvement - CAREI
Scroll down to School Start Time Study - National Sleep Institute - Research information on sleep
- Center for Applied Research & Educational Improvement - CAREI