Changing School Start Times: Impact on Student, Family, Teacher, and Community Health

Sleep Clinical Trial

Official title:

Changing School Start Times: Impact on Student, Family, Teacher, and Community Health

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03964181
• Other study ID #: HS-3155
• Secondary ID: 75277
• Status: Completed
• Start date: April 11, 2017
• Est. completion date: July 31, 2021

Study information

• Verified date: September 2022
• Source: National Jewish Health
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial Summary

Sleep is not an optional luxury, but a fundamental biological need, essential for health and well-being. Insufficient sleep is a significant public health issue, with 69% of adolescents in America obtaining less than the minimum requirement of 8 hours of sleep per night. Early school start times has been identified as the most significant and modifiable factor that restricts sleep duration in adolescents. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended in 2014 that all middle and high schools start no earlier than 8:30 a.m., yet few school districts have implemented this change. In fall 2017, the Cherry Creek School District, a diverse district of almost 55,000 students outside Denver, changed school start times. Although previous studies have shown increased sleep duration, decreased daytime sleepiness, and improved academics following start time changes for secondary students, there remains an urgent need to understand how this policy impacts health and well-being for all students, including youth in elementary school. Recognizing that students are part of a complex system that includes parents, school staff, and the community, this observational study will be a multi-year, broad-based evaluation that includes key stakeholders, multiple sources of quantitative data (i.e., surveys, academic records, district nursing electronic health records), contextual qualitative data (i.e., open-ended surveys and focus groups), and community-based outcomes (i.e., data on vehicle crashes and juvenile crimes). The primary hypothesis is that later school start times will have a positive impact on middle and high school students sleep and health outcomes, while earlier school start times will have a neutral impact on elementary school students sleep and health outcomes.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 118000
• Est. completion date: July 31, 2021
• Est. primary completion date: May 31, 2019
• Gender: All
• Age group: 8 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Students in grades 3-12 enrolled in the school district

• Parents of students in grades K-12 enrolled in the school district

• School-based teachers and staff in grades K-12 in the school district

Exclusion Criteria:

• None

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Sleep

Intervention

Other:
• Change in school start times
Elementary start times changed from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.; middle school start times changed from 8:00 a.m. to 8:50 a.m.; high school start times changed from 7:10 a.m. to 8:20 a.m.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	National Jewish Health	Denver	Colorado

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
National Jewish Health

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

References & Publications (4)

Meltzer LJ, McNally J, Plog AE, Siegfried SA. Engaging the community in the process of changing school start times: experience of the Cherry Creek School District. Sleep Health. 2017 Dec;3(6):472-478. doi: 10.1016/j.sleh.2017.08.005. Epub 2017 Oct 16. — View Citation

Meltzer LJ, Plog AE, Wahlstrom KL, Strand MJ. Biology vs. ecology: a longitudinal examination of sleep, development, and a change in school start times. Sleep Med. 2022 Feb;90:176-184. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2022.01.003. Epub 2022 Jan 10. — View Citation

Meltzer LJ, Wahlstrom KL, Plog AE, McNally J. Impact of changing school start times on parent sleep. Sleep Health. 2022 Feb;8(1):130-134. doi: 10.1016/j.sleh.2021.08.003. Epub 2021 Oct 9. — View Citation

Meltzer LJ, Wahlstrom KL, Plog AE, Strand MJ. Changing school start times: impact on sleep in primary and secondary school students. Sleep. 2021 Jul 9;44(7). pii: zsab048. doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsab048. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Change in sleep duration from before start time change to 1 and 2 years after start time change	Reported sleep from bedtime to wake time	Typical bedtime and wake time, assessed prior to start time change, and 1 and 2 years after start time change