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Megan Antill

Professor Calhoun

ENG 1201.539

17 March 2019

The Online Casebook

My essay will attempt to answer the question of whether or not starting school at a later

time, such as 8:30 a.m., instead of 7:30 a.m., will impact students positively. This will include

small details such as the impact on grades, mental health, physical health, and overall motivation

when it comes to school.

Ayres, Crystal. “19 Should School Start Later in the Morning Pros and Cons.” Vittana.org,

vittana.org/19-should-school-start-later-in-the-morning-pros-and-cons.

In this article, “19 Should School Start Later in the Morning Pros and Cons”, Crystal

Ayres, lists the pros and cons of starting school at a later time. While I mainly focused on the

pros I found that when looking at the cons majority of them say that the cons are cons for people

other than the students. The students themselves had only two cons.

The writer’s purpose in writing this article was to provide both sides of this argument.

When you have the full story it is easier to make a decision of whether or not you are for or

against school starting at a later time. The audience is students and school officials who would be

affected by the start time being pushed back.

The writer, Crystal Ayres, is a web content manager. I find the author to be credible after

reading other articles of hers. The article was unbiased and did not include her personal opinions.
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Only facts were given in this article. The source matches other sources as well, making it appear

to be credible.

I will be using both the pros and cons listed in this article. Due to the fact that majority of

the cons are not harmful towards the students, this information further proves my point. I will be

using the pro, It could boost individual academic performance, as well in my paper.

Clark, Michael D. “Should Schools Be Starting Later in the Morning? Some Southwest Ohio

Districts Have Made Changes.” Daytondailynews, Staff Writer, 25 Jan. 2019,

www.daytondailynews.com/news/local-education/should-schools-starting-later-the-morn

ng-some-souhwest-ohio-districts-have-made-changes/r6QkJaHLVEnW5bf445E70N/.

In this article, Michael D. Clark provides specific examples of current schools dealing

with the issue of later start times. Most of which are taking place in different countys around

Ohio. It appears the main solution to this issue is to push back the start time by 30 minutes.

Another main point made by Clark is that the issue of sleep deprivation goes past mental health.

It also can cause young minds to make more consistent and spontaneous impulsive decisions.

Clark includes quotes from students attending school, which are all wrapped around the idea that

the students do not dislike school, just the early morning that accompanies it.

The author’s purpose in writing this article is to inform those who have not taken the step

to push the start time back, why they should. I believe the audience for this piece is school

officials and students who share opinions with the students questioned in the article. The fact that

the article was written at the beginning of 2019 is relevant, due to the fact that the information is

current.
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The writer is a staff writer for Dayton Daily News. He is a credible author, seeing as he

has written multiple pieces concerning this topic all of which fit with other data I have seen from

other sources outside of Dayton Daily News. The source is a reliable one due to its credibility

and reputation as a reputable news source.

I have decided to use the information within each county as an example of schools that

pushed back their start times. Furthermore, alone with these examples, there are specific reasons

why the start times were pushed back. I believe this information will be useful in writing my

essay on this topic.

Malatesta, Elizabeth. “Let Them Sleep? Later School Start Times Improve Graduation and

Attendance.” NEA Today, 3 May 2017, neatoday.org/2017/04/13/later-school-start-

times/.

This article written by, Elizabeth Malatesta, provides biological examples on why the

start time of school needs to be pushed back. Specific statistics on teenagers are provided and

compared with the actuality of these statistics in real life. Attendance of students before the start

time changes and after the start time changes is also analyzed.

The purpose of the article is to inform that insufficient sleep in teens has lead to an

increase in car accidents, substance abuse, suicide attempts, depression, and even criminal

activity. The audience for this article is everyone who is affected by the school start times. These

people being students and teachers.

The writer is currently a 2018 Fulbright U.S. Student Finalist. She has written multiple

articles on this topic. I find her information to be credible because the information she provides

matches with information other sources on this topic have also provided.
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I will be using the information on how student’s daily lives were altered when the start

time was pushed back. The information on decreases in car crashes, substance abuse, suicide

attempts, depression, and criminal activity will be analyzed in my paper.

Meredith, Karenna. “Health Officials Say Lack of Sleep Can Negatively Affect Students'

Grades.” The Daily Universe, 12 Sept. 2016,

universe.byu.edu/2016/09/06/health-officials-say-lack-of-sleep-can-negatively-affect-st

dents-grades/.

In this article, Karenna Meredith’s main points revolve around what lack of sleep can do

to the brain of a young person. She analyzes other articles on this topic and uses them to back the

information she is providing. One main point she gives is that sleep issues can cause grade point

averages to drop overtime.

The writer’s purpose is to prevent lack of sleep to get to the point where it is affecting

students grades. Therefore, I would identify the audience as students and school officials who

have a say in whether or not this happens.

Karenna Meredith has written many articles on controversial topics. In order to have the

information to write on such topics she would have to have the proper amount of research from

multiple different topics. Making this source credible. Despite the fact that the article was written

in December of 2016, the information provided is still relevant and useful at this point in time.

The way lack of sleep affects grades has not changed since then.

I will be using this information to prove that lack of sleep does have a direct correlation

to grade averages. I will also be using it to dive into the mental effects of lack of sleep.
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“Schools Start Too Early | Features | CDC.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/features/school-start-times/index.html.

The article, “Schools Start Too Early”, written by an writer for cdc.gov explains the

effects of sleep on adolescents. By describing some of the events that occur when kids reach

puberty, the information is easy to analyze.

The purpose in writing this article is to inform those who attend school, as teachers or

students, the negative side effects of not getting the proper amount of sleep. The audience being

those teachers and students. The article was last revised in July of 2018, therefore, the

information has been kept up-to-date.

This source is credible because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a

credible resource. I will be using the information on how sleep affects adolescents in my paper.

Urton, James. “Teens Get More Sleep, Show Improved Grades and Attendance with Later

School Start Time, Researchers Find.” UW News,

www.washington.edu/news/2018/12/12/high-school-start-times-study/.

In this article, James Urton goes into the medical and social side of school starting later.

Wrist monitors were a main point in this article. They were used to figure out if students were

actually getting more sleep each night, and they were. The wake-up time for students on

weekdays and weekends moved closer together, making for more healthy sleeping habits.

Research from multiple credible companies is also provided making the article that much more

persuasive.
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The writer’s purpose is to convince the audience that later start times for schools is better

for the students than the current, original start time. The audience being school officials and

students. The article was written in December of 2018, making it relavent.

Urton is a writer for the University of Washington’s online news. After going through

some of the other articles he has written I have found him to provide credible, resourceful

information.

I will be using the information on the wrist monitors in my paper. I found that this is the

information that really is unbreakable, the numbers do not lie. The points provided by school

officials on the student’s behavior and overall mood will also be included in the paper. The

answer of whether or not grades are impacted by more sleep was also answered in this article. I

will use this information in my paper as well.

Wahlstrom, Kyla L. “Later Start Time for Teens Improves Grades, Mood, and Safety.” \

Kappanonline.org, 3 Oct. 2018, www.kappanonline.org/later-start-time-for-teens/.

In this article, Kyla Wahlstrom goes into lengthy detail on the effects on students of

school starting later. One of the overall main changes in students when school started later, is

that there are significantly less reports of absences, tardiness, and sleepiness in school. An

overall change in the moods of students was also reported by multiple school officials, from

different school districts.

I believe the author’s purpose in writing this article was to inform all people associated

with schools the benefits on a later start time. The audience for this piece is anyone who either

attends school as a student or attends school as a teacher, principal, or another type of school
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official. While the article was written in 2017, the information provided is still significant due to

the fact that most of the information provided has not changed in 2 years.

The author is a senior research fellow. This in itself proves her to be a credible author for

Kappan Online. I will be using the information in the article to show the benefits in the health of

students. The mental health and overall wellbeing of students is discussed in this article and this

will answer one of my main questions, how does later start times impact students health?