Start School Later in the Morning, Say Sleepy Teens

A survey of sleep-deprived teens finds they think that a later start time for school and tests given later in the school day would result in better grades. The survey was presented at the American Thoracic Society 2007 International Conference, on Sunday, May 20.

The survey of 280 high school students confirmed what most parents with a teenager know: they are not getting enough sleep. More sleep would translate into improved academic performance, according to the teens questioned. They all attended Harriton High School in suburban Philadelphia, where the school day begins at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 2:25 p.m.

The survey found that:

• 78% of students said it was difficult to get up in the morning
• Only 16% said they regularly had enough sleep
• 70% thought their grades would improve if they had more sleep
• 90% thought their academic performance would improve if school were to start later
  

The surveyed teens say they do not feel alert while taking tests during early morning periods, and they do not think they can perform at the pinnacle of their ability during the early morning hours. Most students said they thought the best time to take a test would be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. They thought they would perform better academically and that their grades would improve if they could sleep longer.

Richard Schwab, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania, conducted the study with his daughter Amanda, one of the sleep-deprived teens who attended Harriton High School. “I watched her get up early for four years, and saw how difficult it was,” Dr. Schwab says. “Teenagers need more sleep than adults and their circadian rhythms are phase shifted so that their ideal bedtime is midnight to 1:00 a.m.; yet they have to get up at 6:30 or earlier for high school.

While adults usually need 7 to 8 hours of sleep, teens need 8 to 9 hours, he says. In addition, teens go to bed much later – their biological clock often keeps them up until 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. Because they have to get up so early for school, many teens achieve only 6 ½ to 7 hours of sleep or, in some cases, much less. That means they tend to sleep in on the weekends, often until 11 am or later, to try to make up for their sleep deficit.

“Right now, high schools usually start earlier in the morning than elementary schools. But if school start times were based on sleep cycles, elementary schools should start at 7:30 and high schools at 8:30 or 8:45 – right now it’s the reverse. School systems should be thinking about changing their start times. It would not be easy—they would have to change the busing system—but it would increase their student's sleep time and likely improve their school performance.”


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Study Says Greater Collaboration, Centralization Of Functions Needed To Support Arts

The arts sector in Philadelphia and other big cities would benefit greatly from a strong local agency to coordinate cultural activities and help make arts an integral part of each community, according to a RAND Corporation report.

The report recommended that civic leaders make cultural institutions a vital component of community economic development and neighborhood revitalization strategies.

In a study with broad national implications, RAND researchers studied systems of support for the arts in 11 metropolitan areas to identify strategies for sustaining Philadelphia's arts sector.

The report found that while the national nonprofit arts sector flourished in the last decade, the challenges of rising costs, shifting funding patterns, and a public increasingly skeptical of government growth or increased taxes necessitate new strategic approaches.

The metropolitan areas examined in the study were: Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Pittsburgh.

Researchers for RAND — a nonprofit research organization — created a unique systematic analysis to examine ways the 11 metropolitan areas support their nonprofit cultural institutions.
“Arts organizations across the country are competing more intensely for funding,” says study co-author Kevin McCarthy. “Furthermore, civic leaders are trying to provide stability to their arts programs while also dealing with other major urban problems, political turnover and declining budgets.”

To address these challenges, RAND researchers suggested that Philadelphia develop a centralized agency, either public or private, that would serve as the primary point of contact for artistic organizations and be integrated with other city government offices.

Alternatively, the city could have multiple public or private agencies with a clear division of labor serving the same function. Such agencies are found in cities with the strongest support for the arts, the report said, and provide a wide range of services to arts organizations including, but by no means limited to, funding.

“This report underscores that we all need to do our part to ensure the long-term viability of the sector, and establishing a strong central office of cultural affairs is a key step in any successful plan,” said Peggy Amsterdam, president of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, which joined the William Penn Foundation in sponsoring the RAND study.

Additionally, the study recommended greater collaboration within Philadelphia's arts sector on many areas, including programming, marketing, fundraising, employee benefits and some other operations. Collaboration could both strengthen the sector and save money, researchers found.

McCarthy and co-author Liz Ondaatje conclude that while arts organizations have typically undertaken fundraising on an individual basis, they could be better served by addressing the whole sector. The traditional approach of fundraising for individual organizations raises the transaction costs for both the organizations and the funders, the report found, and can put smaller establishments at a disadvantage.

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