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Unveiling the Sleep Crisis: Implications for Adolescent Health,
Academic Performance, and Policy Reform
potential public policy for school schedules, we sourced a study by Scott E. Carrell and his
colleagues from data based the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), a fully accredited
post-secondary institution with an annual enrollment of around 4,500 students. USAFA offers a
diverse array of majors across disciplines such as humanities, social sciences, basic sciences, and
engineering. Students are required to graduate within four years and typically serve at least a five-
year commitment as commissioned officers in the United States Air Force upon graduation.
Despite its military context, USAFA shares similarities with other selective colleges and
universities in the United States, boasting faculty with graduate degrees from reputable programs
and small class sizes facilitating interaction between students and faculty.

II. Methods

To investigate the impact of early school start times on academic performance, the
researchers employed a mathematical equation. Initially, they examined whether students enrolled
in morning classes achieved different grades compared to their peers. This analysis factored in
individual student characteristics such as SAT scores, gender, and athletic background to ensure
fair comparisons. Additionally, the researchers accounted for the influence of other students in the
class on grades. Subsequently, they analyzed how changes in class start times affect academic
performance. The findings suggested that earlier start times were associated with slightly lower
grades, although the effect varied depending on the specific start time.

III. Results

The results of the study reveal several key findings regarding the impact of school start
times on academic achievement. Graphical analysis (Figure 1) indicates that students randomly
assigned to a first-period class tend to have lower normalized grades compared to those without a
first-period class on the same scheduled day. Additionally, the distribution of grades for students
with a first-period class shifts towards higher grades as the start time of the first-period class gets
later.

Figure 1. Distribution of Normalized Grades for All Courses by First Period Enrollment

Carrell, S. E., Maghakian, T., & West, J. E. (2011). A’s from Zzzz’s? The Causal Effect of
School Start Time on the Academic Achievement of Adolescents. American Economic Journal:
Economic Policy, 3(3), 62–81. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41238103

Figure 2 displays the grade distribution of students enrolled in a first-period class across
various start-time cohorts. The data depicted in these figures indicate that as the first period
commences later, there is an upward trend in the distribution of student grades.

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