Giving Compass' Take:

• Carolyn Crist examines a new study that suggests starting middle school classes at least 37 minutes later in the morning can result in better health and education outcomes for students.

• While many studies have made similar recommendations for high school, few have discussed enacting different times for younger students. Should local school policymakers and boards push for reform in this area?

• This article approaches the main thing holding back widespread change for school start times: fear.

Starting middle school classes after 8 a.m. could help pre-teens get more sleep and be more awake during their morning lessons, a U.S. study suggests.

Starting school 37 minutes later in the morning, compared with other schools, gave students an average 17 additional minutes of sleep per weeknight, the study team reports in the Journal of School Health.

Students in late-starting schools also reported less daytime sleepiness, the authors note.

“Although the evidence is growing to start schools later for teens in high school, few studies have looked at middle schools,” said lead author Deborah Temkin, director of education research for Child Trends in Bethesda, Maryland, a non-profit research organization.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that teenagers get an average nine hours of sleep per night “to promote optimal health.” However, about three-fourths of U.S. high school students get less than eight hours of sleep, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Some districts have changed their start times but they’ve done so at the detriment of middle schoolers by delaying high schools but moving middle schools earlier,” Temkin said in a telephone interview.

Read the full article about later middle school start times by Carolyn Crist Reuters.