Giving Compass' Take:

• A recent study shows that later school start times create positive trends in behavior and achievement in schools. 

• The study finds that different start times contributed to a reduction in school suspensions. Paired with other school measures such as restorative justice, could the combination decrease school disciplinary action in general? 

• Read more studies that show later school start times bring about better health outcomes. 

As more states and districts across the country debate whether to push back school start times, particularly for high school students, a recent study finds that allowing teens to sleep in a little longer has positive effects on behavior and academic achievement for poor and minority students.

Analyzing data from more than 400 North Carolina high schools, Kevin Bastian and Sarah Fuller of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, found that students attending schools that start at 8:30 a.m. or later were less likely to be suspended.

When California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill this fall that would have kept the state’s middle and high schools from starting before 8:30 a.m., he said it was because he thought such decisions should be made at the local level. But that’s also where most of the research on the topic has been conducted, Bastian and Fuller write, noting that the results of small-scale studies on a particular district that has adjusted start times can’t be generalized to larger numbers of schools.

They also acknowledge that moving start times back for older students can mean earlier start times for younger students and impacts to transportation routes. But advocacy groups, such as Start School Later and the American Academy of Pediatrics stress that the benefits would outweigh any negatives.

Read the full article about later school start times by Linda Jacobson at Education Dive