UPDATE March 7 2012 - Liz Bowen, The Baltimore Sun, reports that a group of Arundel mothers deliver petition for national legislation. Caption showing high schoolers for the STEM magnet school catching a school bus at 6:15 A.M.
We've heard how important sleep is for academic focus - it just makes sense. But, as importantly, numerous studies have shown that it's simply a biological fact that teens' brains re-adjust to prefer those nocturnal hours over the early-bird ones.
Polytechnic High in Pasedena, California, decided to delay classes one hour and made it work logistically to not just accommodate, but to enhance learning.
Last year my daughter had PE as her first class of the day and loved it (wonder if this could work for schools that just can't manage this time shift).
This year it's Math as the first period. Let's see how that goes . . .
- C. J. Westerberg
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