Using online courses to help high school students get more sleep

by John Watson

We see the role of the Digital Learning Collaborative as being centered on researching, analyzing, and commenting more than advocating. We do this because advocates by definition choose a side, and once you do that it becomes harder to look at your own side negatively even when the data should lead you to a critical conclusion.

Still, it’s hard not to cheer when we see an article like this one, explaining how high schools in Jordan, Utah will use online courses to provide scheduling flexibility for students, in particular to allow students to sleep longer and start later.

Why does this news elicit applause? Because this is such an obvious example of how online courses can help students in a concrete way, but we don’t see it implemented very often.

It’s common to hear that educators “put students first,” but it’s easy to find examples where the system doesn’t actually do so. School start times are a good example. As the article points out, research strongly supports the idea that high school students need more sleep. It quotes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

“insufficient sleep is common among high school students and is associated with several health risks, such as being overweight, drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco and using drugs, as well as poor academic performance... The CDC’s 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Report says 2 out of 3 young people fail to get sufficient sleep, a proportion that has remained constant since 2007.”

I’m not aware of anyone who has studied this issue who believes that early start times benefit high school students, and we are starting to see some school districts, and California, shift their start times to later in the morning.  Still, we have not yet seen widespread changes. The reasons typically given, such as needs related to busing, staff time, and extracurricular activities, are at once understandable and deeply frustrating.

As the Jordan School District shows, however, a solution for the students who want to start later exists and can be implemented by almost all districts now. The students in Jordan are taking one or two online courses, at least some of which are being developed and taught by district teachers. Students who choose to take online courses can arrive at school later in the morning or earlier if it is more conducive to their lifestyle and other activities, such as internships and extracurriculars. This doesn’t solve the transportation issue, as students selecting this option must get themselves to school, but it’s a step in the right direction.

For any curmudgeons thinking “those students just need to learn to get up early or they won’t be successful in their careers,” I can easily give you a half dozen examples of highly successful people who struggle to be productive in the early morning hours. These professionals have put themselves in situations to maximize their productive hours. Too many students don’t have that choice—but almost all schools could implement the option being put in place by the Jordan School District.