HLTH 5413 Module 2 Policy Influences Analysis Example

The Bell, the Bus and the Budget: How School Start Time Policy and Other Political Decisions Shape Adolescent Sleep

Student Name

American College of Education

HLTH5413: Principles and Practice in Health Education

Module 2 Assignment

Instructor Name

October 12, 2026

Introduction

Module 1 of this project showed that short sleep among students at a composite working-class suburban high school results from interacting factors: the pubertal shift in sleep timing, after-school jobs, crowded housing, late social media use and a first bell at 7:05 a.m. Several of those factors are set not by students or families but by public decisions. This paper examines the political and policy influences on adolescent sleep: who decides when school starts, why, what the evidence says about changing it and what other policies shape the hours available for sleep. Politics here means the process by which school boards, legislatures and other bodies weigh competing interests and allocate resources.

School Start Times as Policy

School start times are set by local school boards, usually on the recommendation of administrators, and they reflect transportation budgets, athletic schedules, teacher contracts and families' child care needs more than students' sleep. In the composite district, the high school begins at 7:05 a.m. because one fleet of buses makes three rounds each morning, carrying high school students on the first round, followed by middle and elementary schools. The American Academy of Pediatrics has urged middle and high schools to hold the first bell until half past eight or later, citing evidence that early bells are among the few causes of teenage sleep loss a community can actually change and that delaying start times can improve physical and mental health, safety and academic performance (Adolescent Sleep Working Group et al., 2014). The district's schedule falls well short of that recommendation, as do those of many districts nationwide.

What Happens When Start Times Change

The evidence from districts that have changed start times is encouraging. Owens et al. (2010) studied an independent high school in Rhode Island that delayed its start from 8:00 to 8:30 a.m. After the change, students' average school-night sleep increased by 45 minutes, the share sleeping at least 8 hours rose from 16.4% to 54.7%, and daytime sleepiness, fatigue and depressed mood declined, while health center visits for fatigue and class attendance improved. The study used surveys before and after the change without a comparison school, so other factors could have contributed, but the size of the changes is notable.

Dunster et al. (2018) examined the Seattle School District's decision to move secondary school start times nearly an hour later, using wrist monitors to measure sleep objectively before and after the change. Median daily sleep increased by 34 minutes, and the change was associated with a 4.5% increase in median grades and better attendance. Students did not simply go to bed later, which had been a common objection. Together, these studies suggest that start time policy can produce gains that no classroom lesson on sleep habits could match.

The Politics of Change

If the evidence is strong, why do early start times persist? The answer lies in competing interests. A later high school start usually means reorganizing bus tiers, which may cost money or push elementary schools earlier, a change some parents of young children oppose. Later dismissal can affect after-school jobs, sports practices and games against schools on different schedules, and coaches and athletic directors are often vocal. Teachers' contracts, child care arrangements for families who rely on older siblings to supervise younger ones after school and the use of shared facilities all complicate the change. Those who benefit most, teenagers, have the least political voice.

States have begun to act where districts would not. California became the first state to set a limit in law, so that from the 2022-2023 school year most public high schools may not open their day before 8:30 in the morning and middle schools not before 8:00 (S.B. 328, 2019). State action shifts the political question from whether to change to how, and it spreads the costs of change across districts rather than leaving each board to fight the same battle.

Other Policies That Shape Sleep

Start times are not the only policy lever. Federal child labor rules limit the hours that 14- and 15-year-olds may work during the school year, including how late in the evening, but they set no hour limits for 16- and 17-year-olds, leaving those decisions to states and employers. In the composite community, most working students are 16 or older, so closing shifts ending at 10 or 11 p.m. on school nights are legal. State athletic associations set rules for practice length and game schedules that determine how late athletes get home. District homework policies, where they exist, rarely consider total workload across courses. Even housing policy plays a role, since the availability of affordable family housing affects whether siblings must share bedrooms. Each of these policies is made for its own reasons, but together they shape the hours teenagers have for sleep.

Economic Politics: Who Pays

Every sleep-related policy involves a decision about who bears costs. Keeping early start times saves transportation money for the district but transfers costs to students in lost sleep and to society through the health, safety and academic consequences documented in earlier research. Delaying start times may cost the district money for buses or require other schedule changes, but it returns benefits in health and learning. Limiting teen work hours protects sleep but may cost families income they rely on. Recognizing these trade-offs is essential for health educators who advocate policy change, because opponents often raise legitimate concerns that must be answered rather than dismissed.

Options Within the District's Reach

The composite district does not need to wait for a state law. District transportation staff have identified three options. The first would reverse the bus tiers so that elementary schools start first, which would move the high school to about 8:20 a.m. at little added cost but would require elementary families to adjust, and some would need earlier child care. The second would add buses so that high school and middle school routes run at the same time, allowing an 8:30 start for both at an estimated cost of several hundred thousand dollars a year. The third, a smaller step, would move the first bell to 7:45 a.m. by shortening routes and consolidating stops. Each option has winners and losers, and each would need board approval after public comment. Presenting these options with their costs and likely benefits, rather than a single demand, gives the board a realistic path and shows opponents that their concerns have been heard.

The Health Educator's Role in Policy

Health education is not only classroom teaching. The profession's responsibilities include advocacy for policies that support health, and school health educators are well placed to contribute. In the composite district, a health educator could present local sleep survey data to the school board, organize students to describe the effects of early start times in their own words, work with pediatricians and the school nurse to explain the evidence and help build a coalition of parents, teachers and coaches. The educator could also examine the transportation budget with district staff to identify workable options, such as changing tier order or adjusting routes. Advocacy must remain honest about the evidence and respectful of opponents, questions that Module 4 will explore as ethical issues.

Conclusion

The political and policy environment sets the boundaries within which teenagers make nightly choices about sleep. School start times are the most powerful lever, and evidence from Rhode Island and Seattle shows that later starts can add substantial sleep and improve mood, attendance and grades. Yet early starts persist because transportation budgets, athletics, child care and work schedules create interests that resist change, while teenagers have little political voice. State action, as in California, can shift that balance. Child labor rules, athletic schedules and homework policies add further constraints. Module 3 will identify the barriers these policies create and match them with strategies.

References

Adolescent Sleep Working Group, Committee on Adolescence, & Council on School Health. (2014). School start times for adolescents. Pediatrics, 134(3), 642-649. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2014-1697

Dunster, G. P., de la Iglesia, L., Ben-Hamo, M., Nave, C., Fleischer, J. G., Panda, S., & de la Iglesia, H. O. (2018). Sleepmore in Seattle: Later school start times are associated with more sleep and better performance in high school students. Science Advances, 4(12), eaau6200. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau6200

Owens, J. A., Belon, K., & Moss, P. (2010). Impact of delaying school start time on adolescent sleep, mood, and behavior. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 164(7), 608-614. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpediatrics.2010.96

S.B. 328, 2019 Cal. Stat. ch. 868 (2019).