QED+&+ED+Group+2


 * Group 2 (** Jane, Rachel, Christina , Shu-Han**)** Jane moved the top discussion to the discussion page just to make our work more readable by other teams.


 * Please post your research proposal here. Each time you'd like to add something, simply click on "Edit." You may also use the "Discussion" area to communicate with each other.**

//** Facilitator Comments **// Hi Ladies, this is Bill and I've been watching you progress on this project. You're really doing terrific. If you have any question whatsoever, post it here or use the mail area in Blackboard and I'll get back to you ASAP. Keep up the good work!!! That seems like it would be a great topic....I will check back on your status...if you have any questions for us, just post them here and we will answer...Shelli



__Introduction__ Formally state the problem to be researched and briefly discuss why this question is important to the educational and research communities According to the National Institute of Health (NIH 1997) adolescents (12-25) require more sleep than adults (9+ hours compared to 8- hours for adults) and have different circadian rhythms than adults. Adolescents are most tend to be more alert later in the day than compared to adults. Additionally, students who receive Cs or worse get less sleep than those who receive As and Bs. Other research has suggested a relationship between later start times and increased academic achievement, although these results were limited by the use of teacher and school-imposed grading systems, which are highly subjective. Others have shown a correlation between later start times and improved attendance, which can positively impact student achievement. While not directly related to this our study, lack of sleep in teens is also associated with increases in depression, injury and increased substance use abuse -- all of which contribute to chronic tardiness and absenteeism in high school. This study seeks to answer the following questions:   1. How does a later start time for high school students impact student tardiness/absenteeism? 2. How does a later start time for high school students affect students' perceived levels of sleepiness during the school day? 3. For schools that adopt a later start time, how is student performance on a high-stakes assessment impacted? To date, no other group has conducted a large-scale study to determine the impact of later school start times on student attendance and academic achievement. While we recognize the ambitiousness of the proposed size of our study, it is our hope that our findings will be generalizable to all high schools, and will therefore be of significant impact to the U.S. educational system at large.

Literature Review Normally, this is fairly extensive and details existing research that has already been done on the area of inquiry. For the purpose of this project, please omit the literature review.

__Method__ __- Methodology:__ If possible what methodological approach has been taken by previous researchers in this area and what approach do you intend to take? Clinical trials (purposeful treatment and randomized controls of youth in sleep clinics) have demonstrated sleep needs and circadian rhythms and the impact of sleep deprivation on memory and attention. Surveys suggest that adolescents don't get enough sleep. Small single school QED studies have shown positive impact on academic performance and attitude. Large scale changes to school day are challenged by the cost/complexity of changing bus schedules, the impact of schedule changes on employee union agreements, and after school sports and extracurricular activities, as well as regional vocational programs (BOCES) that necessitate similar schedules among all participating schools within a specific area. We plan to conduct a non-equivalent group, post-test only, quasi-experimental study. While we recognize the threats to internal validity, we fully intend to address those concerns. (???? are we in agreement about the type of study this is?) We could do a QED based on the fact that randomizing all of these students would be prohibitive given the way they are scheduled/tracked in high schools? [This study is made possible by the NSF and the "Obama initiative to improve the lives of teens."]

__- Design__ This is where you discuss the type of study you’ll be undertaking. In this case, you'll be describing the QED or ED approach you have chosen and why it makes sense for your investigation. The design for this study is experimental, including randomized placement of schools in control and treatment groups, sample blocking for school size, rural/suburban/urban, SES diversity, school-wide achievement and current start time.

__- Population/Sample__ Who will be the subjects of your research? Will they be randomly assigned to groups or will they self-select? Give as much detail about the participants as possible Our population parameter is US high school students. Our sample will be drawn from high schools in geographically, SES and culturally diverse states of Texas, Kansas and New York State.

__- Data Collection/Analysis__ What are the important variables under consideration? How will you analyze your data and what steps can be taken to ensure as much validity as possible. Our independent variable is school start time. All treatment schools will begin school one hour LATER (oops!) than they currently do. The dependent variables that we will observe are 1. first period tardiness, 2. student/teacher perceptions of school day sleepiness, 3. academic performance Data on first period tardiness and daily attendance will be collected for each school through the New York State Student Information Repository System (SIRS). This information can be retrieved through the Regional Information Center with the permission of each school district's Superintendent. The data files will be sanitized as to not include any student names or other demographic identifiers.

Perceptions of school day sleepiness will be collected via periodic surveys.

Academic performance data for the NYS English Regents Exam will be collected through the Student Information Repository System (SIRS) and the New York State School Report Card for each school and district. Another question -- should we collect school day sleepiness data at only certain points during the day? (for example, first period, midday, last period?)  I think that the sleepiness question is loaded because of what and how much the student eats? I think there are too many variables involved with trying to track that. That's a good point, but if we don't actually try to measure sleepiness itself, but perception of sleepiness, I think we can get around that. Also, now I'm wondering if we really need the teachers' perceptions? __- Techniques__ Briefly describe how you will collect the relevant data. Will you need specific instruments? How will you ensure that you are collecting sufficient quantities of data?

One of the challenges of a study of this size is to communicate effectively with participants and parents to ensure large scale support and participation.

__- Ethical Considerations__ Are there ethical issues that may arise from this study? If so, how are they addressed and minimized? - IRB approval - Approval and cooperation from the affected school boards to modify the school schedule - For which things we need participant consent. It seems that the school's can set policy about start times without participation consent of children and their parents. What about blind statistics like all school tardiness? What about school wide performance indicators? We would need consent for students who will participate in the surveys and for any tracking of individual student (nonaggregated) academic performance. I'm not sure we would need permission for statistics about school tardiness and absenteeism. Schools have to report this information to state ed and no names would be attached. All we need are numbers. As for the surveys, we just need to be sure that they can be submitted anonymously; if we do this via the internet, then there is no record of their names. If we use the 11th grade Regents exam, we wouldn't have individual student information, just the schools report card that is made public. I agree. Do we want to have individual student performance data, or is the school report card information enough? I think the information from the school report card will be enough.

- We believe that participation in this study will not result in any harm or discomfort.

Discussion

__Potential Implications of our research__. If your hypothesis is correct, what impact will it have on the educational community? Are there any limitations of your study and what conclusion do you hope to be able to draw from this work? We recognize the limitations posed by the use of the New York State English Regents Exam, which is not a norm-referenced exam. Though the test is based upon academic standards that are implemented across the state, the exam itself is subject to variation in test administration and scoring. In order to try to minimize this variation, the state calibrates scorers and asks that tests are graded regionally, or at the very least, in groups of scorers. In spite of this, there remains a certain degree of subjectivity in the scoring of the examination, which could result in inconsistent results across school districts.

This study is also limited by the fact that the treatment group consists of schools whose stakeholders agreed to a later start time at one or more high schools within the district. In many cases, these kinds of decisions can be politically motivated, and are made with influence from parents, administrators and teachers unions. A decision to change start times can impact the entire community by changing busing schedules, child care arrangements and scheduling in other buildings. Stakeholders who are motivated to accept such changes may be more involved in the education of their children, thus leading to a treatment sample that is high-performing to begin with. We see this as unavoidable, as it would be impossible for us to impose a later start time on randomly-selected schools.

We believe that this study has the potential to make a significant impact on the educational community and on the school lives of US teens. We believe that the size of this study (and our careful attention to validity) will enable us to generalize the findings nationwide. Though there has been considerable discussion and many small scale studies confirming our hypothesis, financial and political obstacles have prevented serious consideration. If there is a statistically significant correlation between later starts and improved participation and academic performance, as we hypothesize, we believe that the obstacles will be overcome and we will improve the lives of teens.

__**References**__ Dexter, D., Bijwadia, J., Schilling, D., & Applebaugh, G. (2003). Sleep, sleepiness and school start times: A preliminary study. //Wisconsin Medical Journal, 102//(1), 44-46. Wahlstom, K. L. (2002). Changing times: Findings from the first longitudinal study of later high school start times. //NASSP Bulletin, 86//(633), 3-21. Wahlstrom , K. L. (1999). Prickly politics of school starting times. //Phi Delta Kappan, 80,// 345-347.

Please include citations used in constructing this project. It need not be extensive.