Educational Leadership

Firmly linking teen suicides to school closings is difficult, but rising mental health emergencies and suicide rates point to the toll the pandemic lockdown is taking.

A small group of students attends Eastern Flex Academy in Lansing, Mich., which is designed to accommodate part-time job schedules, internships and even family responsibilities.

Teens don't get enough sleep, and it's not because of Snapchat, social lives or hormones -- it's because of public policy, says Wendy Troxel. Drawing from her experience as a sleep researcher, clinician and mother of a teenager, Troxel discusses how early school start times deprive adolescents of sleep during the time of their lives when they need it most.

“It’s a distraction from all that’s going on … This is a way to come together, in a different way—teaching instead of just talking.”

Kids may receive the question as adults would a cheerful: “Describe all the tedious things you did today!”

We’ve known for a while that adolescent sleep cycles and high school hours are misaligned. But this is not just a health problem.