School Start Time Survey Results Come In
This year, the Johnston Community School District is beginning a discussion with parents, students, and staff members to determine whether changes should be made to the school day start and end times.
Separate surveys were administered to parents, students grades 4 through 12, and employees to gather feedback about the potential changes. Results will inform future decisions on the school start and end times for elementary, middle, and high school. Overall, the results show support from all groups saying they could adjust to or preferred a different start time. However, support was neutral for switching school start times. At this time, more study and input around the idea of switching school start times is needed and no changes will be made for the 2017-18 school year.
The School Start Time Survey addressed the following topics:
- Change in elementary school start times
- Change in secondary school start times
- Learning and health
- Time
- Alertness
Participation
In the parent group, 2,471 responses were received for a 38 percent response rate. There was a 70 percent response rate for staff members, with 611 participating. Secondary students grades 6-12 tallied 2,555 responses for a 67 percent response rate. Eight hundred and forty three elementary students grades 4 and 5 participated, at an 81 percent response rate.
Key Takeaways
- 78% of participating Johnston High School parents, 79% of Johnston Middle School parents, and 77% of Summit Middle School parents said they could adjust to or preferred a later start time. Similarly, 71% of elementary school parents said they could adjust to or preferred an earlier start
- No more than 34% of participating parents, elementary students, secondary students, and staff members said a change in the school start time would have a negative or very negative impact on them. More elementary school parents (34%) than secondary school parents (28%) said a change would have a negative impact, and more secondary school staff members (41%) than elementary school staff members (29%) indicated a change would have a negative impact on them.
- 79% of parents said they think school start time is a big factor in the learning and health of JCSD students, or said they are neutral and will support whatever the district However, only 44% of parents said they support changing the start time, with 40% of elementary school parents and 46% of secondary school parents expressing support.
- 77% of staff members said they think school start time is a big factor in the learning and health of JCSD students, or said they are neutral and will support whatever the district decides. However, only 52% of staff members said they support changing the start time. Further, 61% of elementary school staff members said they support changing the school start times, but only 43% of secondary school staff members expressed
- 76% of secondary students said they think school start time is a big factor in the learning and health of JCSD students, or said they are neutral and will support whatever the district However, only 43% of secondary students said they support changing the start time.
- 82% of elementary students said they think school start time is a big factor in the learning and health of JCSD students, or said they are neutral and will support whatever the district However, only 48% of elementary students said they support changing the start time.