Why school should start later in the day

Each fall, groggy teenagers resign themselves to another year of fighting their body clocks so they can get to class on time. It's well known that teens who don't get at least eight hours of sleep a night face a slew of problems. That's why both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control recommend shifting middle- and high-school start times to 8:30 a.m. or later. Yet during the 2011-12 school year -- the most recent statistics available -- only 17.7 % of the nation's public middle, high and combined schools met the 8:30 a.m. In California, the average start time was 8:07 a.m.