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Sleep Research Society Public Service Award
The Sleep Research Society presented SSL Executive Director and Co-Founder Dr. Terra Ziporyn Snider with its 2021 Public Service Award for her efforts to turn sleep research into policy & create a culture of sleep health.
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Results Speaking for Themselves
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What Others Are Saying About Start School Later
We've raised three boys. One didn't have the benefit of our switch to 8:30 start times. He suffered the most. The middle one split two years of each. Our last has only gone to school waking up in the light. The difference is profound and difficult to fully describe. His grades and school performance are much higher than his brothers. Also his athletics, mood, behavior, family dynamics, diet, socialization, health, time management, focus, and also much more improved. It's honestly been the single best improvement to my parenting experience having seen all three stages. It is beyond me why all districts don't listen to the medical and academic experts and switch to healthy start times. There is no price tag you can put on this long list of proven benefits. — Wheatleigh Dunham, Greenwich CT Part of this award has to go to Terra Snider and Maribel Ibrahim, co-founders of Start School Later, a national nonprofit organization to raise awareness about adolescent sleep needs and advocacy for healthy school start times. Their website provides resources and informtion that have been very valuable to our work." — Dr. Gail Karafin, Ed.D., on receiving the Pennsylvania Psychological Association's 2021 Public Service Award for her tireless efforts to promote later school start times as a school psychologist and leader of Start School Later Pennsylvania. Visit www.StartSchoolLater.net for more research and information, including case studies profiling Fairfax County and other schools that have successfully transitioned to later start times." — Tracy Costigan, Tracy Orleans. Three Reasons to Consider Later School Start Times. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Culture of Health. February 8, 2018. Weston would not have been able to make the change without the help of SSL [Start School Later]. We utilized many of the resources including their slides, flyers/brochures, and advice on engaging the school system and community. We received a lot of help, assistance, and support from many SSL members. So thank you." — Chun Lim, Chapter Leader, Start School Later Weston, MA Start School Later is a wonderful nonprofit resource [with] an incredible resource collection....Their website is an incredibly strong set of information that is useful for parents--and anybody." — Kyla Wahlstrom, PhD, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Minnesota, February 3, 2020. The Start School Later advocacy group deserves a lot of the credit for this very important accomplishment! Once upon a time, I started a Start School Later chapter in my community and now, here we are: "Organizations such as Start School Later, Inc. are working toward ensuring that students get the sleep they need to be happy, healthy, and safer drivers." — National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Asleep At the Wheel: A National Compendium of Efforts to Eliminate Drowsy Driving 
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“The AASM Foundation congratulates Start School Later for championing change in school hours so adolescents can achieve healthy sleep and thrive. Coalitions like Start School Later play a vital role in raising awareness about the growing body of evidence that later school start times enhance teen safety, performance and overall well-being.” — Anita V. Shelgikar, MD, MHPE, President, AASM Foundation, August 2021 The increasing momentum in the movement for later start times has been spurred, in part, by increased messaging, integration, and resources provided by advocacy groups such as Start School Later...." — Sleep Science. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020. Congratulations on this exciting legislative achievement [the signing into law of California's Healthy School Hours bill]! This is truly a historic moment in the effort to improve the sleep health of the nation. Thank you for your tireless work on this initiative. Start School Later is a great site to learn more about sleep deprivation in adolescents and to find out if there is a local chapter in your area you can join. Your children will thank you one day."— Courtney Zentz, Pediatric Sleep Consultant, Lactation Counselor and founder of Tiny Transitions. Having SSL - both for the tremendous information provided on the website and chapter leaders page, and the moral support - has been a lifesaver. Thank you all! <3 —Amy Norr, Start School Later Lower Merion, PA 
Thank you for putting together such useful resources! I am presenting the case for moving the middle and high school start times in Amherst NH from 7:25 am to 8:30. The information and resources you've provided here have saved me so much time and help to make my case far more effectively. |
"[I]n accordance with our Core Values in which we pledge to “support and encourage collaboration with professionals in related fields within medicine, health and education to promote sleep health and sleep safety from birth to adulthood among families and the general public”, that we endorse the initiative and efforts of Start School Later." — Family Sleep Institute, position statement in support of later school start times for adolescents. "The national non-profit Start School Later and its local chapters seek to raise awareness, provide links to the research, and coordinate local, state and national efforts to protect child health, safety and education."
Success stories describing how districts creatively overcame obstacles to school start time changes should be shared (eg, http://www.startschoollater.net/successstories.html) to provide ideas to other districts contemplating change. — Anne G. Wheaton, Daniel P. Chapman, and Janet B. Croft. School Start Times, Sleep, Behavioral, Health, and Academic Outcomes: A Review of the Literature. Journal of School Health. May 2016;86(5):363-381. 
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"Arlington LULAC Council 22320 is proud to be part of this national movement backed by scientific research and aimed at improving the health, safety, and academic success of our students….[We] urge the Arlington Independent School District Board of Trustees to follow the national trend and adopt a start school time policy of no earlier than 8:30 AM for the school district's high schools." — Arlington (TX) League of the United Latin Citizens (LULAC) 
"The quality of your posted articles has been outstanding and has been greatly appreciated when shared. As a school board member, parent and community member, it has been very exciting to see our Administration support the committee process to see if this will work for our students. We are currently looking at transportation, child care (in the even of a flip), curriculum and activity and sports schedules to start the process and then will have a community outreach information night to form the larger committee. Thank you again for providing so much supportive data to help educate your followers and chapter's so they can educate others as they help support the movement forward for starting school later...." "The Start School Later Movement is a revolutionary initiative that seeks to restore balance, health, and adequate sleep to kids." |
"Start School Later, Inc. is a national,non-profit organization with local chapters dedicated to the promotion of healthy, safe, and equitable school hours.... Their Website provides updates pertaining to current legislation and public policy related to school start times and hours, in addition to providing factual information on the role of sleep in child health to disabuse many of the circulating myths related to pediatric sleep needs."
Thanks for all of your work! Organization and raising awareness in the community are key components to success. As others have noted, this is similar to raising awareness about other public health matters such as the dangers of second hand smoking, the importance of seat belts, car seats and many other issues. Change is a challenge. As chair of SLEEPinFairfax (Start Later for Excellence in Education) I applaud Start School Later!" "[It is] in accordance with our Core Values in which we pledge to 'support and encourage collaboration with professionals in related fields within medicine, health and education to promote sleep health and sleep safety from birth to adulthood among families and the general public,' that we endorse the initiative and efforts of Start School Later." |
"The Lloyd Society, Inc. finds the work of Start School Later, Inc. to be of great value for the benefit of marginalized teens across the United States. Thank you for your work to highlight the far-reaching impact of sleep deprivation as a health issue with serious equity considerations." "Thank you for all the support from Start School Later. Your resources were invaluable and your efforts lit the path." "This group is largely responsible for the successful outcome. I am VERY happy for our teenagers!!" "Thank you! Your support was a huge part in our success!" "Humans spend the first 18 plus years establishing and normalizing the rhythms of sleep. It's not something that can be forced by setting unrealistic schedules that run counter to the circadian rhythms of children. Having children start school too early leaves them sleep deprived and raises the risk for learning difficulties and accidents." |
"[Y]ou have been a tremendous resource to us. We've made more progress in a year than ever would have been possible had it not been for SSL and those who have fought before us!" "As a neuroscientist specializing in the neural bases of resiliency, i would be hard pressed to think of a universal prevention campaign with more bang for each buck. Kudos!!!!" 
"Been a supporter of Start School Later from day one, and it is Amazing what GREAT WORK your organization has done, and How Very Far Reaching. Congratulations in being the Change Catalysts! Kudos!!!" "...thank you for your powerful advocacy on a critical issue impacting students around the country! " "I want to thank you for all the work you do with SSL....In the past I was spending hours re-inventing the wheel gathering the research....the research is here! SSL does a wonderful job keeping the resources and citations." "I also want to thank you for all the assistance and guidance you have provided. The going has been hard, but having expertise, encouragement, and access to data made it possible for our local core to be much more effective than we would have been on our own." "I very much appreciate all you do to educate people around the country on this important health issue, and see that your group's work is spreading rapidly. Kudos to you!" "Thank you so much for getting back to me. You do a fabulous job with Start School Later -- thank you so much for all of your hard work on this. The website is a tremendous resource!" |
March 27, 2015
League of Women Voters of Connecticut credits Start School Later with revitalizing activism efforts around the country "I am a School Bd member in York County, VA trying to raise the issue of later start time. The information on your website has been great! So appreciative of your work! ... "They show that intelligence and hard work from volunteers can wake-up policymakers and change school schedules for the benefit of children." — Richard Gelula, Former Executive Director, National Sleep Foundation "As the person tasked with chairing the school district committee to look at school start times, I found your site incredibly helpful as I plan for our committee work. Thank you for your efforts." "As an AP Language student we have one year-long project referred to as the CRAVE project. Your project is supposed to be on a problem in your community and how you believe you can help a make a change. My project is on student stresses, I am touching on work overload, drowsy driving, and my solution would be a later start-time for Anchorage School District schools. When I found your program I was thrilled, thank you for providing this information." |
"There's a national organization dealing with [the need to start school later]. They have a lot of great stuff on their website.... There is movement that is happening everywhere.... Start School Later. Google it, check it out, get involved." |
American Academy of Pediatrics, Wisconsin Chapter cites Start School Later website and work of its Executive Staff as resources for its position statement recommending later school start times "At the 26th June board meeting the school board directed the district to run the computer models for a later start! If the models demonstrate that a 7:30 high school start time can be achieved, we hope that NSD will implement them for the coming 2012-13 school year. Keep spreading the word about the later start petition as without your support the district would not be running these models. Thank you everyone. "Happy to report that our school district voted unanimously against the condensed schedule which included earlier start times. I'd like to think that all the evidence from your website along with proof of so many states following [suit] helped sway them." "I saw your comments on the NYT article regarding students needing more sleep. I cannot agree more and I love that you are working towards shifting school hours. Although I work with children up through age six, I see in ongoing theme: children simply do not get enough sleep and I think it starts at a young age. I constantly struggle with parents who think it's normal for their 3 year old to fall asleep at 10pm. So thank you for what you are doing. Hopefully bringing awareness to our sleep deprived society will help." |
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