Our Mission and Goals

​We envision a world that respects and cares for adolescents and one in which sleep health holds its rightful place as the foundation of health and well-being.

As an international coalition of over 165 volunteer-led chapters, sleep and health experts, educators, parents, students, and other concerned citizens, Start School Later is making a real difference, with groundbreaking school start time laws and hundreds of schools switching to safer, healthier hours. 

Our mission is to ensure schools give students of every age an opportunity to get the essential sleep they need to be healthy, safe, and successful.

 Our primary goals include:

1. Collaborating with health professionals, sleep scientists, educators, parents, students, and other concerned citizens dedicated to increasing public awareness about the relationship between sleep and school hours and to ensuring school start times compatible with health, safety, education, and equity.
2. Educating the public about the relationship between sleep, school start times, and physical, psychological, and educational well-being, utilizing education awareness forums, professional networking, and social media outreach
3. Providing resources, support, and guidance to local communities working for later school start times,
4. Serving as an information clearinghouse by collecting and consolidating information about school start times and efforts to change them.
5. Advocating for legislation to ensure evidence-based school hours at the national, state, and local levels.