How weighed down by stress are North Allegheny students? Has the competitive urge to succeed brought about a culture of grit and integrity or sleep-deprivation and anxiety?

These are the questions Superintendent Dr. Robert Scherrer and his administrative team are looking to answer. As numerous studies have shown, stress can lead to feelings of being overwhelmed, irrational behavior, and worsened performance in school and sports. Chronic stress is even a leading factor for depression, obesity, substance abuse, and suicide.

Over the course of the 2016-2017 school year, district administrators conducted meetings with focus groups of students, parents, and staff members from NASH, NAI, and the three middle schools to target the causes of stress for NA students and identify potential solutions.

“We know students are stressed,” Scherrer said. “We want to know what’s causing them this stress, what’s causing them academic pressure, and most importantly what can we as a district do to combat this.”

Excluding external pressure on students, such as family and relationship issues, Scherrer’s team determined four main factors of student stress. “We observed a pattern in the feedback regarding weighted grades, homework, tests, and school start times,” the Superintendent said.

While tests and homework are central to the traditional scholastic experience and require time-intensive reflection before adjusting, Scherrer and his colleagues feel that weighted grades and sleep-deprivation are two issues that can be placed under consideration immediately.

“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but the early feedback is that there are a lot of people who see these changes as a good and welcome thing,” Scherrer explained. “As we move through this process we might meet more resistance, so that’s why we are trying to release as much as we can early to the community.”

In order to start the conversation, the District has shared three potential adjustments. In order to increase the amount of sleep students get per night, the administration is evaluating the relative merits of pushing all start times back, flipping the start times for high school and elementary students, or pushing start times back and condensing from three to two bus runs.

The 7:25 AM start time of North Allegheny high schools is currently within the earliest 10% in the U.S., with the national average at 7:59 AM. But a solution is not as easy as it seems. Scherrer said that, while the pushing all times back is a possibility, a later start time for elementary students is not a model that anyone is excited for, because if kids are getting home at 5:00 or 6:00, there is almost no time left for after-school fun or family bonding.

To minimize the impact on transportation and preserve valuable after-school time for kids, many schools in Minnesota, where later high school start times are mandated, decided to simply switch high school and elementary school start times. In fact, research shows that, before reaching adolescence, kids have an easier time falling asleep and waking up earlier. Once adolescents reach puberty, the circadian rhythms related to hormonal changes are delayed, meaning it is much more difficult to fall asleep before 10:45 and wake up before 7:00. 

Yet schools across western PA have not followed the national trend. If NA were to push back high school start times to align with the national recommendation of 8:30 Am, they would be the first public district in the region to take such a measure. As of now, NA has been sharing its data with the other 41 suburban districts in Allegheny county and collaborating especially closely with the nine Northern Tier schools.

“There is power in numbers,” Scherrer said. “If this happens, conversations about our schedules not matching up will be a nonissue once every district starts going in the same direction.”

There’s no denying that the research is on Scherrer’s side. Study after study shows that more sleep is better for the brain. Accordingly, The Centers for Disease Control recently released a report that middle and high schools across the country should be starting at 8:30 AM, as evidence shows a mere one-hour shift in start time produces a 20-30% increase in students who get eight hours of sleep.

The benefits extend to the athletic field as well.

“If you’re sleep-deprived, your chances of having a sports injury are 1.7 times greater than someone who is not sleep-deprived,” the Superintendent said.

In a meeting last month between Dr. Scherrer and Athletic Director Bob Bozzuto, the two officials determined that athletic scheduling could in fact accommodate later school start times.

The district is no less concerned about weighted grades.

To combat stress stemming from weighted grades, Scherrer said, NA could possibly eliminate weighted grades, place a cap on the number of courses a student can receive weighted grades for each year, or weigh AP and Honors the same compared to academic courses.

“We’re concerned that students may be taking classes just to influence their GPA and aren’t really looking at what’s right for their interests,” the Superintendent said.

It’s no secret that students and parents alike believe that colleges place a premium on GPA. And while it’s one of many criteria for college admissions, it certainly carries importance. Yet there is a persistent myth regarding the weighted GPA that the district administration is aiming to challenge.

“We’ve talked to college admissions officers and know that they unweight the grades of students applying,” Scherrer said.

While the weighted GPA system incentives enrollment in rigorous courses, the district wants a clearer understanding of the costs.

“We’re concerned that the intense focus on GPA detracts from students’ motivation to pursue actual interests,” Scherrer said. Indeed, NAI and NASH offer a wide array of electives, but administrators are concerned that many students do not take them for fear of lowering their GPA.

This is not the first time NA has taken steps to cool down the overheated GPA race. For a number of years, the Counseling Office has not reported class rank to college admission offices.

“NA is such an excellent school district that students ranked 50th might actually be in contention for valedictorian in another school district,” the Superintendent said. As a matter of fact, a NASH senior can rank among the top national academic percentiles and not be close to the top 5% of his or her graduating class.

In regard to both changing school start times and removing weighted grades, the steepest hurdle will likely be developing a consensus in the community. As of now, the administration is proceeding with caution and taking all viewpoints into consideration.

Two community meetings will be held to discuss the topics, one at Marshall Middle School  on November 9 and the other at Carson Middle School on November 13. The meetings will begin at 7pm, and both parents and students are encouraged to attend. College admissions officers and professionals in the field of sleep research will be present to discuss the impact of changes in start times and weighted grade systems. Following the public presentations, all students, parents, and staff members will have the opportunity to provide their feedback through an electronic survey. This feedback will be used to provide recommendations to the School Board in December with an official vote on the matter coming in January.

If the changes are implemented, juniors can look forward to a more restful senior year.

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