Later starting time appears to have benefited Milliones students
Attendance is up, principal says
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
At 8:38 a.m., Pittsburgh Milliones 6-12 has the latest starting bell for high school students in Allegheny County.
Principal Christopher Horne initiated the change last school year partly because he saw students repeatedly missing school or showing up late.
Some had part-time jobs on weeknights that kept them up, and others were responsible for getting siblings to school in the morning.
One of those was Anthony Steele, who rises at 5 a.m., wakeshis kid brother and gets them both off to school. The mornings are a lot less frenetic these days for the rising senior and soon-to-be freshman.
“I’m here on time. I can start my day off right,” Anthony said. “We used to have people come in late all the time. If it was still the same old pattern, I would probably be late.”
“High school students — Anthony Steele, a rising senior at Pittsburgh Milliones 6-12 learn better later. We see the benefits of that in this data as far as attendance ratings,” Mr. Horne told a group at a community meeting in June at the Hill District school, also known as University Prep.
Overall, the school’s attendance rate improved from 81 percent in 2015-16 to 84 percent last school year, he said.
The school cut its chronic absence rate by 10 percent from last year “in large part due” to the later start time, the school said in its school improvement plan it submitted to the state this summer.
The time changed only for high school students, to 8:38 a.m. from 7:42 a.m. The middle school continues to start at 8 a.m.
James Fogarty, executive director of education advocacy group A+ Schools, said it’s difficult to know the overall educational impact of the change in start time at Milliones with limited data — and “like everything in education, it’s usually a combination of factors” that lead to school improvement.
“Itdoesn't change the calculus that you need a great leader in the buildings, educators that are engaging students. … That’s all hard,” he said. “I don’t care whether you start at 7 or 9. … It’s about the work that everyone in the community has to do to support great learning in schools.”
Enrollment at U Prep went from 548 in 2015-16 to 392 the next year but is projected to be 420 this year.
Despite the success the principal describes at Milliones, district spokeswoman Ebony Pugh said no other district high school plans to change its start times this fall.