News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on What happened when Boston Public Schools tried for equity with an algorithm. Parent comment

Re:What happened when Boston Public Schools tried for equity... by platz on Monday September 24, 2018 @01:25PM (#18059535)
> start times is something the district had wanted to do for a long time

So, was the real motivation here one of efficiency and cost-savings then?

That is a clear thorn they might have wanted to solve.

Is the added sleep beneficial to students, all other things equal? I'm sure it is, but was the real motivation a cost savings and the sleep deprivation a nice cover for the real motivation?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What happened when Boston Public Schools tried for equity... by lodrein on Monday September 24, 2018 @01:36PM (#18059625)
No, as far as I know having later school start times for high schoolers was the main objective, and that was the strongest one in the solution that was chosen by Boston when they used our algorithm.

There has been a lot of research on high school students lack of sleep, and it seems that the school times do have a important impact on the students :

https://www.cdc.gov/features/school-start-times/index.html

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What happened when Boston Public Schools tried for equity... by SamBam on Monday September 24, 2018 @02:45PM (#18060228)
Did you read the article? It clearly stated that cost-savings was one of the outcomes to be balanced, but not the motivation. There were solutions that saved lots of money that were thrown out because they didn't balance the other outcomes enough.

BPS is pretty forward-thinking, and lots of research has shown that high school students are better off with later start times. Don't dismiss this as the actual motivation.

[ Parent | on HN ]