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Jul 2, 2026 48 min

The Struggle For a Later School Start

from What's the Big Idea? Hosted by What's the Big Idea?

In which Dan chats with Terra Ziporyn and Amy Wolfson, authors of the new book Educating the Exhausted: Adolescent Sleep and the Struggle for a Later School Start. Terra is a medical writer and historian and Amy is child clinical psychologist. They both serve on the board of Start School Later, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing public awareness about the relationship between sleep and school hours. Dan, Terra, and Amy discuss the importance of sleep, why evidence is often not enough to change minds, and where we might find the political will to start school later. As always, I welcome comments and questions on Instagram @_dankearney_ Mentioned in the show: Educating the Exhausted: Adolescent Sleep and the Struggle for a Later School Start by Terra Ziporyn and Amy Wolfson Start School Later Race to Nowhere, a documentary film from 2010 "California just pushed back school start times — you weren’t dreaming. Now what?" an article from CalMatters Music: "The Process" by Lakey

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In which Dan chats with Terra Ziporyn and Amy Wolfson, authors of the new book Educating the Exhausted: Adolescent Sleep and the Struggle for a Later School Start. Terra is a medical writer and historian and Amy is child clinical psychologist. They both serve on the board of Start School Later, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing public awareness about the relationship between sleep and school hours. Dan, Terra, and Amy discuss the importance of sleep, why evidence is often not enough t...

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