Anchorage board reviews first‑year data on new school start times; no changes proposed

ANCHORAGE — Anchorage School District staff on Tuesday presented first‑year results from the district’s new school start times and told the School Board the briefing was for oversight; there is no current proposal to change the schedule.

"In January '23, you directed us to research available options, engage in information gathering, and provide a recommendation," said Mr. Gustafson, who led the start‑time update. He told the board the district contracted Western Demographics, held 14 focus groups, interviewed medical professionals, hosted three town halls and collected about 9,900 survey responses before the board voted to change start times.

The district implemented the staggered schedule for the 2024–25 school year: elementary schools begin at 8:00 a.m., high schools at 8:45 a.m. and middle schools at 9:30 a.m. Staff emphasized that the presentation reviewed one year of post‑implementation data and that multiple other changes — including adding sixth grade to middle schools and new academic supports — complicate attribution.

Key findings from the first year

Staff reported that overall monthly absenteeism showed only very small changes year‑over‑year (generally under one percentage point). Chronic absenteeism, defined by the district as missing 10 percent or more of school days, declined most notably at the middle‑school level, falling by nearly four percentage points, while high school and elementary changes were smaller.

First‑period F rates (failing grades for the first class of the day) decreased slightly: middle school F rates fell by about 0.2 percentage points and high school F rates fell by roughly 1.25 percentage points. Tardiness results were mixed: elementary tardies increased by about 4 percent, middle school tardies decreased, and high school tardies rose by about 2 percent.

Data caveats and operational notes

Staff cautioned against drawing causal conclusions from a single year of data. "When we're looking at big changes like this, we really need to be doing longitudinal studies…2 to 3 years at minimum," Gustafson said. The district noted that the addition of sixth graders to middle schools, expanded credit‑recovery practices at high schools and other programmatic changes may affect outcomes.

The district also highlighted transportation factors: the staggered schedule changed bus timing so that high‑school runs that were previously early are now earlier in the sequence and elementary runs shifted later. That change produced anecdotal reports of elementary buses being on time more often and middle‑school buses being less on time; staff said extracting reliable late‑bus data would require substantial staff time and might not yield valid, comparable measures.

Board questions and next steps

Board members asked about the month‑to‑month pattern in elementary absenteeism (a midyear uptick that matches historical seasonality), how tardies are recorded, and whether schools use a consistent definition of a tardy. Member Holloman asked whether a standard tardy definition is applied across schools; staff replied that practice varies by school and consistent enforcement can differ with local circumstances.

No changes to the start times were proposed. Staff said they will continue monitoring multiple metrics, prioritize longitudinal analysis across multiple years, and report back to the board. The board emphasized that winter weather, transportation disruptions and other operational variables make a multiyear view necessary before drawing firm conclusions.