"Indeed, no one does well when they’re sleep-deprived, but insufficient sleep among children has been linked to obesity and to learning issues like attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. You’d think this would spur educators to take action, and a handful have."

Very true, where I live a lot of children are up at four o'clock in the morning to get farm chores done and may have to walk a mile or so to catch the school bus. Then the same routine in the evening; plus trying to get school work done. These children are very sleep deprived. I know teenagers need at least 8 to 9 hours of good sleep to even function.

Well, if they're getting up at 4 in the morning, it doesn't matter what time school starts. But this research has been out for a few years now. IIRC, there was a school district in Minnesota that moved its high school's start time an hour later and saw grades, test scores, and absenteeism all improve.

Another reason to home school.