Case Study: Ann Arbor Public Schools achieves community-backed, flexible later high school start times with ThoughtExchange

Ann Arbor makes progress on later high school start times

Ann Arbor Public Schools, responding to several tragic student deaths and pressure from a local Start School Later group, needed to reassess high school start times while balancing transportation and extracurricular impacts. To understand community sentiment and build support for change, the district partnered with Thoughtexchange to broadly and confidentially gather stakeholder input.

Using Thoughtexchange, Ann Arbor engaged 4,512 people who shared 10,661 thoughts and cast 181,594 stars, revealing a nearly even split of opinion and prompting a move away from a one-size-fits-all plan. The district used the insights to craft targeted messaging, develop a transportation model and a flexible, contemporary scheduling approach, earning media attention and interest from other districts.

Ann Arbor Public Schools

Paul DeAngelis

Executive Director of High School Education