Sleep and student achievement

We explore the relationship between sleep and student performance on standardized tests. We model test scores as a nonlinear function of sleep, which allows us to compute the hours of sleep associated with maximum test scores. We refer to this as optimal hours of sleep. We also evaluate how the sleep and student performance relationship changes with age. We use the Panel Study of Income Dynamics-Child Development Supplement, which includes excellent control variables that are not usually available in sleep studies. We find a statistically significant relationship between sleep and test scores. We also find that optimal hours of sleep decline with age. © 2012 EEA 0094-5056/12.