Unexpected SAT Performance Gaps

According to Adam Alter's book, Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces that Shape How We Think, Feel, and Behave, daylight savings time can wreak havoc on body clocks, resulting in all sorts of negative consequences.

[snip]

When the researcher compared the SAT scores of students in Indiana counties that observe daylight saving time, he found that they scored sixteen fewer points than their fellow students in counties that chose to observe standard time all year long.  Indiana is one of the few states where students who attend schools separated by county lines, no more than a few miles apart, spend seven months a year living in different time zones.  Education policymakers devote millions of dollars each year to closing small SAT performance gaps that unfairly disadvantage one group of students relative to another, and these results suggest that eliminating daylight saving time might offer one relatively inexpensive solution.

File under who knew.

The Perfect Score Project: Uncovering the Secrets of the SAT will be published on February 25, 2014 and is available for pre-order now.

Illustrations by Jennifer Orkin Lewis.