A teacher’s day protects sleep when grading gets fixed, capped blocks inside the workday and a hard stop in the evening. US public school teachers reported working about 53 hours a week in RAND’s 2024 State of the American Teacher survey, 15 of them outside contract hours, while adults need 7 or more hours of sleep a night.

Key takeaways

  • US public school teachers reported working about 53 hours a week, 15 of them outside contract hours, in RAND’s 2024 State of the American Teacher survey of 1,479 teachers.
  • The average US public school started classes at 8:13 AM in 2020–21, and 36.5% of public high schools started before 8 AM (NCES, National Teacher and Principal Survey).
  • Adults should sleep 7 or more hours a night on a regular basis, per the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society consensus (2015).
  • Put grading into fixed, timed blocks at school, cap any evening grading at about 30 minutes and finish it at least 2 hours before bed.
  • A light and sleep expert consensus (PLOS Biology, 2022) recommends bright light, ideally daylight, through the day and dim light for the 3 hours before bedtime.

How many hours do teachers really work?

About 53 hours a week, on average, by teachers’ own report. In RAND’s 2024 State of the American Teacher survey, a nationally representative survey of 1,479 US K–12 public school teachers completed in January and February 2024, teachers reported working about 53 hours a week, against about 44 for similar working adults (Doan, Steiner and Pandey, RAND, 2024). About 15 of those hours, roughly a quarter, fell outside contract time (RAND news release, June 2024).

That outside time is where grading, lesson planning and parent email usually land, and it is the time most likely to push into the evening. These are self-reported averages, so a given teacher’s week can run longer or shorter, but the pattern explains why a teacher’s schedule needs a plan for the work that isn’t on the bell schedule.

What time does a teacher’s day start?

Earlier than most office days, because the first bell sets it. In the 2020–21 National Teacher and Principal Survey, the average US public school started at 8:13 AM: 8:16 AM for elementary schools, 8:11 AM for middle schools and 8:07 AM for high schools. More than a third of public high schools (36.5%) started before 8 AM (NCES, 2020–21).

If you need to be in your classroom 45 minutes before an 8 AM bell and you commute 25 minutes, a 5:45 AM wake time leaves time to eat at home. Work backward from there: the fixed wake time is the anchor, and How to Fix Your Sleep Schedule explains why it does more to steady sleep than a fixed bedtime. Keeping it on weekends too keeps the whole week on one rhythm; Irregular Sleep and Death Risk covers why regularity matters.

How much sleep does a teacher need?

At least 7 hours a night, like every adult. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society reached that recommendation through a formal consensus process with a 15-member expert panel: adults should sleep 7 or more hours per night on a regular basis to promote optimal health (Watson et al., Sleep, 2015).

Count backward from the wake time to find the latest lights-out. A 5:45 AM wake and 7 hours means sleep by 10:45 PM; 8 hours means 9:45 PM. Anything scheduled after that line, grading included, is borrowed from sleep.

How do you fit grading in without losing sleep?

Give grading its own fixed, timed blocks, mostly at school, and a hard stop at home. Grading that has no set time tends to expand into whatever time is left, and the time left is usually the evening.

  • Use part of the planning period. Grade one class set, or one question across all papers, in a 40-minute block. Leave lesson prep and copying for the morning before the bell.
  • Add one short block after dismissal. Forty-five minutes at school, then leave. Leaving the building gives the block a natural end.
  • Cap any evening grading. If some has to come home, set a 30-minute timer and finish at least 2 hours before bed. Frequent work-related computer use in the hour before sleep has been linked with worse sleep health, as Working Before Bed and Sleep explains.
  • Grade under a lamp, not overhead light. The PLOS Biology consensus of 18 light and sleep researchers recommends a daytime minimum of 250 lux melanopic EDI at the eye, ideally daylight, and a maximum of 10 lux from at least 3 hours before bedtime (Brown et al., PLOS Biology, 2022). Paper under a warm lamp fits the evening better than a bright screen.
  • Mind the afternoon coffee. A cup that gets you through the after-school block can still be working at bedtime; see Caffeine Cutoff Time.

How does Owaves help a teacher plan the week?

Owaves: My BodyClock shows all 24 hours on one circle, so the teaching day, the grading blocks and the sleep they protect sit side by side. Each activity has a category: Work for teaching and grading, Flow for duties, email and the commute, and Move, Eat, Love, Play, Relax and Sleep for the rest.

Owaves lets you save a day as a Day Plan and choose the days of the week and seasons it repeats on, carrying its alerts and notes with it (Owaves FAQ), so a school-day plan and a weekend plan can each repeat on their own. How to Save and Repeat a Day Plan in Owaves walks through it. Owaves can also sync your external calendars, so a school calendar’s events show up next to the plan (Owaves FAQ).

Per the App Store listing, the free app runs on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, and connecting Apple Health lets you compare planned versus actual activities, a quick way to see whether grading really stopped when planned. BodyClock Plus adds daily Windows, including Deep Sleep insights for bedtime and Deep Work for your peak focus hours, plus unlimited Day Plans; How to Use Windows in Owaves explains them.

Your day on My BodyClock

Teacher Schedule: How to Plan Class, Grading and Sleep. My BodyClock for Friday, November 6 in Encinitas: Flow at 5:45 AM (Wake up, water, get dressed); Eat at 6:15 AM (Breakfast at home); Flow at 6:45 AM (Commute to school); Work at 7:10 AM (Classroom prep and copies); Work at 8 AM (Teach morning classes); Eat at 11:45 AM (Lunch away from the desk); Work at 12:15 PM (Planning period: grade one class set); Work at 12:55 PM (Teach afternoon classes); Flow at 3 PM (Dismissal duty and parent email); Work at 3:45 PM (Grading block, then leave); Flow at 4:30 PM (Commute home); Move at 4:50 PM (Walk outside). Center Photo: A red apple on a stack of books on a wooden desk in a bright, sunlit classroom.
Your day on My BodyClock. Build it in Owaves.

The day above on My BodyClock is a school day with a 5:45 AM wake time and 8 hours of Sleep from 9:45 PM. Breakfast happens at home, then 50 minutes of classroom prep before an 8 AM bell. Teaching runs in two Work stretches around a real 30-minute lunch, with a 40-minute grading block in the planning period. After a Flow block for dismissal duty and parent email, a second 45-minute grading block ends at 4:30 PM, and the teacher leaves.

The evening holds a walk outside, dinner, family time, one timer-capped 30-minute grading block that ends at 7:45 PM, 2 hours before bed, a hobby, packing the bag for the next day and a lamp-lit wind-down. Find your Body Clock Type with the Body Clock Quiz, then download Owaves on the App Store or join the Android waitlist and build your own school week.

FAQ

How many hours a week do teachers work?

In RAND’s 2024 State of the American Teacher survey of 1,479 US public school teachers, teachers reported working about 53 hours a week on average. About 15 of those hours fell outside contract time, and similar working adults reported about 44 hours.

How much sleep does a teacher need?

The same as any adult: 7 or more hours a night on a regular basis, according to the joint consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society. With a 5:45 AM wake time, that means lights out by 10:45 PM at the latest.

When is the best time for a teacher to grade papers?

Grade in fixed blocks during the school day first, such as part of a planning period and a short block after dismissal, when you are still at school and the building’s routine helps you stop. If some grading has to come home, cap it with a timer and finish early in the evening, under a warm lamp rather than bright overhead light.

Can Owaves keep school days and weekends separate?

Yes. Owaves lets you save a day as a Day Plan and choose the days of the week and seasons it repeats on, so a school-day plan and a weekend plan can each repeat on their own days. Per the App Store listing, BodyClock Plus adds unlimited Day Plans for each day of the week.

Sources

  1. Doan S, Steiner ED, Pandey R. “Teacher Well-Being and Intentions to Leave in 2024: Findings from the 2024 State of the American Teacher Survey.” RAND Corporation, June 2024. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1108-12.html (doi:10.7249/RRA1108-12)
  2. RAND Corporation. “Teachers report worse pay and well-being compared to similar working population.” News release via EurekAlert!, 18 June 2024. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1048215
  3. National Center for Education Statistics. “School start time: Average K–12 school start time and percentage distribution of school start times, by school type and selected school characteristics: 2020–21.” National Teacher and Principal Survey. https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps/estable/table/ntps/ntps2021_fl05_s12n
  4. Watson NF, et al. “Recommended Amount of Sleep for a Healthy Adult: A Joint Consensus Statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society.” Sleep, June 2015. https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.4716
  5. Brown TM, et al. “Recommendations for daytime, evening, and nighttime indoor light exposure to best support physiology, sleep, and wakefulness in healthy adults.” PLOS Biology, March 2022. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001571
  6. Owaves, Inc. “Owaves: My BodyClock.” Apple App Store (US), version 8.1.1. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/owaves-worlds-first-wellness/id869648628
  7. Owaves. “How do I save a Day Plan (or Routine)?” owaves.com FAQ. https://owaves.com/faq/how-do-i-save-a-day-plan/
  8. Owaves. “How do I sync Owaves with my external calendars?” owaves.com FAQ, updated 30 May 2024. https://owaves.com/faq/how-do-i-sync-owaves-with-my-external-calendars/

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