Shortly after noon one day this week, I called my household of young teenagers to inquire about progress on the summer reading assignments. (Why get them done early when you can wait till the very last moment?)

The phone rang endlessly, the texts went unanswered. A sleepy voice finally answered the call at about 2 p.m. and announced: “We just woke up!”

This morning, the first alarm bell went off some eight hours earlier -- shortly after 6 a.m. The ordeal that will follow from now on is one that defies the natural rhythm of teenagers, I dread it, and I imagine a similar struggle is unfolding in a city of long subway and bus commutes to school.

The alarm clocks go off (we now have three of them); nothing happens. Next comes loud music, nagging, pleading for five more minutes and if necessary, cold water on the face. There may be some less than polite shouting, followed by frustration when we simply give up and give in to the consequences that follow. They are old enough to take responsibility for their own actions.

In middle school, the late notices piled up; the high school has an electronic email system that sends parents the dreaded late-to-school (again) message.

This year, we might once again attempt to move up bedtime, (as if parents of high school students still have this control) urging hot baths and hot milk to ease the path to slumber for kids that are still wide awake at midnight.

Even so, nothing changes their zombie-like trance come mornings.

With the opening of school, I dread the return of this never-ending battle, and wish the New York City school system had the luxury of staggering schedules and offering later start times to accommodate the natural rhythms of adolescence instead of overcrowding. I’ve thought (and written) about this many times.

Throughout the U.S., some school districts recognize that later start times can actually improve academic performance; some have even changed their schedules.

After all, how is it possible to learn if you are not awake? It is not, as I learned during one particularly jarring parent teacher conference during my older son’s freshman year. I was confused about his lack of progress in a class where he seemed to know the topic.

I wondered what the problem could be.

The teacher rolled her eye and assured me there would be no problem -- if he could bother staying awake. She urged him to start drinking coffee.

It seems unlikely that city schools will change their start times, so Insideschools.org would love some thoughts and tips from parents on how to get high-schoolers back into the rhythm of waking up early, ready to learn. What works?