BY LISA TREI
Introducing a "no homework" policy on weekends, holding exams before the winter break and developing surveys to identify the biggest problems teenagers face are just some of the steps a group of area schools are considering to help counter academic stress on students.
Such changes are necessary, supporters say, to address growing concern that adolescents are compromising their health, personal values and commitment to learning in an ultra-competitive, win-at-all-costs academic environment.
Following a conference last May at the School of Education, Jobak joined teams from 11 other schools in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties on campus Nov. 6 to compare notes on changes they have introduced or are considering. The first event, "SOS—Stressed Out Students: Helping to Improve Health, School Engagement and Academic Integrity," attracted teams from 15 schools who gathered to share their experiences and discuss ways to change the culture in their schools.
Denise Clark Pope, a lecturer in the School of Education who organized the two meetings, said she was surprised by how much has been achieved in six months. "It's actually amazing," she said at the follow-up conference. "It defies the school literature that says reform is next to impossible and glacially slow. I can't believe how far we've come."
Pope is the author of Doing School: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic and Miseducated Students. The 2001 book reveals how some American high school students are being caught in a "grade trap" that makes future success dependent on top grades and test scores. For such teens, gaining acceptance to a prestigious university is regarded as the ultimate trophy, whether or not it's the best match, she said.
Pope said the idea for the conference and project grew out of a conversation she had with Dan Daher, a psychologist at Vaden Health Center, who told her that he was seeing the aftermath of hyper-achieving students. Once they reached Stanford, he said, an increasing number had mental health problems, including severe depression. Between 2000 and 2002, the number of Stanford students requesting counseling help doubled. More teens were also being hospitalized, Pope said.
Mollie Galloway, co-director of the SOS project and a research associate at Stanford's Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities, said it is unusual for schools, even those within one district, to come together to discuss common problems. "The opportunity to be in a room with other schools was highly effective," she said. "There was a great learning curve."
Following the May event, participating schools were paired with coaches, mostly graduate students at the School of Education, who met with teams of students, parents, teachers, counselors and administrators to develop responses to specific issues.
Even small changes can make a big difference, Pope said. For example, Notre Dame, a private all-girls school in Belmont, plans to start an advisory system where teachers will be given time during lunch to talk to students and, if necessary, refer them to counselors. To make this happen, Pope said, the principal will take over lunch duty, which previously was the teachers' responsibility.
Central Middle School held a staff retreat in August to discuss what is working and not working there. "Our kids need to be kinder to each other," said Jobak. "There are no fistfights but there's a lot of cliques. Students are not really super-nice; there's a lot of teasing. When kids are acting out, something else is going on, whether it's problems at home, pressure to get A's or life in general. It's so much easier to lash out than say, 'Can someone help me?' Maybe we can help." Jobak said Central is trying everything from bolstering school spirit to permitting no more than one test a day during exam time. "We're looking at the big picture and taking baby steps to support our kids," she said.
Gail Wasserman, an assistant principal at Saratoga High, said her school was already considering changes to its "very traditional" system when she learned about the SOS project. "It seemed like the conference was made for us," she said. "It gave us a focus." As a result, she said, in September 2005, the school plans to introduce a block schedule, where 50-minute periods would be grouped together to give students more time to delve deeper into one subject, rather than make them switch gears every hour. Another change would add a morning break for the first time, Wasserman said. "We're looking at ways to slow down the pace of school," she said. "The reaction from the majority of teachers has been quite positive."
Despite the achievements of the SOS project, which will continue if funding is secured, the problem of academic stress will not be solved at a fundamental level until colleges rethink their admission policies, Pope said. High schools unwilling to wait until this happens may simply mandate that students take no more than two Advanced Placement (AP) courses at a time. "But some kids can handle three to four APs," Pope said. "It's not just an easy fix. Schools have to think things through before they make changes."
