Academic Stress in an Achievement Driven Era: Time and School Culture

by Karyn Anne Kowalski Mrowka

B.S. in English Education, December 1997, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

M.S. in Guidance and Counseling, May 2006, Bowie State University

A Dissertation submitted to

The Faculty of
Graduate School of Education and Human Development
of The George Washington University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Education

January 31, 2014

Dissertation directed by

Kelly Sherrill Linkous

Assistant Professor of Educational Administration
 UMI Number: 3609000

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The Graduate School of Education and Human Development of The George Washington

University certifies that Karyn Anne Kowalski Mrowka has passed the Final Examination

for the degree of Doctor of Education as of November 5, 2013. This is the final and

approved form of the dissertation.

Academic Stress in an Achievement Driven Era: Time and School Culture

Karyn Anne Kowalski Mrowka

Dissertation Research Committee:

Kelly Sherrill Linkous, Assistant Professor of Educational Administration,
Dissertation Director

Sam Steen, Associate Professor of Counseling, Committee Member

Ladan Rhanema, Trainer, Capstone Institute at Howard University,
Committee Member

ii
 Dedication

The author wishes to dedicate this dissertation in memory of Dr. Carolyn ―Lyn‖ Mrowka.

There are so many reasons to dedicate this to her: she raised her son to be the man of my

dreams; she was a cheerleader and mentor as I applied for and worked through this

program; she was a role model in my career. Most importantly, though, Lyn Mrowka

was an educator who never lost sight of what was truly important in life: friends and

family, love and living life to its fullest. For that reason, I dedicate this research in her

memory.

iii
 Acknowledgments

First, I would like to thank the students who inspired me to begin this research and

those who shared their experiences with me.

I would like to thank Dr. Kelly Sherrill, for all of her support and guidance

throughout this research process.

Without the support and cooperation from the faculty and administration at the

study site, from the unwavering support of my principal and the willingness of colleagues

to sacrifice ever-precious time to talk with me about this important subject, this research

would have never been possible.

My friends and family have provided so much patience and support throughout the

course of this program. As always, I am indebted to my parents, for instilling in me a love

of learning. I appreciate their unfaltering support as I pursued my dreams. I am grateful for

the time I spent with my grandparents, who taught me to see the best in others as they

always saw the best in me.

Finally, I would also like to thank my husband, Jeff Mrowka, for the countless

meals he prepared in my absence, for being forgiving when I neglected my household

duties to complete research and writing, for making me laugh when I was frustrated, for

being a sounding board when I had new ideas, and most importantly, for being my rock.

Thank you for making this so easy on me.

iv
 Abstract of Dissertation

Academic Stress in an Achievement Driven Era: Time and School Culture

Whether academic achievement is defined as passing a state-mandated test for

graduation or earning ―A‘s‖ in a rigorous course load and having a resume full of extra-

curricular accomplishments, the pressure to achieve is pervading public education,

creating a culture of competition and causing academic stress. A culture of competition

within a school can negatively affect adolescents during a developmental stage in which

other‘s expectations influence the way adolescents‘ view themselves. Many school

leaders struggle with how to rigorously prepare students for the 21st century and global

markets, within the confines of a seven-hour school day.

Popular and journalistic literature acknowledged the issue of academic stress

(Robbins, 2006), and some researchers recognized the prevalence of academic stress

among high achieving students (Connor, Pope, & Galloway, 2009; Pope, 2001; Pope &

Simon, 2005; Richard, 2009) in this academically competitive time. However, the

literature had not yet addressed how the school‘s organizational culture, specifically the

scheduling of courses, organization of time, homework and workload policies, and

extracurricular activities caused or alleviated academic stress. The researcher conducted

three-part interviews with students and school leaders to learn about their experiences

with academic stress in an academically competitive school culture. The researcher

learned that there were positive and negative impacts of academic stress and that some of

the main causes included simultaneous deadlines, conflicts between extracurricular

v
activities and homework, and busywork. This study is important for school leaders,

particularly to examine whether and how high school students perceive and articulate that

time-related school components common in high school culture (such as scheduling,

homework/workload policies, and extracurricular activities) contribute to these students‘

stress levels. The study illuminated similarities and differences in student versus school

leader perception about the stress of time-related school components on students. The

researcher hopes that the understandings gained from this study will help school leaders

make decisions on how to schedule teacher and student time.

vi
 Table of Contents

Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iii

Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iv
Abstract of Dissertation .......................................................................................................v
List of Figures .................................................................................................................... xi
List of Tables .................................................................................................................... xii
CHAPTER I .........................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1
Context/Overview ............................................................................................................3
Research Problem/Research Gap .....................................................................................3
Theoretical Framework ....................................................................................................4
Conceptual Framework ....................................................................................................5
Perfectionism and Over Motivation. ............................................................................5
Stress on Adolescents. ..................................................................................................6
Statement of the Problem: Competitive School Culture ..................................................9
Schools as Organizations. .............................................................................................9
Trending Toward a Competitive School Culture. ......................................................10
Effects of School Culture & Academic Stress on Adolescents. .................................13
Factors Attributed to a Competitive School Culture. .................................................13
Impact of Time. ..........................................................................................................15
Purpose ...........................................................................................................................17
Research Questions ........................................................................................................18
Significance of Project ...................................................................................................18
Methodology ..................................................................................................................19
Delimitations ..................................................................................................................20
Limitations .....................................................................................................................21
Definition of Key Terms ................................................................................................21
CHAPTER II......................................................................................................................24
LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................................24
Theoretical Foundation ..................................................................................................24
Effects of Stress on Adolescents ....................................................................................27
 Positive Impact of Stress. ...........................................................................................28
Negative Impact of Stress. ..........................................................................................29
The Impact of a Competitive School Culture.................................................................37
The Impact of Time on a Competitive School Culture ..................................................38
Suggestions for improvement.........................................................................................43
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................46
CHAPTER III ....................................................................................................................47
METHODOLOGY AND RATIONALE ...........................................................................47
Design ................................................................................................................................47
Researcher Reflexivity Statement ..................................................................................48
Sample ............................................................................................................................49
Instrumentation...............................................................................................................51
Procedures ......................................................................................................................53
Analysis ..........................................................................................................................56
Ethical Considerations....................................................................................................59
CHAPTER IV ....................................................................................................................60
RESULTS ..........................................................................................................................60
Overview of Study Site and Participants........................................................................60
School Culture ................................................................................................................63
Academic Stress .............................................................................................................68
Impact of Academic Stress .............................................................................................68
Positive Impact. ..........................................................................................................69
Depression. .................................................................................................................71
Academic Dishonesty. ................................................................................................72
Disengagement/School Avoidance. ............................................................................73
Lack of Sleep/Health Issues. ......................................................................................75
Tenets of School Culture and Academic Stress .............................................................76
Student course selection. ............................................................................................77
Workload. ...................................................................................................................78
Rigor. ..........................................................................................................................79
First AP Experience. ...................................................................................................79
Pace of Instruction. .....................................................................................................81
Simultaneous Deadlines. ............................................................................................82
Conflicts between Homework and Extracurricular Activities. ...................................82

viii
 Busywork. ...................................................................................................................84
Sacrifice of Personal Time. ........................................................................................86
Tenets of Time and School Culture and Their Impact on Academic Stress ..................87
School Year Calendar .................................................................................................88
The School Schedule ..................................................................................................88
Exceptions to the standard school day schedule ............................................................94
Extracurricular Activities Schedule ............................................................................95
Homework/Workload Policies ...................................................................................96
Student and School Leader Perspectives ........................................................................98
Conclusion....................................................................................................................100
CHAPTER V ...................................................................................................................101
INTERPRETATIONS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...................101
Interpretations and Conclusions ...................................................................................102
Academic Stress. ......................................................................................................102
Impact of Academic Stress. ......................................................................................103
Conceptual Framework ................................................................................................108
Theoretical Framework.............................................................................................108
Tenets of Time and School Culture and Their Impact on Academic Stress ................110
First AP experience. .................................................................................................112
Homework Policy. ....................................................................................................112
Flex Time. .................................................................................................................114
Advisory Period. .......................................................................................................115
Collaboration. ...........................................................................................................116
Student/School Leadership Relationship .....................................................................117
Administration. .........................................................................................................117
Teachers. ...................................................................................................................118
School Counselors. ...................................................................................................120
Policy Makers...............................................................................................................123
Limitations ...................................................................................................................123
Recommendations for future research..........................................................................124
References ........................................................................................................................126
Appendix A: IRB Approval .............................................................................................153
Appendix B: Informed Assent Form................................................................................154
Appendix C: Parent Permission Form .............................................................................156

ix
Appendix D: Informed Consent Form (for School Leaders) ...........................................158
Appendix E: Interview Questions ....................................................................................160
Appendix F: Advisory Period Transcript .........................................................................163

x
 List of Figures

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework…………………………………………………..…. 5

xi
 List of Tables

Table 1: Student Participants………………………………………………………….. 62

Table 2: School Leader Participants……………………………………………………63
Table 3: Effects of Academic Stress……………………………………………………69
Table 4: Hours of Sleep……………………………………………………………….. 75
Table 5: Other Contributing Factors to Academic Stress…………………………….. 76
Table 6: Time-related Causes of Academic Stress……………………………………. 77
Table 7: Student Schedules……………………………………………………………. 83
Table 8: Bell Schedule………………………………………………………………… 89

xii
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

In her book, The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids, journalist,

Alexandra Robbins (2006) shadowed eight students at the academically competitive Walt

Whitman High School (Whitman) in upper, middle class Bethesda, Maryland. At

Whitman, she witnessed an ―overachiever culture‖ (p. 15) which included students who

discussed their SAT scores at parties, believed a ―B‖ was a bad grade, and felt their lives

were defined by numbers such as grades and test scores. The atmosphere at Whitman was

so competitive that one girl reported her physics project was stolen by a peer who hoped

to achieve accolades at a national physics competition with the stolen project. This

competitive school culture is evident in other communities, as well. Robbins interviewed

students in eight states who echoed the sentiments of the Whitman students.

Denise Pope (2001) shadowed five successful students at Faircrest High School

(Faircrest), located in a wealthy California suburb. Faircrest was a comprehensive high

school with a 95% college matriculation rate, and one that boasted of recognitions for its

academics. Pope witnessed many of the same problems related to academia that Robbins

observed in Maryland. One student admitted to sleeping only two or three hours a night

to keep up with the workload. Several students admitted to cheating, occasionally or

habitually, to maintain their grade point average with the least amount of effort possible.

Another student struggled to balance her passion for the arts and maintain the course

rigor and grade point average needed for admission to an elite college.

In Race to Nowhere, a documentary about the stressors middle income, suburban,

American school students are subjected to in an achievement-driven society, producer

1
Vicki Abeles (2010) featured interviews with many students, from elementary school

through college, who experienced the negative effects of stress due to academics. Abeles

emphasized the crux of the problem of academic stress by including an interview of the

mother and a friend of a bright, talented 13-year-old girl, who committed suicide after she

received a failing grade on a math test. Other interviewed students reported illnesses,

disengagement, and academic dishonesty in reaction to the pressures of homework,

extracurricular activities, and grades.

Reports like those of Robbins (2006), Pope (2001), and Abeles (2010) raise

questions about how high school culture has contributed to student stress. One may

inquire whether an association between high school academic culture and student stress is

limited to select high achieving students or demanding schools, or whether the

association affects all students, particularly as national education standards increase and

colleges seemingly have more competitive admissions processes. By understanding

adolescent development and teenagers‘ emotional and physical responses to stressors,

school leaders can better equip themselves to provide a strong academic and emotional

foundation for America‘s high school students.

Previous research on academic stress has specifically focused on students‘

reactions to high stakes standardized testing (Pickering, 2010; Hollingsworth, 2007;

Ryan, et al, 2007; Wheeler, 2006; Mulvernon, Stegman, & Ritter, 2005), but few explore

student perceptions of the school environment or the role of school leaders have in

understanding student needs and creating an environment in response to the overall push

for higher national standards and an increasingly competitive educational environment

(Mitchell, Bradshaw, & Leaf, 2010; Pahnos, 1990).

2
Context/Overview

Academic stress is a byproduct of an achievement-driven culture. While high

standards and pressure can motivate some people to achieve, too much pressure on

impressionable adolescents can have serious negative consequences. School leaders need

to understand how students perceive their educational experiences because those leaders

are in a position to make changes within their schools that impact the school culture and

will allow students to work toward high standards in a supportive environment.

Research Problem/Research Gap

Most of the previous research on stress, anxiety, and rising school curriculum

standards had focused on test anxiety and standardized tests, with mixed reviews about its

impact (Pickering, 2010; Hollingsworth, 2007; Ryan, et al, 2007; Wheeler, 2006;

Mulvernon, Stegman, & Ritter, 2005; Kohn, 2000). Researchers linked high parental and

school expectations to high educational achievement (Jacobs, & Harvey, 2010; Liu, et al,

2009; Al-Fadhli, & Singh, 2006; Zuniga, 2004; Schoen, et al, 2003) and adolescent stress

(Richards, 2009; Rao, 2008; Robbins, 2006; Riley, 2003; Kaplan, Liu, & Kaplan, 2001).

In his review of the literature on the impact of academic stress, Putwain (2007) found that

the separation of academic and test anxiety was unclear and many studies failed to clearly

differentiate between the two. Although the students‘ response to standardized testing

was a key component of academic stress, researchers found the problem was greater than

test anxiety (Richards, 2009; Pope, 2001). Student stress resulted from elements beyond

the standardized tests. The constant demands of the educational system and expectations

of achievement for students in academically competitive high schools contributed to and

caused student stress, as well (Pope, Richards).

3
 Despite a plethora of research on adolescent behavior in schools, very few studies

had explored the school experience from the students‘ perspective (Pope, 2001). Maehr

and Midgley (1996) wrote that the students were the ―ultimate client and product of the

educational process‖ (p. 20). There had been studies that examined teachers‘ perception

of students‘ needs and administrators‘ perception of teachers‘ stress, but not on the

administrators‘ perception of student needs (Mitchell, Bradshaw, & Leaf, 2010; Pahnos,

1990). Changes in the quality and rigor of curriculum had an impact on students.

Understanding the tenets of school organizations that either support or conflict with

adolescent development will determine the success or failure of those changes

(Presseisen, 1982). The researchers who focused on the impact of academic stress

conducted their studies in high achieving schools and with high achieving students.

However, the impact of academic stress on average or low achieving students could be

even more detrimental (Ryan, et al, 2007). Research was needed to understand how the

culture of the school impacts students and if or how the perception of the school culture

varies between students and their school leaders.

Theoretical Framework

The theories used to frame this study were Socially Prescribed Perfectionism and

the Optimal Pressure Model. Socially Prescribed Perfectionism is a maladaptive form of

perfectionism that stems from the perception that others have extremely high, and often

impossible to reach, expectations of an individual (Hewitt & Flett, 1993; Hewitt & Flett,

1991). A person with Socially Prescribed Perfectionism has a fear of criticism and an

intense need for the approval of others (Hewitt & Flett, 1993). When Socially Prescribed

Perfectionists cannot reach or control the perceived expectations of others, the result is

4
often anxiety, depression, and other psychological issues (Hewitt & Flett, 1993). Previous

studies did not explore the connection between the experience of the adolescent in high

school and Socially Prescribed Perfectionism. Researchers linked pressure and high

expectations with high achievement (Jacobs, & Harvey, 2010; Liu, et al, 2009; Al-Fadhli,

& Singh, 2006; Zuniga, 2004; Schoen, et al, 2003). However, there was a point when the

level of expectation became detrimental (Constanzo, Woody & Slater, 1992). Several

researchers linked too much pressure, typically from parents, with poor self-esteem,

anxiety, and negative stress (Rao, 2008; Levine, 2006; Verna, 1996). Costanzo, Woody,

& Slater (1992) referred to this as over motivation, too much pressure which led to a

decrease in performance. They described the Optimal Pressure Model, which, when

charted, created an inverted ―U‖ shape, where achievement was low when there was no

motivation, increased as motivation increased, then dropped when motivation turned into

over motivation. Research was needed to determine what school leaders were doing or

could be doing to maintain a reasonable expectation of achievement in an academically

challenging environment while alleviating the negative effects of stress.

Conceptual Framework

Perfectionism and Over Motivation.

Both high expectations and pressure potentially had a positive impact, unless the

expectations and pressure became too burdensome then the impact became negative

(Hewitt & Flett, 1993, 1991; Costanzo, Woody & Slater, 1992). School leaders need to

understand how faculty can maintain high expectations and an appropriate amount of

motivational pressure without causing a negative impact.

5
 Tenets of school
culture controlled by
administration
Socially Prescribed
• Time
Perfectionism
• Scheduling
• Course selection
• Homework
• Extra curricular

Research on
Optimal pressure academic stress
model Positive effects
Negative effects

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework

Stress on Adolescents.

While learning to handle responsibility is an important part of becoming an adult,

too much academic pressure may have negative consequences for an adolescent who is

not developmentally ready to handle the stress. During the early 1900‘s, the ―Father of

Child Study‖, G. Stanley Hall, dubbed adolescence, ages 13-19, as a time of ―storm and

stress‖ due to the potentially catastrophic changes adolescents undergo during puberty

(Rogers, 1969). Although many modern researchers discredited this exaggerated

portrayal (Rogers, 1969), adolescence became recognized as a potentially vulnerable time

in emotional and psychological development. As young people progressed through the

stages of adolescence, they were attempting to determine who they were and who they

should be (Damon & Lerner, 2008). Conger (1971) stated the five key aspects of

adolescent development were adjustment to physical changes, becoming independent of

caretakers, develop effective social and working relationships, prepare for a vocation, and

develop a sense of personal identity (as cited in Presseisen, 1982). Mergendoller (1982)

6
wrote that during adolescence, young people developed cognitive skills, identity,

relatedness, and autonomy. The cognitive skills were important, as adolescents needed to

be able to reflect and analyze in order to recognize their own identity and understand

their responsibilities and opportunities (Mergendoller). During adolescence, social

expectation and psychophysiological impulses united to form the adolescent‘s sense of

self (Mergendoller). The major tasks of adolescent identity building were to reconcile the

image of self through activities outside of the home, to gain acceptance of friends, and to

acquiesce the demands of superiors, including teachers (Presseisen, 1982). Adolescence

brought a preoccupation with what others thought about the adolescent, at times creating

conflicting views of self. Ultimately, adolescents internalized the expectations of others

by the late adolescent stage (Damon & Lerner, 2008). Erikson‘s developmental stages

placed adolescents in the ―Identity vs. Role Confusion Stage,‖ in which they experienced

physiological changes and impending adult responsibilities and became concerned with

the opinions of others and how those opinions compared with the adolescent‘s sense of

self (Erikson, 1963). Self-reflection, along with an assessment of how others valued his

or her achievements, contributed to the adolescent‘s development of self-identity. During

adolescence, young people organized ―skills, interests, and values into a core sense of self

and [apply] it to present and future pursuits‖ (Nakkula & Toshalis, 2006, p. 20). The

constant questioning of self could lead to an identity crisis caused by the pressures of the

expectations from family, friends, teachers, and society (Nakkula & Toshalis).

Researchers who studied the effects of academic stress found that students were stressed,

anxious, angry, and/or depressed, or finding themselves coping by disengaging, self-

medicating, cheating, or sacrificing good eating and sleeping habits to compensate

7
(Connor, Pope, & Galloway, 2009; Robbins, 2006; Pope & Simon, 2005; Pope, 2001;).

While most research on stress dealt with its negative impact, additional research showed

that stress can be beneficial if the stressed individual has support and positive coping

strategies (Karlsen, Dybdahl, & Vittersø, 2006; Linley & Joseph, 2004; Armeli, Gunthert,

& Cohen, 2001).

Yeager and Dweck (2012) demonstrated the impact of student mindset on

academic resilience. They established that if students believe that intelligence is fixed,

academic resilience is impaired. However, when students realize that all people have the

ability to change, they established the mindset that challenges could be overcome with

time, effort, patience, help, and new strategies (Yeagar and Dweck).

Ainslie, Shafer, and Reynolds (1996) defined stress as ―a response which taxes,

drains, and ultimately undermines the optimal functioning of an individual‖ (p. 920).

Researchers defined stress as a normal reaction, triggering an adrenaline rush, to help

human beings in dangerous or difficult situations (Jones & Ginsburg, 2006). Jonas and

Ginsburg recognized that all situations where something important was at stake,

especially when one‘s value was dependent upon his or her performance, led to stress;

however, it was an individual‘s ability to respond to it that could have a positive or

negative impact. Researchers defined academic stress as all work conducted in the

classroom, homework, preparation for exams, deadlines, college admissions ―the work

students conduct[ed] as part of the normal school curriculum‖ (Putwain, 2007, p. 210).

Academic stress came from exams, excessive homework, poor academic performance,

time management issues, competition with peers, and parent or teacher expectations

(Burnett & Fanshawe, 1997; Leung, Yeung, Wong, 2009). A moderate level of stress

8
could motivate a student to prepare for an exam or energize an athlete for a game;

however, when stress became chronic, it became dangerous (Jones & Ginsberg).

Research was needed to determine how school environment or culture impacted students‘

stressors in positive and negative ways, so that school leaders could change those policies

and practices to reduce the negative effects of stressors.

Statement of the Problem: Competitive School Culture

Schools as Organizations.

Organizations could have a positive or negative impact on the people who are a

part of them (Deal & Peterson, 2009). Many researchers on the impact of organizations

on its members referred to the research of Bronfrenbrenner (1979). Bronfenbrenner

studied how the environment influenced human development. The primary settings, such

as family, school or workplace, and peer group, initiated and sustained patterns of

motivation and activity in the development of a person that then acquired a momentum of

their own (p. 284-5). Hamilton (1982) wrote that schools were a key component in the

lives of adolescents, so the impact of the school organization on adolescent development

needed to be explored. The school‘s influence on adolescents was different from that of

family and peers because it was the first formal organization with rules and external

expectations that the adolescents experienced (Hamilton). Schools facilitated or impeded

adolescent development as adolescents solidified their view of themselves (Hill, 1982;

Mergendoller, 1982). Furthermore, Newmann (1982) noted that challenge, with a

―reasonable possibility of success‖ combined with ―some risk of failure‖ to promote

adolescent development was a key aspect of a developmentally productive environment.

9
 Trending Toward a Competitive School Culture.

Competition has long been an integral part of the American education system

since the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into space in 1957 (Cross, 2004). Over the

decades, the countries with which the United States has competed have changed from the

U.S.S.R in the 1950s to the Japanese in the 1980s to India and China in the 2010s, but the

call for competition and quality continued to surge forward, followed by periods of

access and equality (Tyack & Cuban, 1995). The secondary school climate of the 2010s

was one of competition and rigorous standards as the United States strove to compete in a

global economy. On February 17, 2009, U.S. President Barrack Obama signed the

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), part of which included $4.35

billion for the Race to the Top (RTTT) grant competition. RTTT included a challenge to

schools to implement rigorous standards and assessments to prepare students for a

competitive 21st century economy and offered a reward in grant money to the top

proposals (U.S. Department of Education [USDE], 2009). On June 2, 2010, the federal

government released a voluntary set of Common Core Standards to ensure that students

who attended American schools were ready for college and career and were able to

compete in an international job market (USDE, 2010). Later in 2010, President Obama

extended his RTTT competition to schools that implemented rigorous standards and

assessments to prepare students for a competitive 21st century economy (The White

House, 2010). As of 2011, 21 states, plus the District of Columbia, had received grants

from the government to implement programs that raise academic standards, improve

science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and prepare

10
students for college and careers (USDE, 2011). Since 1957, educational policy in the U.S.

has established a tradition of educational competition.

In addition to the impact of politics in creating a competitive educational

environment, popular national publications such as U.S. News and World Report and

Newsweek annually have ranked and rated American public schools each year based on

their scores for state and Advanced Placement Assessments, as well as their ability to

prepare all students for college (Morse, 2010). Some people argued that the practice of

national rankings prompted schools to implement on a wider scale Advanced Placement

(AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs and encouraged students to enroll in

these courses for the sole purpose of competing with other schools (Matthews, 2006).

School leaders risked students experiencing failure, frustration, and alienation when

students began taking a course unprepared for the rigor and expectations therein (Sadler,

2010). Sadler (2010) also found that while College Board, the company that created the

AP program, pushed for more AP options in more schools, the program reached a point

of diminishing returns; while more students were taking AP courses, more students were

not passing the AP exam at the end of the course. With a wider range of students taking

AP or IB courses, research was needed to determine what school leaders can do to create

a supportive, challenging academic environment and decrease the negative student stress.

The college admission process also contributed to the culture of competition. In

the 2012 State of College Admission report, the National Association of College

Admission Counseling reported that the number of high school graduates reached 3.34

million in 2008-2009 (Clinedinst, Hurley & Hawkins, 2012). While the researchers found

a slight decline in the graduation rate between 2009-2012, researchers projected that there

11
will be 3.2 million graduates by 2018. Researchers predicted that the number of high

school graduates will remain consistent through the year 2021 (Clinedinst, Hurley &

Hawkins). The U.S. Department of Education surveyed the high school transcripts of

students at 610 public schools and 130 private school and found that students took an

average of 27.2 credits, compared to 23.6 credits in 1990 (Nord, et al, 2011). That is the

equivalent of 420 additional hours of instruction and in more rigorous courses than their

1990 counterparts (Nord, et al). Furthermore, the number of ACT test takers rose by 45%

and the number of SAT test takers rose by 27% between 2002-2011 (Clinedinst, Hurley

& Hawkins). Additionally, the selectivity of colleges increased in 2009; this is especially

evident at the most highly selective schools, i.e. those accepting fewer than 50% of

applicants. In 2001, the average acceptance rate at four-year colleges was 71.3%. That

rate dropped to 63.8% in 2009, creating the perception that college admissions were

becoming more competitive. Between 2001 and 2011, the number of applications to

college increased by 60%, partly due to growing numbers of high school graduates, but

also because more students applied to more colleges. Seventy-nine percent of the

freshman class of 2011 submitted three or more applications, and 29% applied to seven

or more colleges, creating the perception of a more competitive college admission

process at American colleges and universities. Admissions officers reported that grades in

college prep classes, rigor of curriculum, and test scores were the top deciding factors for

college admission; the essay, teacher recommendations were moderately important;

extracurricular activities, work, and AP, IB, or SAT II subject test scores were of limited

importance (Clinedinst, Hurley & Hawkins). However, the more selective universities

valued the additional parts of the application more heavily because so many of their

12
applicants have similar grades and test scores (Clinedinst, Hurley & Hawkins). Because

of the perception that college admissions were increasingly more competitive, students

felt the pressure to take challenging courses and have high grades and test scores, along

with large numbers of extracurricular activities and AP or IB courses to make themselves

more appealing within the college admissions process. This perception of increased

competition for college admission also led to the need for more research on what school

leaders were or could be doing to create a more supportive school culture.

Effects of School Culture & Academic Stress on Adolescents.

Researchers found that schools could have a positive or a negative impact on

adolescent development (Hill, 1982; Mergendoller, 1982). When school policies and

practices clashed with adolescent needs, stressors were increased. For example, when

adolescents felt forced into selecting a college or university while they were still

developing their sense of self, they were prevented from experiencing the ―creativity and

expectations which [were] critical for adolescent development and well-being‖ (NACAC,

2009, p.6). Ultimately, because adolescents believed that others formulated their opinions

about the adolescent based on whether or not they achieved, they felt compelled to

achieve by passing tests, getting good grades, taking tough classes, becoming involved,

and volunteering in order to have a successful future. This compulsion to achieve created

a stressor for the students, because their focus was on the end result, not learning.

Factors Attributed to a Competitive School Culture.

Researchers and writers suggested that some educational practices and the

competitive organization culture of schools might be contributing to student stress (Foust,

Hertberg-Davis, & Callahan, 2009; Kohn, 2004; Pope, 2001). Because students are not

13
―walking bundles of cognitive personalities‖ (Metz, 1982, p. 109) or ―robots,‖ (Pope,

2001, p. 37) but they do spend a great portion of the day at school, more research needed

to be done to examine how the traditional tenets of public schools might be contributing

to adolescent stress. Deal and Peterson (2009) wrote that a school‘s culture could

influence the emotional well-being of the staff, students and community. Maehr and

Midgley (1996) conducted studies on school culture and focused on the tenets of schools

that influence school culture including organizational goals, the roles of individuals

within the organization, the technology available and used, the tasks asked of students,

the grouping of students, status and how it is attained, and how time is organized. The

policies and practices that Maehr and Midgley focused their research on were selected

because these policies and practices had a direct effect on the students‘ beliefs about

whether their school was focused on achievement or learning. Deal and Peterson focused

on the symbolic aspects of culture; how architecture, decorations, leaders‘ actions, and

routines create a shared attitude within an organization. The tenets studied by Maehr and

Midgley and Deal and Peterson were considered for this study. However, since this study

examined the role school leaders played in alleviating student stress through school

culture, the study was limited to the tenets over which school leaders had predominant

control. School leaders had an impact on school culture depending on how they prioritize

budget, space, and time (Hoy & Miskel, 1991). The organizational goals, budget

concerns, and the course offerings, which affect the grouping of students are often

determined at a district wide level. The roles of individuals within the organization, the

decorations within the building and the tasks asked of students were more dependent on

the teachers. The community, student body, staff, or administration could impact status

14
and how it is attained. While the principal may have had input on the layout of a new

school building, most school level administrators took a position in an already established

building. Ultimately, the way school leaders organized time within the school day and the

symbolic aspects of culture, like the actions of administrators and routines, were the

items most likely to be influenced by the school leaders.

Impact of Time.

Maehr and Midgley (1996) wrote that the way schools have organized their time

has influenced the culture of a school. A bell schedule rigidly enforced the way time was

organized, typically into 45-50 minute blocks (Maehr & Midgely). The willingness or

unwillingness of school leaders to alter the bell schedule for special events, and for what

types of events, also influenced school culture (Maehr & Midgley). Furthermore, time

spent ―on task‖ had become a measure of successful instruction (Deal & Peterson, 2009).

Beyond the structure of the schedule, the way students were scheduled into

classes impacted the school culture. Sadler (2010) reported that with the push for more

rigorous academics, there had been a drastic increase in the number of students taking AP

courses. A veteran AP teacher from New York claimed that pushing students into higher

level courses to attain higher national rankings was a disservice to students because there

was a difference between a ―bright student to be absorbed for hours working on a favorite

subject…‖ and an average student ―who struggles until two o‘clock in the morning to

master the massive amount of material of a course in which he has little interest‖

(Mathews, 2006, p. 63). It was this teacher‘s opinion that students were being pushed to

take too rigorous of a course load, which was not in the best interest of the students

(Mathews). Pope (2001) reported that at Faircrest, school leaders made purposeful

15
scheduling choices, like scheduling all AP science courses during the same time slot in

order to prevent students from taking more than one AP science course in a year.

However, despite some limitations, students were still encouraged to take honors and AP

courses. In cases where students were not tracked, college bound students found

themselves choosing courses based on how the grade in the course would enhance their

transcripts for college (Pope, 2001), as opposed to selecting courses with a realistic idea

of how much time will be required to be successful in the course.

In all classes, the curriculum is a guideline of what tasks a student should

complete for each course. In some schools the curriculum was driven by assessment.

Curriculum changes in a competitive environment, especially for courses that culminated

with a high stakes test, usually led to teachers covering more content during the school

year (Pickering, 2010). When students struggled with the material, they had to dedicate

more time to practice and study after school hours (Mathews, 2006).

While faculty interaction or lack of interaction contributed to school culture

(Maehr & Midgely, 1996), Pope (2001) reported that often teachers, and administrators

failed to observe the emotional toll of academic stressors on the students because these

students were either academically successful or were perceived as unmotivated, rather

than anxious or stressed (Pope). Many teachers did not interact with other teachers

outside of their department, due to time constraints and workload, which prevented them

from discussing in common students and getting to know the whole student (Pope).

Traditionally, researchers considered play crucial to development of children and

adolescents, relieving tension, encouraging interaction, inspiring creativity. It allowed for

the acceptance of error, the pleasure of success, and the development of a sense of humor.

16
However, in light of pressure to achieve, the role of play in the educational environment

had been marginalized (Deal & Peterson, p 246-7). For many students, their after school

hours were also impacted by school responsibilities. Limited free time during the day

meant that students were often doing homework during lunch or during other classes

(Pope, 2001). Furthermore students reported that they were not getting enough sleep due

to an abundance of homework (Foust, Hertberg-Davis, & Callahan, 2009; Pope, 2001).

Kralovec and Buell (2005) reported that not only is homework exhausting and often

completed dishonestly, but that it was the primary contributing factor of dropout rates.

Painter (2011) reported that community groups, inspired by the documentary Race to

Nowhere have campaigned to encourage school districts to ―take back the break‖ and

institute policies that limit homework on holiday breaks.

In addition to homework, when students were involved in an abundance of

extracurricular activities, they reported a loss of valuable sleep (Foust, Hertberg-Davis, &

Callahan, 2009; Pope, 2001). More research was needed to determine how a school‘s

schedule, homework policy and extracurricular activities impacted students‘ stress.

Purpose

The American educational environment experienced a turn toward a competitive

state, resulting in a plea for increased rigor in the classroom. This ―do more and do it

better‖ concept had contributed to a stressful school environment for adolescents. This

had been shown to have negative or even tragic results for adolescents because of their

developmental stage, when they are especially prone to internalizing the high

expectations of others (Nakkula & Toshalis, 2006). A few studies were conducted in

which the researcher showed that high achieving students dealt with academic stress

17
caused by the demands of a rigorous curriculum and extracurricular activities; however,

none of these studies include average or low achieving students (Pope, 2001; Ryan, et al,

2007). School leaders have the opportunity to counteract these stressors because they

have the power to shape school culture. Furthermore, those leaders need to understand

how the students perceive the school‘s culture, specifically the scheduling of courses,

organization of time, homework and workload policies, and extracurricular activities and

its relation to academic stress. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore how

students experience their school‘s organizational culture, whether they perceived that

experience as academically stressful, and how their perception compared to the

perception of the school leadership.

Research Questions

How do adolescents perceive the academic expectations through the culture of their high

school?

How do adolescents experience the culture of their high school?

How do adolescents experience the tenets of the school culture: scheduling of

courses, time, and extracurricular activities during a typical day?

Is there a discrepancy between the perception of school culture, specifically

related to stressors from the administrators‘ and the students‘ point of

view?

Significance of Project

School leaders are responsible for shaping the culture of a school (Hoy & Miskel,

1991). This study was significant for school leaders to help them understand how their

students perceived the time-related tenets of school culture and whether they had an

18
impact on academic stress. The results of this study would allow school leaders to make

time-related changes that promote realistic, yet challenging, expectations for students and

to create a school culture that is academically successful, not stressful. This would help

school system administrators to make decisions on how to schedule teacher and student

time. Additionally, this study would contribute to the research literature about schools in

middle to upper class suburban neighborhoods and student stress that has been

documented in books and documentaries like The Overachievers, Doing School, and

Race to Nowhere, but has not been explored as in depth within the research community.

Methodology

Pope (2001) voiced a concern the student voice was not heard enough in

educational research. Constructivism, according to Crotty (1998), focused on how the

individual made meaning out of the world. Schwant (1994) wrote, constructivists ‗are

deeply committed to the …view that what we take to be objective knowledge and truth is

the result of perspective‘ (as cited in Crotty, 1998, p. 57). Hystad, et al (2009) found their

research supported the concept that an individual‘s perceptions were key in how he or she

reacted to challenges. From this perspective it is important to hear the voices of the

people most directly impacted by the rising national standards in education and the

increasing competitiveness of college admissions: the students.

The researcher a basic interpretive qualitative study of the perceptions of high

school students and school leaders to understand the student experience in education and

explore if or how the tenets of school culture related to time contribute to student

academic stress. The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with five student

participants and five school leaders at a high achieving high school. Student participants

19
from a range of academic achievement levels volunteered to discuss their experiences

with academic stress. The researcher invited school leaders to participate if they make or

had made decisions concerning scheduling, homework, extracurricular activities or other

time-related school components at the school where the student participants attended.

This included school leaders who were currently in place at the students‘ school during

the time frame of the study and who were responsible for proposing, designing, enacting,

or implementing the time-related school components on which this study will focus.

Three interviews were held with each participant, and each interview lasted 20-30

minutes and was recorded for transcription and analysis.

Delimitations

This study included a sample of high school students, who had experienced

academic stress, and school leaders who make or have made decisions concerning time-

related components of the school day within a high achieving high school environment.

The setting of the study was a high achieving high school in an upper-middle to

upper class neighborhood in suburban Northern Virginia. The researcher selected this

school as the site of the study, not only because of its highly competitive academic

environment, but also because it gave high stakes End of Course Assessments in

fulfillment of the state-mandated graduation requirements, and offered and encouraged

students to enroll in AP courses. The school had changed its master schedule at least

once in the previous three years so that upperclassman and school leaders had

experienced more than one type of schedule.

20
Limitations

Interviewing participants required the participants to speak honestly about their

experiences with time, school culture, and academic stress. Students might have tempered

their opinions based on what they thought adults wanted to hear. Students who

volunteered could be outliers, not reflecting the experience of other high school students.

School leaders who were vested in the changes they proposed and implemented might

have been reluctant to critique them honestly. There was also a concern that because

adolescents were so enmeshed in the culture of achievement within their respective

school they might not have been able to discern what policies or practices contributed to

their stress. Furthermore, students who disengaged or who avoided school as a result of

stress were unlikely to volunteer to participate.

Definition of Key Terms

Stress: Ainslie, Shafer, and Reynolds (1996) defined stress as ―a response which taxes,

drains, and ultimately undermines the optimal functioning of an individual‖ (p.

920). They recognized that all situations where something important is at stake,

especially when one‘s value is dependent upon his or her performance, leads to

stress; however, it is an individual‘s ability to respond to it that can have a

positive or negative impact. Jones and Ginesburg (2006) defined stress as a

normal reaction, triggering an adrenaline rush, to help human beings in dangerous

or difficult situations. Putwain (2007) pointed out that stress can be a cause or an

effect and reminded researchers that it is important not to assume that a stressor

will cause an equal amount of stress in each individual.

21
School Leaders: all building level administrators including the principal and assistant

principal or principals and/or other faculty members who design, propose, enact,

or implement decisions concerning schedules, extracurricular activities, workload,

or other time-related components.

Academic Stress: stress caused by ―the work students conduct as part of the normal

school curriculum‖ (Putwain, 2007, p. 210): homework, preparation for exams,

deadlines, college admissions. Academic stress comes from exams, excessive

homework, poor academic performance, time management issues, competition

with peers, and parents or teacher expectations (Burnett & Fanshawe, 1997;

Leung, Yeung, Wong, 2009)

Test Anxiety: ―feelings of tension and anxiety that interfere with the ability to

communicate what one knows in a test situation‖ (Austin & Partridge, 1995, p. 1).

Flex time: a period of time within the school day where students have a choice as to

where they would like to spend their time. At the site of the student, this flex time

was used for academic purposes: remediation, enrichment, tutoring, make-up

assignments or time to study or work on homework.

Advisory Period: A 20-minute period within the school day. Each advisory teacher was

randomly assigned four or five students from each grade level for a total of 16-20

students in their advisory. During this time the teacher serves as a mentor to

students. It also provides a time to complete administrative tasks without taking

instructional time away from teachers.

22
Homework: Prior to the study the researcher conceptualized homework as any work

completed outside the 90-minute class period, including reading, practice

problems, projects, research, and studying. The study revealed that the student

participants construed homework as two-type: valuable assignments (projects,

papers, studying for exams) or busy work (worksheets, answering questions from

the text).

23
 CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter the researcher reviewed previous research related to the concept of

academic stress, the competitive school culture, and the impact of school organization on

adolescents. Academic stress is a student‘s reaction to the demands of a typical school

curriculum (Putwain, 2007). While many researchers of academic stress focused

primarily on students‘ reactions to assessment (Pickering, 2010; Hollingsworth, 2007;

Ryan, et al, 2007; Wheeler, 2006; Mulvernon, Stegman, & Ritter, 2005), the purpose of

this study was to explore what school culture, specifically relating to time during the day,

had on the stress level of all high school students. While some studies focused on student

perceptions of school culture or time or compared the perceptions of parents and students,

teachers and students, or various faculty members, few studies examined the perceptions

of the school administrators and the students about the school climate and stress (Hong,

Wan & Peng, 2011; Mitchell, Bradshaw & Leaf, 2010; Richards, 2009; Tatar &

Bekerman, 2009; Grant, et al, 2004; Kember; 2004).

Theoretical Foundation

Two theories, Socially Perscribed Perfectionism and Optimal Pressue Model, both

dealt with imposing expectations and the resulting stress and helped to explain why

educators need to address the issue of stress. Costanzo, Woody and Slater (1992)

examined three sources of pressure: expectancy of success, intrinsic value of success and

situational consequences of success and found that pressure created an inverted ―U‖

shape in relation to performance. They found that both a lack of pressure and multiple

pressure sources created a decrease in performance, while a single source of pressure

24
improved performance. Not only did the number of pressure sources have an influence,

but the level of pressure did as well. Costanzo, Woody, and Slater built their Optimal

Pressure Model theory from the theory of Humphreys and Revelle (1984) who surmised

that over arousal leads to a decrease in available short-term memory and therefore, a

decrease in academic achievement.

Socially Prescribed Perfectionism is the pressure to live up to others‘

expectations. Hewitt and Flett (1993) defined Socially Prescribed Perfectionism as ―the

belief that others are imposing perfectionist standards on the self‖ (p.58). Blatt (1995)

wrote that these standards are high, and often unrealistic to attain. Socially prescribed

perfectionists found themselves motivated by a fear of failure, whether they avoided

participating in a class because they feared they would not know the correct answers,

procrastinated to put off those feelings of failure or took a challenging course simply to

prove that they were as good as others who took the course (Neumeister, 2006;

Neumeister, 2004). Perfectionism combined with self-blame or distress could cause

depression, and while some forms of perfectionism could have a positive impact,

researchers believed that Socially Prescribed Perfectionism was maladaptive (Hewitt &

Flett, 1991).

Researchers linked Socially Prescribed Perfectionism and depression (O‘Conner,

Rasmussen, & Hawton, 2010; Chang, et al, 2008; Cook, 2007; Hake, 2006; DeCicco,

2005; Klibert, et al, 2005; McCreary, et al, 2004; Stornelli, 1997; Hewitt & Flett, 1993;

Hewitt & Flett, 1991). Other researchers also linked Socially Prescribed Perfectionism to

anxiety (Chang, et al, 2008; Cook, 2007; Klibert, et al, 2005; Klein, 2004; McCreary, et

al, 2004; Stornelli, 1997), test anxiety (Stoeber, Feast, & Hayward, 2009), social anxiety

25
(Laurenti, Bruch, & Haase, 2008), low self-esteem (Klibert, et al, 2005), low self-

confidence (Stoeber, Feast, & Hayward, 2009), lack of motivation (DiCicco; Dykstra,

2006; Klibert, et al, 2005), suicide proneness (Klibert, et al, 2005), shame and guilt

(Klibert, et al, 2005), loneliness (Chang, et al, 2008), lower GPA (Dykstra, 2006; Bull,

1997; Stornelli, 1997), and disordered eating (Bardone-Cone, 2007; Chang, et al, 2007a).

According to Hill, Zrull, and Turlington (1997) men who had Socially Prescribed

Perfectionism tended to be more emotionally distant, controlling, aggressive, and

manipulative, while women were socially anxious, embarrassed, gullible, overly

generous, permissive, attention-seeking, too self-disclosing, and were unable to be alone.

Both genders tended to be controlling, distrustful, and were less empathetic than their

peers. Chang, et al, (2008) theorized that individuals with Socially Prescribed

Perfectionism linked acceptance with perfection and interpreted requests from others as

demands.

Family relationships also played a role in a child‘s development of Socially

Prescribed Perfectionism. Cook (2007) assessed 97 children and their parents for

perfectionism and found when parents had overly high expectations for their children,

and withheld approval until those expectations were met, or who were self-oriented

perfectionists, meaning they put the pressure on themselves rather than felt the pressure

from others themselves, their children were more likely to become perfectionists, as well.

However, boys who had mothers who were socially prescribed perfectionists themselves

were typically not perfectionists, perhaps because their mothers wanted to shield their

children from the pressure they faced or the boys associated stressing over others‘

expectations with unhappiness. While parent influences alone were not likely to produce

26
socially prescribed perfectionists, other influences made that more likely. Klein (2004)

had 106 Division 1 athletes complete a series of questionnaires, scales, and inventories to

assess anxiety, perfectionism, and parent and peer attachment and found that as

attachment to parents increased, the level of Socially Prescribed Perfectionism decreased.

Cook (2007) wrote that adolescents faced pressure from peers, teachers, and

school. Some associated respect with accomplishments, which reinforced the

perfectionist tendencies. However, the students, teased for their accomplishments, were

more likely to disengage. Stoeber, Kempe, and Keogh (2008) found that perfectionists

felt high levels of pride when successful, but also felt more shame in failures. However,

Stoeber and Yang (2010) found socially prescribed perfectionists felt less satisfied

regardless of the outcome of their endeavors. One researcher, Bull (1997) linked Socially

Prescribed Perfectionism to low self-esteem and GPA, and theorized that more students

with low GPA‘s experience Socially Prescribed Perfectionism because more pressure was

placed on them to improve than their high achieving peers.

Effects of Stress on Adolescents

Grant, et al (2004) conducted a review of existing research on stressors and their

effects on children and adolescents, and found that 88% of the research studies linked

stressors to psychopathology. Stroud, et al (2009) compared the physical and emotional

effect of stress on 39 children, ages 7-12, and 42 adolescents, ages 13-17 during several

scenarios. They looked at performance stressors, giving a speech and completing math

problems in front of the class, and social stressors, being rejected by a peer. They found

adolescents showed a significantly greater physical response to stress than the children

did. They also self-reported a greater negative emotional effect in performance conditions

27
than during social conditions. Researchers speculated that the performance stressors

could have evoked a defeated response, whereas, the response was more defensive during

the social stressors. Rao (2008) surveyed 588 twelfth grade students and found that

students experienced the pressure of academics in various ways: some experienced stress

or depressive symptoms, while other experienced anxiety. Akram and Kahn (2012)

studied 400 senior secondary students and found that academic stress did not have an

effect on the students‘ problem solving abilities while taking the PSAT. Putwain (2007)

explained that while the demands of the school curriculum were the stressors, students

experienced a variety of reactions to those stressors.

Luthar (2013) wrote that much research established a link between low

socioeconomic status and stress, however, she noted there is a significant amount of

maladjustment in teenagers with a high socioeconomic status. According to her research

there are comparable levels of substance abuse, criminal behavior, depression, anxiety,

and sleep issues between the two groups, and she suggested that privileged youth are

more vulnerable today than in previous generations.

Positive Impact of Stress.

Most research on stress deals with its negative impact, although there has been

some research on the positive outcomes of stressful situations (Karlson, Dybdahl, &

Vittersø, 2006; Linley & Joseph, 2004; Armeli, Gunthert, & Cohen, 2001). Linley and

Joseph (2004) reviewed 39 studies that focused on the positive changes in individuals

who suffered from trauma and adversity and termed this phenomenon ―adversarial

growth‖ (p. 11). The researchers noted that the greater the amount of time that had

elapsed since the trauma, the more adversarial growth that was reported. Karlsen,

28
Dybdahl, and Vittersø (2006) examined the effect of stress on 142 veterans. They learned

that stress can be beneficial and allow psychological growth if individuals cope in a

problem-focused manner. It can also lead to a low sense of well-being, most often

associated with individuals who coped through avoidance. Armeli, Gunthert & Cohen

(2001) surveyed 447 college alumni and 472 college students about stress and found that

those who experienced the most stressful events also reported the most growth, if they

had support and coping strategies; however, less growth was reported by students and

alumni who had moderate stress but few resources or maladaptive coping strategies.

Negative Impact of Stress.

Anxiety.

Researchers have linked academic stress to anxiety (Leung, Yeung, and Wong,

2010; Foust, Hertberg-Davis, & Callahan, 2009; Pope & Simon, 2005; Pope, 2001).

Klein (2004) also linked pressure from others to succeed in athletics with anxiety and a

fear of negative evaluation by family, teammates, and coaches. While some students

learned to adapt to a high-pressure academic environment, other students felt anxious due

to the competition and manipulation that occurs to become a successful student (Pope,

2001).

Kaplan, Robbins, and Martin (1983) surveyed 7,618 seventh grade students and

followed up with an interview nine years after the initial survey. They examined the

antecedents of psychological distress in young adults and found that while individuals

typically tended to focus on positive perspectives of themselves and minimize the

negative, an experience of rejection by family or peers or the failure to meet new

expectations, could cause psychological distress ten years later. Anxiety also interfered

with an individual‘s cognition and ability to focus attention (Sarason, 1981).

29
 Luthar and D‘Avanzo (1999) conducted a survey of 488 tenth grade students and

compared suburban and urban youth and found anxiety levels for suburban youth were

significantly higher. This surprised the researchers who knew that the urban youth dealt

with issues like poverty, racism, and exposure to violence. The researchers interviewed

the suburban youth and their administrators who attributed the anxiety to the pressure to

excel in academics and extracurricular activities.

Pickering (2010) interviewed nine middle school teachers from western New

York about the impact of NCLB and learned that the teachers believed that more students

were exhibiting test anxiety. One teacher explained a domino effect of test anxiety,

stating the stress started with administrators, then fell to teachers, and then to students.

Segool (2009) assessed 335 elementary school students in suburban Michigan and found

students to be more anxious and stressed over standardized tests than over regular

classroom tests, as reported by both the students and their teachers.

In a study conducted by Cade (2007), 27% of 3,000 American School Counselor

Association members from across the United States reported seeing students often for test

anxiety, 69% said they see students for test anxiety periodically, while only 14% said

they never saw students for test anxiety. The symptoms that counselors saw most

frequently and attributed to test anxiety were going blank, stomach symptoms, sleeping

problems, and heart palpitations. Counselors observed that truancy and inability to

concentrate occurred just as frequently, but they did not attribute them to test anxiety as

often. Finally, counselors concluded that testing was a source of concern for students and

that the pressure to perform and frequency of test anxiety cases were increasing. Pearson

(2009) interviewed six sophomore students from an academically successful Colorado

30
school district and found that students with test anxiety experienced upset stomachs and

brain freeze.

Nicholson (2009) gave the Test Anxiety Inventory, a 20-item Likert-type scale, to

200 eleventh grade students from a Catholic high school in Tennessee and found that

63.5% had low test anxiety, 30% had average test anxiety, and 13% had high test anxiety

before the PSAT/NMSQT. However, the researcher did not give the test anxiety

inventory again before the ACT, which is a test with more implications for the test takers

future, leaving the reader to wonder if the results of the Test Anxiety Inventory would

have been different for a higher stakes test. When the researcher gave the Test Attitude

Survey to 33 repeat ACT takers, from the original 200 study participants, the students

responded that they did not like the tense, high stakes pressure of testing.

Cade (2007) surveyed 541 school counselors about the causes of text anxiety.

Counselors attributed parental expectations, student self-expectations, and low self-

esteem as the prominent sources for test anxiety (Cade, 2007). In this particular study, the

researchers did not list ―school expectations‖ as a choice on the survey, which might or

might not have been an additional prominent cause of test anxiety.

Depression.

Studies have linked depression with academic stress, although researchers have

found that that linkage becomes weaker with strong social support (MacGeorge, Sampter,

& Gillihan, 2005). Ang and Huan (2006) connected academic stress with both depression

and thoughts of suicide. Individuals who felt pressured by others to maintain high

standards were more likely to be depressed (Hake, 2006). Individuals who failed to meet

the high expectations of self and others had lower self-esteem (Leung, Yeung, & Wong,

2009; Liu, Kaplan, & Risser, 1992). Rao (2008) surveyed 588 senior students in India
31
who reported that academic stress made them doubt their abilities to perform well in

school. Pope and Simon (2005) found students reported feeling depressed when they

realized that by earning a ―B,‖ an above-average grade, they might be at a disadvantage

in the highly competitive world of college admissions. Trudeau (2009) surveyed 225

students and interviewed 25 students from both selective and non-selective high schools

and found that students considered a ―C‖ to be a bad grade, and earning bad grades led to

feelings of disappointment, panic, sadness, low self-esteem, and embarrassment. While

64% of the students reported learning from their mistakes after receiving the bad grade,

the other 36% let those negative emotions linger. Ross and Broh (2000) surveyed 24,599

eighth grade students from over 1,000 public, private, and parochial schools throughout

the United States and found that if students believed that their academic success was a

matter of luck or in the hands of powerful people rather than their own effort, then their

grades and test scores suffered; however, if they did well as a result of their own actions

then their self-esteem improved. Conner, Pope and Galloway (2010) wrote that 24% of

3,645 students from high achieving schools in California that they interviewed reported

feeling depressed within the last month. Furthermore, 7% of those students confessed to

cutting themselves. According to Brown (2008), who surveyed 875 children, 25% of

those children had hurt themselves when stressed or upset by banging their heads or

hitting, biting, burning or cutting themselves. Simmons and Blyth (1987) reported that

the school environment has an effect on the students‘ sense of well-being. Adolescents,

especially girls, showed a decline in participation in school activities, self-esteem, and

achievement after transferring from a small elementary school to a larger, more

impersonal middle school and this decline followed them through high school.

32
 Kadison (2004) surveyed 200 directors of college counseling centers and reported

that while cases of depression and thoughts of suicide were a major concern on college

campuses, many afflicted students did not seek help because they did not realize they had

a problem, or were too proud to ask for help. These might also be factors preventing high

school students from asking for help.

Anger.

One study found anger to be the emotional response to stress. Nazer-Bloom

(2005) spent time in an upper middle class high school to study student stress and their

coping mechanisms. Her first step was to run focus groups to learn about what stressed

these students and discovered that not only were students feeling overwhelmed with

academics, especially when combined with family stress, as well, they were reacting to

that feeling with anger. One female student claimed the demanding schedule,

expectations of family and teachers, and lack of free time contributed to her anger. When

asked how she coped with stress, another female student responded, ―crying and being

really over-dramatic, hitting and breaking things‖ (Nazer-Bloom, 2005, p. 70). Other girls

claimed to break things, insult others, and pick fights with others.

Self-Medication.

In order to cope with academic stress, students are turning to illegal drugs or

alcohol either to give them the extra boost of energy needed to complete their tasks or to

temporarily escape from those demands. Conner, Pope and Galloway (2010) found that in

a one-month period 24% of the 3,645 students they interviewed had used legal stimulants

and 8% had used illegal stimulants to help them stay up to study. Hall, et al (2005)

surveyed 381 college students from a Midwestern university and reported that college

students used illegal stimulants to stay awake to study, to be alert during testing, and for

33
partying, but only 14% of the students interviewed felt the stimulants had a long term

positive effect on their academics.

Some students reported using alcohol to escape (Way, et al, 1994; Conner, Pope

& Galloway, 2010). Lyons (2004) found high school students are more likely to drink

alcohol if they are unhappy at school. Luthar and D‘Avanzo (1999) found suburban youth

attributed their substance abuse to psychological distress more frequently than their urban

peers.

Academic Dishonesty.

Pope (2005) shadowed five of the ―best and brightest‖ (p. 2) students at an

academically competitive affluent public California high school and found that successful

students reported resorting to cheating and manipulation to get good grades. These

students created alliances with adults, worked on homework in one class for another,

complained fervently to get a better grade or simply resorted to cheating (Pope, 2005).

Conner, Pope, and Galloway (2010) found that 95% of juniors and seniors in their survey

of 3,645 students from high achieving schools in California had cheated at least once.

Trudeau (2009) interviewed eight students from a non-selective high school, and when

asked for additional comments, one of the students reported widespread cheating.

Disengagement.

Kaplan, Liu, and Kaplan (2005) found that in order to avoid the feeling of

rejection at school, students became less vested in the system and lost motivation to

achieve. Eccles and Midgely (1990) referred to two different theories that explain

students‘ disinterest in school. The first was the cumulative stress theory, which provided

that puberty and transition in education compounded stress leading to a lack of

motivation for students. The second is the Person-Environment fit theory, which provided

34
that mental health, and motivational problems occurred when the environment did not

meet a person‘s needs. If a school setting was not developmentally appropriate, i.e., the

standards were too high or the teacher was not supportive enough, this led to a student‘s

lack of motivation.

Several researchers specifically linked the increase of standardized testing due to

NCLB to increased testing anxiety (Hollingsworth, 2007, Conner, Pope & Galloway,

2010). Hollingsworth (2007) surveyed 749 students from two different California high

school communities and discovered that students did not react with anxiety to teacher

stress about standardized testing, as was expected, instead they disengaged. One student

in the study by Conner, Pope, and Galloway said, ―I get emotionally stressed and have

breakdowns, or I go the completely opposite way and stop caring‖ (p.56). Additionally

Hollingsworth also learned that teachers tended to resort to rote teaching methods to

prepare students for standardized testing, which also led to student disengagement.

Students experienced disengagement due to academic stress outside of the

classroom, as well. Trudeau (2009) interviewed one student who claimed the fear of not

being accepted into a college was so overwhelming he or she just stopped trying. Golden

(2009) studied 285 junior and seniors from a central Tennessee high school and found

that students who fell within the range of introvert on the Myers Brigg Personality

Assessment tended to disengage due to the stress of the college search and application

process. The college search process was a very social one; everyone wanted information

about where the student was applying, and an introvert would be uncomfortable with the

attention. During the application process the student was presenting themselves to the

university in the hopes that he or she would be accepted, also opened up the opportunity

35
for rejection. Additionally, the introvert also had fewer resources to talk through the

stress, research has shown that, having a social support network is an important key to

alleviating academic stress (Kaplan, Lui, & Kaplan, 2005; MacGeorge, Sampter, &

Galloway, 2005; Klein, 2004.)

Poor Health Habits/Lack of Sleep.

Adolescents need 9.25 hours of sleep each night, and without that amount of sleep

risk lapses in memory and attention, depression, and slowed reaction time (Carskadon,

1999). Vollmer, et al (2011) found that students who were ―evening types‖ were more

vulnerable to stressors. The researchers explained that adolescents tend to become more

evening-oriented during puberty. The ―evening types‖ have more difficulty coping with

the expectations at school because they are often fatigued during the school day. Pope

(2001) shadowed five high achieving students at an affluent California high school and

found that students were exhausted and stressed, sacrificing sleep, healthy eating habits,

and exercise to study. Foust, Hertberg-Davis, and Callahan (2009) interviewed 84

students from four high schools with AP or IB programs and found lack of sleep to be a

major problem among high achieving students. Astill, et al (2013) conducted a repeated

measures study with 28 secondary school students and found that students average about

7.38 hours of sleep during school breaks; they averaged almost an hour less of sleep

during the regular school week but sleep more efficiently. However, during exam weeks

the students slept almost an hour and 20 minutes less and the quality of the sleep

decreased.

Pope (2001) shadowed five high achieving students at an affluent California high

school and found some students reported frequent illness due to little sleep and poor

eating habits, stomach problems and a potential ulcer due to stress. Weight loss was
36
another result of the stress (Rao, 2008). Richards (2009) observed a committee to

examine stress in a suburban high school and found that while committee participants

might not have initially connected their health issues to stress, with education about

stress, they did make the connection. Rao (2008) wrote that some of the 24 students he

interviewed also reported headaches, although few attributed them to school stress.

Hystad, et al (2009) and MacGeorge, Sampter, and Gillihan (2005) found an association

with academic stress and physical ailments. Conley and Lehman (2010) studied 99

undergraduate students who experienced significant elevations in systolic blood pressure

during times of acute academic stress, which could put students at risk for future health

issues.

Trudeau (2009) interviewed a student who claimed to stay up late studying for

days before a big test. Rao (2008) found that students were not getting enough sleep

because that would mean they did not have enough time to finish all of their homework.

Six hours seemed to be the maximum amount of sleep for most of the 24 students he

interviewed. Foust, Hertberg-Davis, and Callahan (2009) interviewed a student who said,

―Six out of my seven days are home doing my homework until, like, four in the morning‖

(p. 305). Foust, Hertberg-Davis, and Callahan (2009) interviewed 84 AP and IB students

who acknowledged that in order to maintain a heavy workload and a social life they

willingly sacrificed sleep, despite the consequences.

The Impact of a Competitive School Culture

Conner, Pope, and Galloway (2010) collected information from 3,645 students

from seven California high schools with high academic performance. Grades, college

admission, school work, and standardized tests were major stressors for these students.

37
Seventy percent of the students reported feeling stressed out about academics all the time

or most of the time. Just over half of the students admitted they worried about grades,

tests and college acceptance. Pope (2001) interviewed five students at Faircrest High

School, an academically successful public high school in California, who were deemed to

be the best and brightest by the school counselor. These students maintained high grade

point averages (GPAs) and test scores, and received accolades for extracurricular

accomplishments. However, the researcher learned that students were having negative

emotional reactions, such as worry, anxiety, depression, stress, anger and obsession over

grades and were making uncomfortable choices such as cheating, arguing for grades, and

sucking up as they attempted to be successful in school. Students were having a hard time

balancing school and their personal lives, often sacrificing their health and time with

family and friends to study. One interviewee equated being a student to being a robot.

Another described high school as ―a way of building up tolerance for stress‖ (Pope, 2001,

p. 156).

The Impact of Time on a Competitive School Culture

Prisoners of Time (2005), a report by the National Education Commission on

Time and Learning originally published in 1994 and rereleased in 2005, reported that

American students were ―captives of clock and calendar‖ (p. 5). They stated the majority

of students are in school 180 days a year or nine months of the year. They are typically in

school from 7:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m or 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., spending an average of 51

minutes in each class. In contrast to the competition from countries like India or China,

―we expect them to learn as much as their counterparts abroad in only half the time‖

(Prisoners of Time, p. 5). It was also noted that some students took three to six times

38
longer than their peers to learn the material, meaning struggling students were penalized

with bad grades because they could not keep pace with their peers. Students in the middle

were also considered victims of time, because their teachers focused their attention on the

highest and lowest achieving students, not making time for those in the middle. Pope

(2001) also noted the impact of time in her case study, stating the typical day in a school

system was broken down into six or seven periods a day for less than an hour each,

students were tracked into course levels, and success was determined by grades and class

ranks, feeding the pressure of competition.

Pickering (2010) found that the implementation of No Child Left Behind had an

impact on how teachers managed time during the school day. The researcher interviewed

nine teachers about the impact of high stakes testing on day-to-day instruction. Eight out

of nine teachers believed there was an increase in the pace of instruction (Pickering).

Juster, Ono, and Stafford (2004) found students spent more time in school and

studying in 2002-2003 than in 1981-1982. Pearson (2009) interviewed six students and

learned that they had to make tough choices concerning academic load, extracurricular

activities and elective classes, often sacrificing enjoyable non-academic activities to keep

up with studying and schoolwork. Students spent a large portion of their day involved in

schoolwork, and averaged 3.07 hours of homework per night, although 25% of the

students reported spending six or more hours. In order to complete their homework,

60.9% admitted they had to miss time with family and friends, and 60.3% had to drop out

of a fun activity to focus on schoolwork (Connor, Pope, & Galloway, 2010). Foust,

Hertberg-Davis, and Callahan (2008) interviewed 84 students at four high schools that

offered AP or IB programs and found that Advanced Placement (AP) and International

39
Baccalaureate (IB) students were willing to deal with the stress in order to maintain

academic rigor and a social life. Students reported that they worked through lunch and

during less challenging classes on schoolwork, and often sacrificed extracurricular

activities and time with friends and family. The researchers reported that while students

recognized benefits of taking challenging coursework, such as pride and bonding with

classmates, they also dealt with negative perception from peers, a heavy workload, lack

of sleep, and stress.

Galloway and Pope (2007) conducted a survey of 496 ninth through twelfth grade

students from a public school and a private all-girls school in an upper middle class

neighborhood and found that students averaged 3.04 hours of homework a night, while

the range was from 0 to 8 hours. They also found that 77.4% of the students reported

stress-related physical symptoms. Of the students who worked more than 3.5 hours a

night on homework, 77.9% had dropped an extracurricular activity to keep up with

school work. Additionally 70.2% of the students felt exhausted, and 28.9% gained weight

(Galloway & Pope).

Rice, Leever, Christopher and Porter (2006) surveyed 608 college students

residing in an honors residence at a large, southern public institution. They assessed the

participants for perfectionist tendencies and perceived stress and found that at the end of

the semester there was a stronger correlation between perfectionism and the effects of

perceived stress at the end of the semester, than at the beginning. The researchers noted

that the end of the semester brings a greater focus on achievement.

Adolescents experienced heightened effects of stress, both academic and social,

because they have little time to relax (Richards, 2009). Zuzanek (2009) used data from

40
the 2001 and 2003 Survey of Adolescent Time Use and Well-Being Study from which

researchers gave 219 adolescents in Ontario a beeper and asked the participants to record

what they were doing, where and with whom, in addition to how they felt at that moment

when they were beeped 8 times a day. Zuzanek concluded that increased homework load

did not make kids unhappy but did alleviate boredom, increased anxiety, loneliness and

depression. Students reported poor sleep and eating habits, and parents who were too

tired themselves to help with the completion of homework. While the homework itself

was not stressful, the time management associated with the homework completion was

stressful.

Dickeson (2001) surveyed 75 high achieving students in Indiana about their

educational experience. Students responded teachers had the biggest impact, positive or

negative; however, other positive aspects were the challenging AP courses, the

supportive atmosphere, the flexibility of course offerings at the school or at home, and a

variety of extracurricular activities. Other negative aspects were too many course

requirements at the expense of electives, and personal stress due to lack of time. The

researcher asked students what changes they would like to see in the curriculum, and they

responded with a request for more advanced courses, less homework, flexible class

schedules and more hand-on learning. Finally when asked what other changes they would

like to see, one student wrote in a request to push back the school start time.

In countries with reputations for higher academic standards, adolescents faced the

same stress-related issues (Rao, 2008; Riley, 2003). Rao (2008) surveyed 558 students

and interviewed 24 students during their senior year in Chennai, India. The researcher

41
found that 77.5% of the students felt their senior year was stressful. Students spent most

of their hours of the day in both structured and unstructured study.

In addition to the impact of the academic workload, another part of the problem

was that educators did not immediately recognize the impact of stress because their

students are succeeding academically. Pope (2001) found that teachers often did not get

to know the whole student due to limited time, extensive curriculum, and the students

desire to only let the teacher see a certain side of his or her personality. This inhibited

teachers from being able to see the emotional effects of stress on students. In a study

comparing the anxiety and substance abuse patterns of urban and suburban youth, Luthar

and D‘Avanzo (1999) conducted a study of 224 urban students and 264 suburban

students in the Northeast and asked the teachers of these students to rate their students.

The researchers found suburban youth were more likely to report substance abuse,

anxiety, and days absent from school, yet teachers rated the suburban students more

positively than they rated their urban peers.

School-related activities beyond the classroom were identified as contributing to

student stress, and as a result many students dropped extracurricular activities to focus on

academics (Connor, Pope, & Galloway, 2010; Pearson, 2009; Galloway & Pope, 2007).

Richards (2009) interviewed a parent who commented that most students struggled with

stress, and another parent who believed that there was too much stress caused by school,

especially for the student athletes (Richards, 2009). However in a study conducted by the

College Board, Everson and Millsap (2005) evaluated the SAT scores of student athletes

who graduated from high school in 1995. The Student Descriptive Questionnaire that

students complete when registering for the SAT identified the student athletes. Students

42
involved in extracurricular activities had higher SAT scores and the achievement gaps

common in ethnic and gender groups decreased amongst student athletes, supporting the

idea that participation in these extracurricular activities was valuable.

Some school leaders attempted to alter the traditional school schedules into block

schedules attempting to alleviate some of the issues in education (Zepeda & Mayers,

2006; Veal & Flinders, 2001). Zepeda and Mayers looked at 14 studies examining the

impact of block scheduling through the eyes of administrators, teachers, parents and

students. They found that school leaders implemented block scheduling in an attempt to

increase rigor. The researchers reported that after the implementation, there was less

teacher stress, better student attendance, fewer student discipline problems, and higher

achievement, but none of the studies examined the impact on student stress. Six of the 14

studies looked at student perceptions, but only one was qualitative. From the student‘s

perspective, block scheduling gave them more time for in-depth learning, better grades,

and more teacher support. Overall, the reviews of the block schedule were positive, but

did not address the issue of student stress. Veal and Flinders (2001) surveyed teachers,

parents and students and found that students experienced less stress in a block schedule

than they had the previous year following a traditional schedule.

Suggestions for improvement

Some school leaders and educators recognized the impact of academic stress and

have implemented plans to help alleviate student stress (Connor, Pope, & Galloway,

2010; Richards, 2009; Trudeau, 2009; Cade, 2007; Pope & Simon, 2005). Trudeau

(2009) asked 24 students what would help reduce anxiety related to testing and the

students responded with reduced workload, more assignments as opposed to tests,

43
coordination throughout the school of major tests, diversifying teaching methods and less

competition amongst the students for grades. Kadison (2004) suggested the following for

dealing with the mental health needs of students: provide immediate access to care,

implement wellness and stress management programs, work with staff and local hospitals

to coordinate care, peer counselors, get information out to students. Conner, Pope, and

Galloway (2010) wanted to make it clear that they were not advocating a watered down

curriculum, but felt that students could be better served with fewer transitions during the

school day, more downtime, staff training in stress reduction, reducing the weight of

exams or replacing them with projects, and spacing out exams. Struthers, Perry, and

Menec (2000) determined through their research that if instructors encouraged good

study skills and time management, it would help alleviate student stress.

At Wheatley High School, the faculty created a committee dedicated to the task of

reducing student stress. In turn, the committee created an action plan. Included in the

action plan were the following strategies: communicating with the faculty and

community, reducing testing during the midterm period, making lunch mandatory, equip

teachers to include stress reduction strategies into their classroom. While long-term

effects were still undetermined, staff became more empathetic of student stress and felt

empowered to help (Pope & Simon, 2005).

Richards (2009) implemented a committee to examine stress in a suburban high

school. The committee found that students desired to be more involved in the definition

of success and that rigor should not be based on an amount of work and pacing of the

class but high expectations. Cade (2007) polled counselors who implemented programs

44
training teachers and working with parents to reduce testing anxiety in their schools.

Popular strategies included study skills, test prep and relaxation techniques.

Another unique suggestion focused on the physical environment of the school.

Matsuoka (2008) found that the environment of a school influences student performance.

By providing students access to elements of nature, views of vegetation through windows

or fresh air at lunch, student stress is reduced and students perform better academically

Finally, having social support, whether it is family, school personnel, or peers,

can help alleviate the impact of stress. The data in a study by Klein (2004) suggested that

athletes‘ feared negative evaluations from their parents less if they felt more attached to

their parents. Other researchers have found that when a student felt attached to his or her

school, GPAs went up (Williams, 2007) and school related stress decreased (Kaplan, Lui,

& Kaplan, 2005). MacGeorge, Sampter, and Gillihan (2005) suggested that social support

might help alleviate stress for students.

Colleges and universities train professors and resident assistants to identify the

signs of psychological distress. Some work to raise awareness of mental-health services,

while others conduct wellness programs. Harvard provides free massages to students in

the dorms and runs a program called ―Caring for the Harvard Community‖ each spring

(Young 2003). Princeton University created a Bridge Program, which allowed freshman

to spend a year abroad doing volunteer work. One of the four benefits of the program was

that students had a break from the pressure of academic life (Cliatt, 2008). Stanford

University School of Education created the Challenge Success program that worked with

secondary schools to create site-based programs that reduce student stress (Conner, Pope,

and Galloway, 2009).

45
 Conclusion

The current research on high achieving students and schools revealed that

academics, and the expectations that students will achieve in a rigorous curriculum, were

capable of causing high levels of stress in adolescents. These stressors caused students to

feel anxious, depressed, angry, and disengaged, and to turn to unethical or unhealthy

tactics such as cheating, taking illegal drugs, or sacrificing sleep, in order to cope with the

pressure they are facing. Since America‘s schools are under pressure to raise curriculum

standards, the question is what could be done or what is being done to help counteract

these negative consequences? School leaders have little control over some of the

elements of school culture; however, they can influence how time is spent during the

seven-hour school day and implement policies that impact the time spent on homework

or extracurricular activities. In turn, those decisions can affect the culture of the school,

making it successful, not stressful.

46
 CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY AND RATIONALE

Design

The researcher conducted a basic interpretive qualitative study, using semi-

structured interviews with students and school leaders about the educational experience.

The researcher selected this approach because stress is a complicated emotion and to

truly understand if or how educational policies and practices contribute to academic

stress, the voices of the students needed to be heard in educational research. School

culture directly affected the students (Maehr & Midgley, 1996). While there had been a

lot of research on education, few studies involved the perspective of the students (Pope,

2001; Seidman, 1998). Furthermore, while few studies on school culture focused on the

student perspective or examined the differences in perceptions between administration

and faculty or faculty and students, fewer examined whether there was a difference in

perception between school leaders and students (Hong, Wan & Peng, 2011; Kember;

2004; Mitchell, Bradshaw & Leaf, 2010; Richards, 2009; Tatar & Bekerman, 2009;

Grant, et al, 2004).

The researcher considered both a qualitative and a quantitative approach;

however, she decided the quantitative approach could not adequately capture the true

student experience. Variations in definitions of academic stress made pinpointing it in a

survey very difficult; furthermore, the participants might not have recognized the

information sought by the researcher in the same way (Putwain, 2007). Creswell (2007)

acknowledged that for some studies ―quantitative measures and analysis of statistics do

not… fit the problem‖ (p. 40). Therefore, the researcher decided to use a basic,

47
interpretive qualitative approach. Interviews with open-ended questions allowed for the

student to share his or her experience with academic stress without getting caught up in

labels and definitions, and allowed the researcher to find commonalities within the

student experiences, in addition to comparing the students‘ perceptions with those of

school leaders.

A basic, interpretive qualitative study was consistent with constructivist

epistemology of the researcher‘s study. Constructivists believed that the truth was derived

from each individual‘s perspective and how he or she makes meaning of his or her

experiences (Crotty, 1998). In a basic, interpretive qualitative study, the researcher

acknowledged that there were multiple interpretations of a single event, which meant

there were multiple realities (Merriam, 2009). In this study, the researcher explored a

topic that had not been widely researched; therefore, there was no established knowledge

base. The researcher aimed to describe, understand, and interpret the experience

(Merriam, 2009). In this study, the researcher wanted to develop an understanding of how

the tenets of school culture related to time impacted academic stress. The researcher

looked at commonalities across the participants‘ descriptions of their experiences with

time, school culture, and academic stress and developed a composite description of the

shared experience (Creswell, 2007) as well as compared the perceptions of time, school

culture, and academic stress between students and school leaders.

Researcher Reflexivity Statement

According to Gelgin (2010) qualitative researchers needed to be aware of the

personal and professional meaning they derived from their research and the influence that

the experience of the participants, audience, and stakeholders have on the research

48
processes before choosing the subjects, during the interview process, during the writing,

and when applying the findings to the practice. Gelgin wrote that by engaging in personal

reflection and discussions with others and sharing relevant information with the audience,

the researchers increased their accountability. In this study, the researcher, a school

counselor, chose to research academic stress after counseling students who were

struggling to manage academic stress. During the course of the study, the researched

changed jobs and returned to the classroom. The researcher was working as an English

teacher at the study site while conducting interviews. The researcher found herself

evaluating and even altering her own teaching practices as a result of the interviews.

Constant personal reflections and conversations with her chairperson, allowed the

researcher time to reflect on how the research was having an impact on the researcher.

As a faculty member at the study site, she felt responsible for sharing the students‘ voices

with other faculty members and school leaders at the study site.

Sample

In a basic interpretive qualitative study, certain criteria are essential for selecting

participants, but unlike quantitative research, there is no minimum or maximum number

for the sample size (Merriam, 2009). The number of participants must be enough to

satisfy the purpose of the study and interviews should be held until the point of saturation

is achieved (Merriam, 2009).

The population was all high school students who attended a public high school

with a rigorous, academically competitive environment, typically in an middle or upper

class, suburban setting. The researcher selected the study site because the high school had

attained success academically, athletically, and artistically. Within the local community

49
the average income was $120,000.00 a year per household; 68.5% of the residents had

earned a Bachelor‘s Degree, and 34% earned a graduate or professional degree (Citi-

Data, 2013). The school selected offered an AP Diploma Program and operated on a

block schedule. Furthermore, the school leaders had implemented and junior and senior

students had experienced at least two different schedules with varying lengths of class

periods and arrangements of flex time during their tenure as students at this school. The

school had been academically successful, with a 96% to 98% pass rate on the high stakes

assessments in English, math, and history (School Profile, 2013). The average SAT score

in 2010 was 1770, which is above the national average of 1500. Of the over 2,000

students enrolled in the school, 40% took at least one AP course, 100% of those students

took the AP exam and 89% of those students scored a 3 or above on the AP exam. The

AP program incorporated rigor for academically talented students, while the state

mandated tests were graduation requirements, which added pressure for struggling

students. In addition to the study site‘s academic success, the school profile stated the

Performing Arts Department, school newspaper, yearbook, and literary magazine had

been recognized for their successful programs and the athletic program was highly

competitive. Even the front of the building boasted of the state championships and

awards won by various sports teams, the marching band, and the journalism department.

For the sample in this study, ten participants volunteered from the student body

and school leadership of a high achieving high school that had high stakes assessments as

a graduation requirement, and that offered and encouraged students to take Advanced

Placement courses. The researcher solicited volunteers by visiting advisory classes and

explaining the study (see Appendix F for the advisory period transcript). The researcher

50
asked students to volunteer if they had experienced academic stress and were willing to

talk about it. The advisory teachers gave the names of potential volunteers to the

researcher. The student participants who volunteered were from a range of academic

achievement levels. As an employee of the school the researcher first approached school

leaders who she knew had made decisions concerning scheduling, homework,

extracurricular activities, or other time-related school components or who worked with

academically stressed students. The researcher used a snowballing technique to procure

additional names. From the 11 school leaders approached, seven agreed to participate.

The researcher limited the number of school leaders to an amount equal to the students,

eliminating 2 school leaders who held the same position as one school leader who had

previously volunteered. The researcher interviewed current or former school to validate

the information shared by the students, as part of the triangulation, and to compare

perceptions of the school culture with those of their students.

The researcher excluded from this study any volunteers who were current or

former students or who might potentially be students in the researcher‘s class to avoid the

undue influence of an authoritative figure. Furthermore, the researcher also had no

supervisory or other authority over any of the interviewed school leaders.

Instrumentation

The researcher collected data via semi-structured interviews. The researcher

interviewed the participants because interviews were necessary to learn how individuals

interpreted their own experiences (Merriam, 1998). The researcher used semi-structured

interviews because she needed specific information about time and school culture

(Merriam, 1998). In this study the researcher needed information on the student‘s

51
experience within the school culture, specifically how the time was managed within that

culture and how that contributed to or alleviated student stress. The researcher structured

the interview process to ensure that she would be able to compare data from the various

interviews; however, too much structure would limit the description of the individual‘s

experience of the phenomenon (Maxwell, 2005).

Seidman (1998) recommended interviewing participants three different times over

the course of a two to three week period. Each interview had a different function: the first

interview was a life history to learn about the experience in the context of the

participant‘s life (Seidman). In this study student participants talked about their past

experiences in education, how they selected their courses, and to describe their other

responsibilities, family issues, or peer problems that might also contribute to stress.

School leader participants discussed their perception of the educational experience

provided for students and explained how decisions concerning scheduling were made.

The second interview allowed the participant to reconstruct the experience (Seidman). In

this study, the student participants reconstructed how they typically spent a day in this

academically high achieving environment. The school leadership participants described

their perception of the student experience. Seidman wrote that the third interview should

give the participant a chance to reflect. In this study, both the student and school leader

participants reflected on the concept of academic stress and what from their experience

contributed to academic stress. Seidman recommended a 90-minute interview, but

suggested that a researcher could shorten for younger participants. The researcher for this

study wanted to be sensitive to the fact that these students were already experiencing

academic stress since they volunteered for the study because they had experience with

52
academic stress, and therefore, wanted to reduce the amount of class, homework, or

extracurricular time missed. Therefore, the researcher reduced the interview time to

approximately 30 minutes, approximately equivalent to the amount of flex time and/or

lunch time students had most days at this study site. To balance the student participant

interviews, the school leader interviews followed the same format (see Appendix E for

interview questions).

Research Questions

Maxwell (2005) wrote that research questions explained what a researcher was

trying to learn and provided focus and guidance for how he or she would conduct the

research. In this study, the main research question was ―How do adolescents experience

the culture of their high school?‖ This question stemmed from the literature that school

culture could contribute to stress (Foust, Hertberg-Davis, & Callahan, 2009; Kohn, 2004;

Pope, 2001) and that many of these adolescents were experiencing negative emotional or

physical reactions or were dealing with the stress by disengaging or cheating (Pope,

2001). The question posed by this researcher explored whether the school leaders‘

perception of the student experience aligned with that of the student participants‘

perception of their experience and how or if time management during the school day,

specifically the bell schedule, homework policies or practices, and extracurricular

activities contributed to or alleviated school stress. This addressed a gap in the previous

research.

Procedures

The role of the researcher in this basic, interpretive qualitative study was to

collect data as a key instrument in the research study (Creswell, 2007). The goal of the

53
researcher was to understand the experience, and the researcher listened to the verbal

commentary, as well as observed the non-verbal communication, checked with the

participant for accuracy and explored unexpected responses (Merriam, 2009).

In this study, the researcher first procured approval from the Institutional Review

Board (IRB) of both the university where the researcher was a student and the school

district in which the researcher wanted to conduct the study. Next, the researcher

procured the proper permissions from the school and school system to interview students

and school leaders. Then the researcher presented the study to advisory students (see

Appendix F for Advisory Period Transcript) and asked school leaders to participate in the

study. The researcher also used the snowball technique to procure other potential school

leader participants. Merriam (2009) described snowball sampling as the most common

form of purposeful sampling where the researcher asked participants who easily met the

requirements of the study to recommend other potential participants. Once the researcher

had the names of potential participants, she obtained written consent from the school

leader participants (see Appendix D for consent to participate form), written assent from

the student participants (see Appendix B for assent to participate form), parent or

guardian permission to meet with each student participant (see Appendix C for parent

permission form). Both the parent permission form and the consent/assent forms stressed

that participation was voluntary, and the participant had the right to withdraw from the

study at any time. All forms also explained that the researcher would keep the

participant‘s identity anonymously and not tie the content of the interview to the student

or school leader in any publicly identifiable way. The form also included a passage that

stated that if the student participant, during the course of the interview, mentioned

54
information that caused the interviewer to become concerned with the student‘s well-

being, the researcher would report the information to the proper resources available

through the school system.

The researcher contacted school leader participants by e-mail or phone and set up

a meeting to discuss the study. However, to avoid any undue influence on the student

participants, the researcher met with the potential student participants with their

counselors and discussed the purpose of the study and the information in the informed

consent paper work so that there were no questions once the informed consent paperwork

was given to each student. The researcher also provided her contact information to the

parents of potential student participants to answer any questions they might have had

before giving permission for their child to participate in the study.

Once the researcher obtained the applicable assent, consent and permission forms,

the researcher conducted three 30-minute interviews with each participant. The

researcher interviewed the participants interviewed at their school, as individuals were

more likely to be open if they were interviewed in a safe setting (Creswell, 2007). The

researcher interviewed student participants in the researcher‘s classroom during flex time

and school leader interviews were conducted at convenient times for the school leaders,

typically in their offices. Seidman (1998) recommended strategies for conducting quality

interviews and protecting the identity of the participants. During the interview the

researcher asked open-ended questions (see Appendix E for interview questions), and

prompted the participant only if he or she went off topic. During most of the interview,

the researcher listened, asked questions for clarification purposes and asked for concrete

details. The researcher recorded the interviews with a digital voice recorder and saved the

55
files in a password-protected file on the researcher‘s computer. The interviews were

transcribed verbatim. Participants helped the researcher determine a pseudonym to use

during the interview to help protect their identity. As a gesture of appreciation, the

researcher selected a book, valued at ten to fifteen dollars, and presented it to each

participant upon completion of the third interview.

Analysis

Once the researcher had the interviews transcribed, she read the transcripts, made

a list of significant statements and began to develop categories or relationships between

the data (Maxwell, 2005). The researcher used a constant-comparative analysis. She used

Chapter 2 as a guideline to find initial categories of information: the presence of

academic stress, school culture, causes of academic stress, positive and negative effects

of academic stress, and student/school leaders perceptions. From there, the researcher

followed emerging trends in the feedback from the interviewees. Creswell (2007) defined

constant comparative as the ―process of taking information from the data and comparing

it to emerging categories‖ (p. 64). Through coding, the researcher organized data into

categories and broad themes (Maxwell; Coffey & Atkinson, 1996; Seidman, 1998).

Trustworthiness

In basic, interpretive qualitative research, the researcher was a human instrument

(Creswell, 2007). Both the researcher and the context of the interview could have had an

impact on the participant. The researcher minimized the impact by asking open-ended

questions (Maxwell, 2005). The researcher in this study hoped her prior experience as a

school counselor would help with the interview process. The researcher learned through

past experience that with patience and good listening skills, a student would open up and

56
share his or her feelings honestly which might not have happened if the counselor or

interviewer jumped to conclusions or led the student to talk about certain problems.

Reliability

The nature of qualitative research makes the replication of studies challenging;

however, the researcher provided a well-organized presentation of procedures to enhance

external reliability (Weirsma & Jurs, 2005). Reliability was determined by an accurate

representation of what the participant experienced. A good quality recording and a

transcription that included pauses and conversational overlaps helped to provide

reliability for the research. The researcher also allowed each participant to review the

transcripts of his or her interview to make any changes, additions, deletions, or

clarifications, that they felt were necessary to accurately reflect their experience.

Validity

Validity for a qualitative study is attained if there is a ―logical analysis of the

results‖ and ―adequate theoretical construct and research procedures are used so that

others can understand the results‖ (Weirsma & Jurs, 2005, p. 216). Lincoln and Guida

(2001) added that in order to achieve validity the researcher must exhibit fairness, by

including the experiences of all participants, and rigor in methodology and interpretation.

Creswell (2007) suggested the following to check for validity:

 Did the researcher bias the results?

 Is the transcript a valid reference of the participant‘s experience?

 Have alternate conclusions been acknowledged and addressed?

 Is the description of the phenomenon unique to this situation or can it be

generalized?

57
The researcher will use memos to help identify and restrain bias, and will use an accurate

transcription of the interview to document the participant‘s experience. The three-

interview structure will allow the researcher to check for internal consistency within a

participant‘s experience; interviewing multiple participants will enable the researcher to

connect experiences among the participants (Seidman).

Having other researchers review the procedures for the study, called a ―peer

review,‖ also helps to add validity to the study (Creswell, 2007). The researcher is

fortunate to be part of a doctoral cohort, of which several peers and professors were

trained in qualitative research methods. The researcher asked one of her cohort members

to review the transcript and analysis to ensure an accurate reflection of the participants‘

statements. The researcher also worked with a methodologist with experience in

qualitative research to help to ensure validity.

Triangulation is the act of collecting data from multiple sources, to check for bias

(Creswell, 2007; Maxwell, 2005; Weirsma & Jurs, 2005) Triangulation was achieved for

this study because the researcher conducted three interviews with each student who

experienced academic stress, and corroborated the data from the interviews with school

leaders along with publically available school records including written and unwritten

policies in scheduling of student classes, course catalog, homework policies, testing

trends, daily bell schedules and extracurricular schedules from the school‘s website and

school profile. By comparing the students‘ perceptions the school leaders‘ perceptions

and publically available school records the researcher was able to find consistencies in

the way students experienced the school culture, as well as misperceptions.

58
Ethical Considerations

Because the researcher chose to work with adolescents, it was her of the utmost

concern to protect the participants from feeling vulnerable or being portrayed without

dignity (Seidman, 1998 ). Seidman suggested several strategies to protect vulnerable

populations, like high school students. First the researcher helped the participants to

understand that participation in the study is completely voluntary, and that the participant

could withdraw at any time without repercussion. Secondly, the participant had the right

to ask that the researcher not use any information stated during the interview. The

researcher kept the participants anonymous. The researcher informed the participants that

the interview would be transcribed, but that precautions were taken to keep identifying

information from being shared. For example, the participants helped choose a pseudonym

to use during the interview, and the researcher kept any written information with the

participants‘ real names in a locked location, separate from the transcripts. The researcher

used those pseudonyms in the final paper. The participants learned that the information

collected would be used in a publically available dissertation.

Because the researcher was also a faculty member of the school where the study

was conducted, the researcher was obligated to report certain information pursuant to

federal and state laws and school and school district policies. Student participants and

their parents were informed of this ethical obligation, and the researcher requested that

student participants refrain from discussing any illegal or untoward activities that would

necessitate such reporting by the researcher.

59
 CHAPTER IV

RESULTS

Overview of Study Site and Participants

The study site was a public high school in an upper middle class, suburban

community. The community population earned an average of $120,000 a year per

household; 68.5% of the residents had earned a Bachelor‘s Degree, and 34% earned a

graduate or professional degree (Citi-Data, 2013). The population is approximately 2,300

students (School Profile, 2013). The researcher selected the study site because the high

school had attained success academically, athletically, and artistically. The school had

been academically successful, with a 96% to 98% pass rate on the high stakes

assessments in English, math, and history (School Profile, 2013). Over the past five

years, U.S. News and World Report and Newsweek had both ranked the school amongst

the top schools in the United States. The average SAT score in 2010 was almost 300

points above the national average of 1500. Of the over 1,000 juniors and seniors enrolled

in the school, 76.7% took at least one AP course, 100% of those students took the AP

exam and 77% of those students scored a 3 or above on the AP exam (School Profile).

The AP program incorporated rigor for academically talented students, while the state

mandated tests were graduation requirements that added pressure for struggling students.

In addition to academic success, the school profile and school website stated that the

Performing Arts Department, school newspaper, yearbook, and literary magazine earned

recognition for their successful programs. Furthermore, the athletic program was highly

competitive, winning regional and state championships.

60
 The students and staff at the study site had experienced at least two different

versions of year-long, block bell schedule. From 2010-2012, the schedule consisted of

three 90-minute blocks that met every other day, a 45-minute constant period that met

every day, four 30-minute lunch sessions built into the third block of the day, and a 30

minute ―flex time.‖ In 2012-2013, the schedule changed to include four 90-minute

blocks that meet every other day, a 20-minute advisory period, four 30-minute lunch

sessions built into the third block of the day, and two 35-minute ―flex times‖ every other

day. The school leadership implemented flex time in 2010-2011 and added the advisory

period in 2012-2013.

The leadership team at the study site included the principal, five assistant

principals, one activities director, the director of student services, and the Instructional

Leadership Committee (ILC). The ILC included the previously mentioned administrators

but also included department chairs, team leaders, an AP coordinator, and any other

teachers who wanted to be a part of instructional leadership at the high school. This

format allowed for any faculty member in the building to take a leadership role. Mrs.

Edwards pointed out that many of the initiatives at the study site were teacher-driven.

The student participants volunteered to participate in the study. The researcher

presented the study to advisory classes and asked students to volunteer if they had ever

experienced academic stress and were willing to be interviewed by the researcher. See the

advisory period transcript (Appendix F). From those discussions, 11 students expressed

interest in the study; however, the researcher disqualified four volunteers because they

were current or former students of the researcher and one additional volunteer because

she was a sophomore and could potentially be a student of the researcher in the future.

61
The researcher met with six potential qualified student participants and his or her school

counselor, discussed the risks and benefits of participating in the study, and gave the

potential participants the appropriate forms. Five of the six potential student participants

returned the proper paperwork and participated in all three interview sessions (see Table

1 for information about student participants).

Table 1: Student Participants

Adam Todd Claire Rose Heather

Grade Level Junior Junior Senior Junior Senior
Gender Male Male Female Female Female
# of Years 1 3 4 3 4
Attending This
High School
Courses AP Biology, AP Language AP AP Language AP
AP World and Psychology, and Government,
History, Composition, AP Calculus, Composition, AP
English 11, Honors U.S. AP Literature, Honors U.S. Psychology,
Anatomy and History, AP History, AP Chemistry,
Physiology, Spanish, Comparative Spanish III, AP Calculus
Algebra, Creative Gov, AP US Journalism, A/B, Honors
US/VA Writing, Math, Government, Pre-Calculus, English 12,
History, Physics, AP Study Hall, Physics, AP French IV,
Geometry Psychology Anatomy and Psychology Study Hall
Physiology,
Theater
School-based Soccer, Red Cross Theater, Crew Newspaper Basketball
Extracurricular Debate Team Club, Key section editor,
Activities Club, UNICEF class officer,
basketball
manager
Other Martial Part-time job
Extracurricular arts/boxing
Activities

Additionally, the researcher interviewed five school leaders who had made

decisions concerning scheduling, homework, or other time-related school components,

who supervised or sponsored extracurricular activities, or who worked with academically

stressed students at the study site. The researcher selected school leaders from the

researcher‘s prior knowledge about scheduling decisions made within the school. The

62
researcher also used a snowballing technique to procure additional participants. (see

Table 2 for school leader participants).

Table 2: School Leader Participants

Dr. Atkinson Mr. Brown Dr. Carter Mrs. Davis Mrs. Edwards

Years in 26 15 20 9 18
education
Years at current 6 6 9 3 18
school
Position Teacher Activities Administrator Counselor Administrator
Director
Other Staff Supervises Supervises
responsibilities development math science
trainer, AP department department,
exam grader Attendance,
for College Flex Time
Board Coordinator

School Culture

The researcher asked each interviewee to describe the culture of the school. All 10

interviewees commented on the academically rigorous school culture. Two students and

one school leader claimed the school culture was focused on grades. Two students

identified the culture as competitive, while two school leaders used the term ―driven.‖

Other descriptors included: diverse, successful, challenging, stressful, boring, rigorous,

academically demanding, and achieving.

Three school leaders and two students attributed the courses selected by the

students to creating a rigorous school culture. Mrs. Davis pointed out that most freshmen

took at least one honors class. Mrs. Edwards claimed that many freshman students were

encouraged both within the school and by parents to take honors classes for all four core

freshman courses. Both student, Adam, and Mrs. Edwards stated that every student is

encouraged to take at least one AP class before graduating, although Mrs. Edwards

pointed out that some students take four to five per school year. Dr. Carter stated that

63
60% of sophomores take AP World History, the only AP course available to sophomores.

The push to take higher level courses, continued through the students‘ junior and senior

years. Mrs. Davis commented, ―a lot of [the students] start in honors in the beginning and

just have nowhere else to go, so they choose the higher level classes for lack of options.‖

Dr. Atkinson agreed, ―It's trickling down… the kids are pushing themselves; the parents

are allowing the kids to push themselves…which means we're having more and more

kids who are coming through the pipeline…[who] need these more advanced classes.‖

According to Dr. Atkinson, during the 2012-1013 school year, 21 students from this high

school were taking multivariable calculus and linear algebra, a sophomore level math

course at the university level. Student, Heather, commented, ―It‘s crazy how many people

are ahead one year ahead [in math], or two years ahead or maybe three and that‘s

standard.‖ Todd talked about how all of his friends had been in the gifted and talented

program in elementary school, had taken honors classes in middle school, and so they

came to high school as a high achieving group of students. He mentioned that his friends

all had over a 4.0 GPA, indicating that as juniors they had taken at least one AP course.

According to Dr. Carter, even the general education classes added to the rigorous school

culture and prepared students for college level work.

Three of the school leaders believed that part of the reason so many students were

willing to try advanced courses was because of the school‘s open enrollment policy.

There were no barriers to taking an advanced placement course, short of completing the

prerequisites. Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Edwards discussed many of the supports that were

available to students who challenged themselves by taking rigorous courses, including

supportive and available AP teachers, flex time, and the writing center, which is a

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student-run tutoring center. Dr. Atkinson explained that in addition to teaching the

content of the Advanced Placement Physics course, she also spent a great deal of time

teaching her students good learning skills. She told parents at the open house at the

beginning of the school year, ―I'm gonna teach your kids to read. I'm gonna teach 'em

how to do math. I'm gonna teach 'em social skills. And if I do all that very, very, well,

they're gonna learn a lot of physics.‖ Mrs. Edwards explained that the school leadership

had established that students should be encouraged to take the Advanced Placement

classes without having to worry about their test scores, and that the school administration

supported this philosophy. She emphasized that if teachers were not worried about test

scores, they were more likely to welcome and support students who were challenging

themselves by taking more rigorous coursework. Dr. Carter stated, ―Philosophically, I‘m

not impressed with a student‘s ability to sit down and take a 50-question end-of-course,

multiple-choice test to determine that they ‗learned something‘… I continue to look at

what… 21st century skills are we equipping our kids with; what thinking skills, what

problem solving skills we are trying to develop.‖ Despite the claim that school

leadership did not focus on test scores, Adam and Claire both felt that the administration

wanted the students to earn high scores on their exams.

Furthermore, three students and three school leaders attributed the expectation of

attending college to creating the rigorous school environment. According to Mr. Brown,

95% of students go on to a two-year or four-year college. According to three of the

school leaders, the parents and community expected that students who graduated from

this high school would attend college. Adam said, ―[e]verybody just has a certain goal, a

certain place where they want to go for college, and for school. And everybody‘s just

65
doing whatever they can, and basically everything they can to reach that goal.‖ Dr.

Carter pointed out that the school did not have any vocational programs, that it was

strictly an academic program, with AP courses. Claire lamented that strict focus on

academics, calling the school ―pushy‖ with a focus on the core classes. Five of the

interviewees commented on how many of the students felt obligated to attend highly

selective colleges. Mrs. Davis noted that most of the high achievers in the school applied

to Ivy League schools and top state schools. Both Todd and Rose lamented that their

peers would scrutinize the reputation of their choice college. Todd claimed the college

choice had to be ―Yale‖ and Rose pointed out that attending community college was not

acceptable.

Four of the interviewees pointed out that the ambitious school culture was not

limited to academics, but included sports, fine arts, and other extracurricular activities,

too. Dr. Carter pointed out that out of 2200 students, 1200 participated in athletics, and

500 participated in fine arts programs. He said, ―All but maybe 20% of our students are

actively engaged for many hours a week outside of the traditional academic studies.‖ Mr.

Brown and Dr. Carter discussed the various accolades the school had received for

academics, athletics, and fine arts. Heather pointed out that ―we have many state

championship banners while some schools have one or maybe none.‖ Adam, Heather,

Mr. Brown, and Mrs. Davis stated that being an athlete gave students a more vested

interest in the school. All five students were involved in at least one school based extra-

curricular activity, and all five had participated in at least one athletic activity during their

time as a student at this school. Adam stated, ―The school cares about the sports and

about the athletes themselves.‖ Heather supported that by saying, ―if you are an athlete,

66
you are more connected to the school.‖ In addition to athletics, Dr. Carter mentioned that

there were many academic honor societies and academic clubs, and that many of them

had been successful in various competitions. He summed up the ambitious culture of the

school by saying, ―The expectation is that you are going to participate- not just to

participate, but to do well and help the team win. And it‘s hard for me to imagine an area

in the whole school where that idea or ideal hasn‘t just permeated.‖

Finally, three of the school leaders and two students commented on the high

expectations within the school. Dr. Carter stated that the administration made it a goal to

hire ―top quality teachers that provide the most rigorous, thought-provoking courses that

could and should be taught to students of this age.‖ He also pointed out that many of the

head coaches were also teachers within the school, further establishing the high school as

an academic-minded institution. Both Todd and Adam agreed that their teachers had high

expectations of the students, although Adam felt that high expectations were about effort

and Todd felt the high expectations were about grades. Dr. Atkinson stated, ―We‘ve

worked hard to establish the level of rigor needed without killing ‗em… It‘s like a

balance beam in gymnastics. You walk a tight line between pushing on ‗em to reach their

potential, and pushing so hard they have a nervous breakdown.‖ Mr. Brown pointed out

that the high expectations also come in the form of peer pressure.

The one area where students and school leaders seemed to have a drastic

difference of perception was in terms of what motivated the students. Both Dr. Atkinson

and Dr. Carter emphasized a desire to teach critical thinking skills to students. Mrs.

Edwards stated, ―We push our students to want to learn more, not just grade-wise, but to

expand their knowledge.‖ Adam felt that his teachers were supportive of his learning. He

67
said the ―teachers here push students to excel as far as they can, and as best they can…

[and] are proud of their students based on how hard they are trying.‖ However, three of

the participants felt that grades were more important. Todd lamented that school was

―less about learning, more about grades.‖ Rose echoed that sentiment, ―Everyone‘s just

worried about grades and high quality college.‖ Even Dr. Atkinson admitted that her

students were more concerned with getting an ―A‖ than using the critical thinking skills.

Students and school leaders agreed that the culture of the study site was rigorous

and competitive. They agreed that the culture was impacted by the open enrollment

policy for AP courses, the expectation that students will attend college, and the high

expectations of the students from multiple sources. Students and school leaders differed

in their interpretations of what motivated students to take on those academic challenges.

Academic Stress

All five students claimed that they personally have experienced academic stress.

All ten participants stated academic stress existed at this high school. Mrs. Davis stated,

―academic stress manifests itself, not just in high achievers but all across the board.‖ Mrs.

Edwards stated that stress is a problem only for some students. Dr. Carter said that he had

been a school based administrator for 17-18 years and ―until a couple of years ago, I‘d

never heard of school anxiety and now I probably deal with a dozen to twenty… kids a

year that won‘t come to school anymore.‖

Impact of Academic Stress

During the course of the interviews, students and school leaders shared

information about the effects of academic stress. Both students and school leaders

68
commented on the positive and negative impacts of academic stress. An overview of the

findings is presented in Table 3.

Table 3: The Effects of Academic Stress

Positive Depression Academic Disengagement/ Lack of

Impact Dishonesty school avoidance sleep/
Health
issues

Adam X X X
Todd X X
Claire X X X
Rose X X
Heather X X X X
S. L. 1 X X X
S. L. 2 X X
S. L. 3 X X
S. L. 4 X
S. L. 5 X X

Positive Impact.

Adam and Dr. Atkinson talked extensively about the positive impact of academic

stress. Adam struggled with the term ―stress‖ as a negative word, but he did not want to

focus on the negative aspects of the challenges and sacrifices that he made to learn. He

explained,

I see this whole topic in a positive way. I think this is a positive experience, and

I'm learning so much so quickly…. just having the mindset of looking at it from a

positive point of view is totally different. I can sit here all day saying, ‗Oh, I have

so much work that I have to do this and do that, think about the negative things

that are happening in life and the things I have to deal with.‘ …[I]f I do make it to

college, I'll be the first person in my family to get to college. So the first

immigrants, the first – I'm also the oldest brother. So if I put all those factors in a

negative point of view, I just – I don't think I'd get anywhere. I think I'd just be so

69
 undetermined and lose that motivation and that ambition to do – so looking at it

from a positive point of view, saying, ‗Okay, this happened. It's okay. Just keep

moving forward. Get up and keep moving forward. Just keep on moving forward.

You know, deal with it and just learn from your mistakes so you don't do it

again.‘ And I think that's just – you have to look at it from a positive point of

view and keep your eye on the goal the whole time.

Adam went on to explain how he has learned to maintain a positive attitude from his

father. He explained,

[H]e's the reason why I came here. He came here before we did. He actually had

a pretty decent job. Back in my home country… but he looked forward and he

knew that we would have such a better future if we came here, so he came here

and then he brought us. And he told me – since day one he's been telling me that

America is so special and is so advanced, because it's the only country in the

world where… as much as you work, that's how much you gain.

Adam explained that he saw this gain both as a student and an athlete.

Dr. Atkinson agreed that students could gain a lot from academic stress. She

explained that most of the stress involved in her classes comes when students are asked to

think critically and solve problems independently. She explained,

Well, I want them to be better at doing, so I have to get out of the way. And it can

be hard, because they will push and push and push and push and push to get you

to tell them what to think and do, because that's how it's always been. And yet

once they get that epiphany, they're astonished at what they can think and reason

and figure out. But it is stressful for them, and it is stressful for me. Do I want to

70
 relieve that stress? No, because the things we learn the best are the things we've

struggled with. If you take away the struggle, you do not have long-term learning.

Dr. Atkinson differentiated between the stress caused by critical thinking, as opposed to

the rote memorization of facts or vocabulary. She explained that one was positive for the

students, the other a pointless power trip.

Four of the school leaders and three of the student participants explained that the

one of the positive outcomes of the stressful high school environment was that the

students were prepared for college. Two of the school leaders and Rose questioned

whether the students were actually over-prepared for college. The two school leaders

explained that when alumni return to visit the high school, they often comment that

college is easy for them. Mrs. Edwards stated that the majority of students were college-

ready, although she had concerns that teachers and administrators give students more

than one chance to be successful in these rigorous courses; she questioned how they

would succeed in college.

Depression.

Two students brought up depression during their interviews. Adam mentioned

that because of a busy school schedule students spend less time with their friends causing

them to feel depressed and lonely. Todd discussed a clinical definition of depression. He

explained how his own experience with depression or dysthymia during his sophomore

year caused him to fail two classes and had a drastic impact on his GPA. ―[l]ast year,

when [the depression] was really bad, my grades dropped, like, just – like, I had a 2.1 last

year and this year, I have a 3.8 and the year before that, I had, like, a 3.5.‖ He sought the

help of both the school psychologist and an outside psychologist to help him deal with his

71
depression; however, he still believed that academic stress, specifically caused by

standardized testing and rote teaching methods, in combination with some problems at

home were to blame for his depression.

[A]t the same time, I will never get that year back and when I apply to college,

they‘re gonna be, like, ‗This kid‘s got a 2.1 for a year. What‘s going on?‘ you

know? And so, the kid with 4.0s, who never suffered from depression and did all

his homework, you know, he‘s gonna get my spot in college because of damages

caused, I would say. I would say, most certainly, I felt stressed out by school 100

percent. And I had some stuff going on at home, but I‘m not at home as much as I

am at school.

In Todd‘s AP Language and Composition class, the students were assigned a project to

research a problem and propose and implement a solution. He chose to research

depression and school, and his solution was to write to his state legislature to gain

compensation for students who miss school due to mental health issues. He was inspired

by his own experience when he learned that it would cost him approximately $1200.00 to

retake the two classes that he failed his sophomore year over the summer. He felt there

should be some sort of fee waiver or reimbursement for students who were struggling

with mental health issues caused by the stressors of school. He also pointed out that many

students in his AP Language and Composition class chose to do projects on depression

and academic stress because there were people at school who were suffering.

Academic Dishonesty.

Three school leaders mentioned academic dishonesty was a result of academic

stress; however, only one student admitted to occasional academic dishonesty. Dr. Carter

72
stated he had anecdotal evidence from students claiming that they cheated because of the

pressure to keep a high GPA. Heather admitted to occasional academic dishonesty in

order to keep up her GPA.

I have to admit, I lied a couple of times saying, ‗Oh I forgot it on the printer.‘ And

then [the teacher will say] ‗Okay, well, e-mail it to me.‘ And then you have to get

home and do it really quickly, and then you e-mail it to them. But I mean, it‘s for

the grade.

Disengagement/School Avoidance.

Two students and two school leaders mentioned feelings of disengagement.

During her first interview, Claire stated, ―I‘m not really stressed out all the time and I

don‘t know if it‘s just because I‘m burnt out by this point or I just don‘t know.‖ She went

on to explain that for her school was more about memorizing facts. Todd also felt that

school was not about real world skills but more about completing worksheets and

learning rote facts. He said,

At this point, it‘s just a place you go for eight hours where they give you

worksheets and you do them. And I know, like, I keep repeating worksheets, but,

really, that‘s, like, that‘s all I‘m seeing. I‘m not seeing, like, a lot of effort from

teachers, besides a select few, that I like as teachers; that, besides those select few,

really all I see is just there‘s no fun. I mean, and maybe school‘s not supposed to

be fun. My dad‘s always telling me, like, ‗What gives you the idea that

everything‘s supposed to be fun?‘

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Both Todd and Claire lamented that they wished that they had more opportunities to be

creative in school. Adam mentioned that he saw disengagement amongst his peers, while

Dr. Atkinson observed it amongst her students. Adam said,

I've… met students [who have a] large amount of work [but] they wouldn't

sacrifice time or sacrifice anything, and they'd just not turn it in as simple as that.

They would just not turn in their work, and when I started to find out and realize

stuff like that, I was just very surprised in a way where you can just give up. You

know? I think the students that do not turn in their work and just give up, it really

reflects on their character and where they want to go and their mindset.

Dr. Atkinson observed, that students with multiple AP classes would

manage their stress by not doing homework. They pick one [class]. They pick that

they‘re just not going to do the homework for and they do the others. But then

they‘ve got to deal with the lower grade and making the choices about

that…they‘re managing it by going passive. And we give it a name it‘s senioritis

but it‘s that going passive thing to help relieve the stress.

Mr. Brown stated,

I think it does hurt some of our students who are not as successful, and that is one

of the things that I do notice here because they're disenfranchised by the success

that so many of our students have and how they tout it.

While none of the students that I interviewed mentioned missing school to

alleviate academic stress, three of the school leaders mentioned that academic stress and

school anxiety caused some attendance problems. Two of the students and one school

leader mentioned the avoidance of particular classes during their interviews. Rose

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admitted that she had considered dropping a class because she did not like the feedback

she was getting from her teacher, but ultimately decided to stay in the class. Heather also

dropped from an honors math class into a regular math class because of too much

homework, and had considered dropping others.

Lack of Sleep/Health Issues.

Two students and one school leader mentioned a lack of sleep or health issues.

After asking students to explain their daily schedule, the researcher calculated the amount

of sleep each student got each night (see Table 4)

Table 4: Hours of Sleep

Adam Todd Claire Rose Heather

Hours of Sleep 4.5-7.5 6.5 4.5-6.75 4.5-6.25 5.5-7

Claire spoke most frequently about needing more sleep. During the course of her

interviews she mentioned napping during study hall, in the car before practice, and to and

from practice when her friend was driving. She also mentioned frequently falling asleep

in the shower, and once falling asleep behind the wheel on the way to practice. Heather,

who mentioned that she gets stomachaches when she does not get enough sleep, also

explained that having a first period study hall allowed her to sleep in occasionally. Mr.

Brown brought up health issues but explained how he had students who would come to

class sick so they did not have to miss a test.

The researcher confirmed that academic stress did exist at the study site, with both

positive and negative effects. Next, the researcher explored which tenets of school culture

had an impact on academic stress.

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Tenets of School Culture and Academic Stress

During the third interview, the researcher asked all participants to reflect on their

experience with academic stress, specifically what caused the academic stress. Notably,

however, the topic of academic stress came up unsolicited during earlier interviews, too.

Some of the responses were unique to one participant. Adam discussed the stressors

involved with being a new student in the school. Todd discussed social issues like cliques

and dealing with the opposite gender. Dr. Atkinson discussed how being asked to think

critically and independently caused stress amongst her students. Several of the causes that

came up in multiple interviews were not directly applicable to this study, which focused

on the time-related aspects of school culture, but still contributed to academic stress.

Those causes included: the expectation that students will attend an elite college, parental

expectations, teacher expectations, grades, testing, critical thinking, and unrealistic goals.

Table 5 gives a brief overview of how frequently the following were mentioned as

contributors to academic stress.

Table 5: Other Contributing Factors to Academic Stress

Expectation Testing Parental Grades Teacher Unrealistic

of Expectations Expectations personal
Attending goals
College
Adam X X X
Todd X X X X X
Claire X X X
Rose X X X
Heather X
S. L. 1 X X
S. L. 2 X X X
S. L. 3 X X X
S. L. 4 X X X X
S. L. 5 X X X X

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This study focused on the organization of time as it related to school culture. The

researcher found several trends associated with the organization of time that participants

discussed during the interviews (See Table 6). The time-related causes included student

course selection, workload, rigor, concurrent deadlines, conflicts between homework and

busy schedules, the first AP experience, busy work, the sacrifice of personal time, and the

pace of instruction.

Table 6: Time-Related Causes of Academic Stress

Student Workload Rigor Pace of Simultaneous Conflicts First Busy Sacrifice

course instruction Deadlines btn. AP work of
selection homework course personal
and busy time
schedules

Adam X X X X X
Todd X X
Claire X X X X
Rose X X X X X
Heather X X X X X X
S. L. 1 X
S. L. 2 X X X
S. L. 3 X X X X X
S. L. 4 X X X
S. L. 5 X X X X

Student course selection.

Three of the five school leaders cited that student course selection, specifically

taking a more rigorous course load than the student could handle, was a cause of

academic stress. Dr. Carter pointed out that if students took on a more rigorous course

load than they could handle, they were allowed to change out of the class during the

school year; however, he believed most students knew what they could handle. Mrs.

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Davis explained that only a small group of students opted to change into a less rigorous

course, and they were usually freshman. Dr. Carter and Mrs. Edwards explained that

administrators and counselors met with students who signed up for five, six or more AP

classes, or students whose academic records did not reflect success in earlier classes to

make sure the students were placed properly. Dr. Atkinson and Mrs. Davis stated that the

school counselors were an integral part in helping students take a challenging but

manageable course load. Mrs. Edwards pointed out that proper planning and taking

courses with curriculums that complement one another can help alleviate some of that

academic stress. Both school leaders Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Edwards stated that it was

harder to convince the high achievers to step back than encouraging students to challenge

themselves. None of the students mentioned their course selection as a cause for

academic stress; however, two of the students mentioned that they had to sign up for AP

classes in order to get into college. Todd mentioned that he needed to take AP classes

because the weighted grade would boost his GPA, and Claire mentioned that a college

admissions counselor had explained to her that if she wanted to be ―taken seriously‖ by

an elite state school, she would have to take AP Calculus and Anatomy during her senior

year.

Workload.

Four out of the five students and one school leader stated that the students had a

heavy workload. Both Heather and Rose brought this up in two out of the three

interviews. However, both participants believed the large amount of work was due to

only a select group of teachers. Heather explained how she had to drop one class because

of the excessive workload. ―I‘ve always taken an honors math class except one year I got

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a teacher who just overloaded us with homework and I just couldn‘t do it. I didn‘t have

time with basketball and everything and so I had to switch out into non-honors and then I

stayed on the non-honors track.‖ Dr. Atkinson explained that for her class ―I have

assignments every day in all my subjects, regardless of weekend, holiday, whatever.

There's always assignments.‖ At the same time, Heather also acknowledged that for the

most part the work load was ―manageable.‖

Rigor.

Two of the students, Heather and Claire, and one school leader, also commented

on the rigor of assignments. Claire discussed the difficulties of taking AP Calculus,

especially considering the upcoming AP exam.

[T]hat was probably a mistake because I‘ve had to do a lot of tutoring … it‘s been

kind of an uphill struggle all year. And especially now with the AP exam coming

up and we‘ll doing all the review I‘m realizing I don‘t know it, anything that‘s

going on. I haven‘t been learning anything in this class. It‘s this thing where I‘ve

memorized enough to get me through the quiz every day but not enough to

probably have any real understanding of the subject.

Mrs. Davis mentioned that some students stressed, not because of the rigor of the work

itself, but because some teachers were strict about a specific formatting of the homework.

First AP Experience.

Two students, Heather and Rose, also mentioned that their most stressful school

years were in combination with the first AP class that they took. During her sophomore

year, Rose opted not to take World Civilizations II, a class that combined AP World

History with an Honors level English class designed to prepare students for the rigors of

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AP U.S. History and AP Language and Composition. Instead, AP Language and

Composition was her first AP class. Rose stated,

a lot of people had the experience, so, kind of, getting an idea of what AP

experiences were and me not really having any idea besides knowing you read a

lot, you do a lot of workload, you have a lot of work outside of class. You have to

be prepared for that and, like, I thought it wasn‘t – I still think that I adapted to it

pretty well, but it was just getting into it at first definitely made it more stressful

‗cause I was, like, ‗Oh, my gosh. I have so much to do. Like, when am I gonna fit

this in?‘

For Heather, the most stressful time was during her junior year taking AP Physics B,

along with one other AP course. She explained AP Physics was ―basically my first AP

class. And so it was like that, plus it‘s AP science, plus it‘s Physics‖ in combination with

her first year playing Varsity basketball, created a very stressful year. She had opted to

not take Physics I, a class that prepared students for the rigors of AP Physics B, because

she considered the redundancy of material a ―waste of time.‖ However, Dr. Atkinson

explained that the introductory course provided students with a foundation for physics,

including concept building and reading instruction. She explained she often considered

dropping AP Physics B, but did not. To help her be successful in the course, her school

counselor came up with a creative solution which involved having her miss her

weightlifting class occasionally, to sit in on a second session of AP Physics. When

challenging material was being covered in class, she had the benefit of sitting through it

twice. Heather believed that this experience was beneficial to her, ―I think like that…

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making it through all of that really helped with my classes this year. ‗Cause I took four

APs this year and only two last year. But… they don‘t seem nearly as bad as last year.‖

Pace of Instruction.

Rose, Mr.Brown, and Dr. Carter commented that the pace of instruction was a

cause of academic stress. Rose explained that she felt the pace of some of her classes

went too quickly,

some people had… a more rapid teaching style and just went over something

for… a few minutes and automatically… moved on to the next section and…

expected us to know it. But, whereas I am, I need to go through it a little bit more

to… fully understand it, which is normally what I have to end up doing outside of

school… so I can… catch up and figure out what‘s actually going on.

Rose attributed this to the teacher‘s teaching style, but Dr. Carter believed the school year

calendar had more of an impact on the pace of instruction.

[T]he AP exams are given on national dates and it‘s the first two weeks of May

and one of the things that contributes to the academic stress is we don‘t start until

after Labor Day so we have to condense yet another month‘s worth of material for

our kids.

Mr. Brown mentioned that many homework assignments were given on things that the

teacher did not have time to cover during class as a result of trying to cover too much

information in too short of a time period.

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 Simultaneous Deadlines.

Four of the five students mentioned that having multiple deadlines at the same

time caused academic stress; Heather brought this point up in two separate interviews.

She gave the example of having an assignment due on the same day as a test. She said,

teachers who make big things due on the same day as a test—that‘s the worst.

Because clearly you‘re trying to study for the test. But if you have to do this

assignment that‘s not… studying for the test. I mean, if it was a study guide, that‘s

okay because it‘s for the test. But if it‘s an assignment about, you know, chairs

and you‘re studying for the desks, you don‘t want to do the chair assignment

because it‘s not helping you in any way.

She pointed out that ―a lot of teachers don‘t take into account that we have seven other

classes.‖ Mr. Brown also stated that teachers created assignments in a ―vacuum‖ not

taking into consideration the students‘ other classes. Mrs. Edwards cited an example;

during the month of January, within a two-week period, the ninth graders had a major

project due in each of their core classes. Heather and Rose both cited the end of each

quarter as being particularly stressful due to many conflicting deadlines. Adam and Claire

pointed out that the end of the year is especially stressful with state-mandated

assessments, AP exams, final exams and final projects.

Conflicts between Homework and Extracurricular Activities.

Two of the four students mentioned that trying to balance a busy extracurricular

schedule with assignment deadlines also contributed to academic stress. The researcher

asked each student participant to explain a typical day for him or her during the school

year (see Table 7).

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Table 7: Student Schedules

Adam Todd Claire Rose Heather

Wake up 5:30 (except 5:30 6:30 5:30-6:15 5:40-5:50
the morning
after games)
2:00 a.m.
Leaves for 7:00 7:05 (sometimes 7:00 (usually 6:35 (picks up 6:50
school late) late) friend on the
way)
School 7:20-2:05 7:20-2:05 7:20-2:05 7:20-2:05 7:20-2:05
After School 2:05-2:30 meet 2:05-2:30 or 2:05-3:15 go 3:00-9:00 or 2:30-4:30 time
Activities with teacher or 3:00 club home, change 10:00 work (2 to relax, watch
clubs meetings 3:15-4:00 drive school days a TV, talk to
3:00-5:00 3:00-9:00 to practice week) or mom,
practice maybe boxing 4:00-6:00 spend time homework
5:30 -6:00 or practice with father (1 and/or nap
food TV procrastinating 7:10 home, eat, day a week) 5:00-7:00
Or 5:00-10:00 shower practice or
games 7:30-8:30 6:00-10:00
tutoring 1 day games
a week, or
downtime

Homework 6:00-8:00 9:00-11:00 9:00-12:00 10:00-12:00 8:00-10:00

(except the
morning after
games) 2:00
a.m.-5:30 a.m.
Bedtime 10:00 11:00 1:00-2:00 (on a 12:00 or 1:00 10:30 (can be
(1:00 or 2:00 good day as late as
during exams) 12:00) 12:00)

Four out of the five students were involved in time-consuming extracurricular

activities for at least part of the school year. Todd was the only participant who was not

involved in a school-sponsored sport anymore. He explained that he quit the track team

because he did not have time to do homework and participate in track. None of the

students started their homework directly after school due to extracurricular activities.

Heather mentioned that while she had tried to get homework done between the end of the

school day and beginning of practice, but she felt too rushed and stressed. Heather also

pointed out that her schedule as a senior was much easier than her schedule as a junior.

She explained that last year there was more ―staying up way late, cramming and

83
procrastinating.‖ Adam stated that his schedule varied during the year, soccer season and

exam time being the busiest, so he came up with a creative way to get everything done.

Adam explained that during soccer season, he would arrive home from games around

10:00, exhausted. He needed to sleep, so he would determine how many hours it would

take him to complete his homework, and then would set his alarm to get up that much

earlier than his normal 5:30 a.m. alarm. Rose, who had a part-time job in addition to her

school-based activities stated,

Some of [my teachers] pile on a lot of homework, expecting all of us to be able to

get it done, even though, I mean, it‘s junior year and I have a job and [I am]

taking hard classes. So, there‘s a lot of other work I also have to get done in the

same time period. So, sometimes, I think it‘s, kind of, I don‘t want to say cruel,

but, kind of, cruel for them to, like, expect so much out of us.

She added that she was the only one of her friends who managed to keep a job all year

long, in addition to her school responsibilities. Claire explained that her schedule, with a

busy after school schedule, was probably typical of most students. She stated, ―Kids do a

lot of after-school activities and stuff. So I think other kids are getting their homework…

started around 9:30, 10:00 when I do. I think it‘s pretty typical.‖ Mr. Brown explained

that as the activities director, the lack of time to complete homework was often brought to

his attention by the parents of athletes.

Busywork.

The other major cause of stress was what the students referred to as ―busywork‖

and gave examples completing worksheets or recording facts and definitions. Three out

of five of the students, and all five of the school leaders all referenced the difference

84
between ―busywork‖ and meaningful work. Three students talked about the lack of effort

that they put into these ―busywork‖ assignments, as opposed to the more meaningful

assignments. Claire mentioned that she would complete busywork while watching her

shows, but turned off the distraction for the more serious assignments. Adam referred to

―busy work‖ as his ―easy work‖ or ―lighter work‖ and always started with those

assignments to get them out of the way. He said he often completed them while

socializing via social media. Todd was very adamant in expressing his frustration with

this type of work and explicitly stated that he just does not do it, despite knowing it might

have ten percent effect on his grade.

[E]ven when I know that every little homework assignment counts, I still can‘t,

like, get myself to do it because I‘m just, like, ‗This is such a waste of time.

There‘s so many other things I could be doing.‘ And even if the things I‘m doing

aren‘t fun, like working on a project or writing a paper, I still appreciate that

there‘s some sort of, like, liberty, some sort of, like, freedom to, you know, assert

your skills in the project or in a writing paper. Like, I would rather write for six

hours or on a research paper than do, like, two homework assignments at this

point and I just can‘t get around to doing it.

Heather also claimed that she had skipped homework assignments or half-heartedly

completed them if the teacher was not going to grade the assignment and would focus

more on the assignment if she knew the teacher would grade for accuracy or if her grade

was borderline between an A and a B. Both Heather and Todd claimed that they could

still be successful in the class, even if they did not do the homework because they study

85
for the tests. The school leaders clearly were aware of this problem and were starting a

dialogue amongst faculty members to address homework. Dr. Atkinson stated,

if the burden where to be able to complete the definitions of 25 terms every week

– and spell them correctly, because I'm that kind of person – that is high stress for

no apparent educational outcome… It's a power trip. It's stress for the sake of

sticking it to the kids…If we as teachers worked a little harder on figuring out

what are the important things we want them to know and what is the pathway

that's gonna get them to those important things, and then that's the expectation we

place on the kids rather than hoop jumping.

Dr. Carter asked,

Why are we just filling the time of the student just repeatedly doing the same

thing over and over and over again, when they can clearly just sit down and

demonstrate in three or four problems that they know how to do the work.

Mrs. Davis pointed out that when students who probably had not done any homework all

year were at risk of not passing a course, the ―wheeling and dealing‖ began and ―the

question needs to be answered is have [the students] mastered [the material] and I don‘t

think teachers really go back and look at the homework.‖

Sacrifice of Personal Time.

Mr. Brown questioned that with so many students under a lot of pressure to take

rigorous courses, become involved in school activities, and participate in community

service, in order to be considered for the ―next level‖ or admission to a selective college,

―where is the time for a student to actually be a kid?‖ Adam believed that it was that

sacrifice of personal time which caused academic stress.

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 [L]et's say, [there is a] movie that just came out or TV show that you're used to

watching, or friends are going out, for example… Sometimes you're gonna have

to sacrifice those. You're gonna have to sacrifice time with friends. You're gonna

have to sacrifice just time in general to do the things you have to do to complete

your work in school. And by work I mean the large picture, like homework,

school work, studying, and everything. So I think the stress comes by the result of

those sacrifices.

While Claire and Todd did not specifically speak of sacrifices, they both discussed how

they often made the choice to use flex time to socialize, rather than do homework because

as Todd explained,

I definitely weigh…communication with other people, hanging out with friends,

…over my homework…I would rather do homework at a time when I‘m not

around people who I‘m interested in and who I‘ve befriended at a time when I

have that opportunity ‗cause at my house, it‘s just like me.

Todd and Claire chose not to make some of the same personal sacrifices that Adam made.

Tenets of Time and School Culture and Their Impact on Academic Stress

The researcher found several trends in how school leadership organized the time,

which were discussed during the interviews. The school year calendar, the bell schedule

and exceptions to the bell schedule, the extracurricular schedule, and homework policies

are all elements of time management which had an impact on school culture. There were

some elements of time management that the school leadership had control over and

others that came from higher up in the educational hierarchy.

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 School Year Calendar

The 2012-2013 school year ran from September 4 through June 18. Teachers

reported back to work the last week in August and the students began the Tuesday after

Labor Day. The students had a seven-day winter break and a one-week Spring Break.

Students had no school on Federal holidays and staff development days at the end of each

quarter. Testing dates were scheduled nationally or by the state. The AP exams were

given the first two weeks of May. The end-of-course state-mandated exams were given

the last two weeks of May. Rose believed that starting the school year earlier would help

alleviate academic stress because the teachers would not have to rush through the lessons

to prepare for exams. Dr. Carter felt that the school year start time should be earlier,

[O]ne of the things that contributes to the academic stress is we don‘t start until

after Labor Day so we have to condense yet another month‘s worth of material for

our kids. And I feel very strongly that we need to move the date into August.

He had lobbied the state government to get that changed, although the 2013-2014 school

calendar will be similar to the 2012-2013 calendar.

The School Schedule

The 2012-2013 bell schedule was an ―A/B‖ schedule with four ninety-minute

classes on each day. Students had four academic courses on ―A‖ days and three on ―B‖

days. Additionally on ―B‖ days, students had two approximately 30-minute sessions of

flex time and a 25-minute advisory period during their fourth block. On many

Wednesdays throughout the school year, students had a one-hour late arrival, which

provided time for teacher collaboration. Mr. Brown pointed out that the schedule was

tweaked each year. Table 8 is the bell schedule that was in effect at the time of the study.

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Table 8: Bell Schedule

“A” Day “B” Day

1st period 7:20-8:49 2nd period 7:20-8:49

3rd period 8:55-10:26 4th period 8:55-10:26

Student Advisory 8:55-9:20
1st flex time 9:25-9:53
2nd flex time 9:58-10:26

5th period: 10:32-10:57 6th period: 10:32-10:57

A lunch 10:26-10:57 A lunch 10:26-10:57
B lunch 10:58-11:28 B lunch 10:58-11:28
C lunch 11:29-11:59 C lunch 11:29-11:59
D lunch 12:00-12:30 D lunch 12:00-12:30

7th period 12:36-2:05 8th period 12:36-2:05

Block Scheduling.

The two school leaders who had been through the school district‘s transition from

traditional to block scheduling discussed it. Dr. Carter explained that the block schedule

helped alleviate the stress of a seven-period day. He explained that not moving the

students every 52 minutes helped calm the school down creating fewer discipline

problems. Mrs. Edwards commented that the ―A/B‖ schedule gave students more time to

understand the material or get help from a teacher because students had an extra day

between classes. Adam, who moved from a school with nine periods that were 45-

minutes each, agreed stating there was more time to complete his work when he had an

extra day between classes. The other four student participants had only experienced the

block schedule.

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 Flex Time.

According to Dr. Carter and Mrs. Edwards, the school district required all schools

to provide students with some sort of remediation and enrichment time during the school

day. Dr. Carter explained that this high school studied some of the programs already in

effect at neighboring schools and implemented their own ―flex time.‖ During ―flex time,‖

students had the choice to go see any of their current teachers for additional help or to

make-up missing assignments, go to the writing center to be tutors, or to work quietly in

the library or a teacher‘s classroom on homework. There were two 30-minute periods of

flex time built into the ―B‖ day schedule. Mr. Brown pointed out that previously students

had flex time every day, but by building in a 90-minute period that included the advisory

period and the two flex periods, the administration was able to create a more balanced

A/B block schedule. Dr. Carter and Mrs. Davis explained that students had a choice of

which teachers they wanted to see during ―flex time,‖ unless the student was failing or

close to failing a class, at which point students were assigned to the teacher of the class or

classes in which he or she was struggling.

All five of the school leaders agreed that school leadership designed flex time to

provide time for students to be remediated or to get extra help in their classes during the

school day. Mr. Brown pointed out that many of the struggling learners had conflicts that

previously prevented them from staying after school to get assistance from teachers. Two

of the school leaders pointed out that there was also supposed to be an enrichment piece

to the ―flex time,‖ but that most likely that was not happening. Mrs. Edwards explained

that she had observed the formation of study groups and the advanced students tutoring

other students in the writing center. She pointed out that the writing center was in the

90
process of expanding into a student learning center, which would include math and

science tutors, as well. Dr. Atkinson stated, ―my room is very popular‖ during flex time

with students asking questions, working in small groups, and even using her computers to

print out assignments for other classes. She referred to her room as a ―safe haven‖ for

working, and that if anyone was being too loud or not working appropriately, they would

be removed. She explained that flex time was a ―stress diffuser‖ because it was time to

get homework done, get help, or even socialize if the students were caught up with their

work. Three of the school leaders also acknowledged that not all of the students in the

building were using the time wisely. Mr. Brown stated that the leadership team was

looking into changes to make sure the students used their time productively. Dr. Carter

stated that the struggling students were not using it well, but those students who were

succeeding academically were benefitting from the time. Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Edwards

both mentioned that they had received feedback from teachers and students who wished

that the flex time was offered every day as it had been the previous school year.

The researcher asked each student during the interview how he or she used his or

her ―flex time.‖ Rose, Adam and Heather all claimed to take advantage of the flex time to

get work done or work on homework. Heather stated, ―if I have homework that I just

can‘t get to that night, and I don‘t wanna stay up, you know, ‗til midnight, then I can do it

in flex time.‖ Claire used the time to work on AP Calculus homework with friends from

that class, retake quizzes in Calculus to get a higher grade or to socialize with friends.

Claire stated,

It‘s nice to have that cushion there to know that if I need to study for this test or I

need to do this, I have that time, but I get there and I just I don‘t have anything

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 that‘s so important. Homework I do the night before just because it‘s a mindset I

think… it‘s nice to have a little bit of social during the day. I know a lot of kids

have other friends in their classes. I don‘t. Most of my friends are not in my

classes.

Todd mentioned that he preferred to have the flex time every day, like it was last year,

but he used the time to study or do homework but ―usually, I just end up talking to

friends for an hour.

He mentioned that he saw the time as a ―a waste of time in terms of productivity‖ but

that its ―certainly a stress reliever‖ because he had the opportunity to relax for an hour.

Advisory Period.

Dr. Carter discussed in detail the implementation of the advisory period. Prior to

the implementation of the advisory period, the administration had access to some data

that informed them that the students at this high school perceived that they lacked a

relationship with their teachers. He stated,

As [an administrator] of a school that is incredibly successful, in any county,

state, national, or international standardized test, it‘s still very worrisome to me

that the students‘ perception is a lack of relationship with their teachers. And I

think that‘s something that we need to address, and hopefully this schedule will

help that a little bit.

Coincidentally, around the same time, a team of teachers went to San Diego to observe a

charter school with a strong focus on 21st Century Learning. One of the things they

noticed was the strong student-teacher relationship, ―All [of] the students felt as though

they had one adult in the building they could connect with,‖ explained Dr. Carter.

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 Dr. Carter, Mrs. Davis, and Mrs. Edwards explained that the school leadership

team decided to implement the advisory period to help kids connect with an adult in the

building who did not assign the students a grade. School leadership randomly assigned

four or five students from each grade level to an advisory teacher. This created a group

of 16-20 students in each advisory. Two of the school leaders mentioned that another

purpose of the advisory period also allowed time for administrative tasks, so that

activities like the distribution of report cards, did not take away from instructional time.

Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Edwards pointed out that students could get to know students from

other grade levels. Mrs. Edwards stated that the leadership team thought the advisory

period would reduce stress and build a school community. School leaders Mr. Brown and

Mrs. Edwards both mentioned that the leadership team was looking at better use advisory

time.

When the students were asked about the advisory period, only one of the students

talked about forming a relationship with the teacher. Two students talked about the

administrative purpose of the advisory. Todd explained that it was a time to ―go and

listen to a teacher talk about events‖ while Heather saw it as an opportunity to take roll.

Rose and Adam both used the time productively. Rose said she would ―squeeze in work‖

and Adam used the time to plan how he would spend his flex time, after school time and

be prepared for the next day‘s classes. Heather said her advisory teacher was nice and

helped her with her college essay and added that having an advisory teacher was ―helpful

if I had to go to her. But I haven‘t really had to.‖ Adam mentioned forming bonds with

students from the other grade levels. The friendships he formed in advisory inspired him

to become involved with one of the clubs.

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 AVID elective.

Mrs. Davis talked about an elective course that was new to the study site during

the 2012-2013 school year, called Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID).

AVID was a national program that aimed to help students become college ready. The

elective class helped students with organization, note-taking, and study skills. To be part

of the program, AVID students took at least one honors or AP class. Enrollment in the

AVID course, ―really prepare[d] them for being competitive for some schools, for some

colleges, but it also [gave] them support.‖ None of the student commented on the AVID

program, but it was a program in its first year and was open only to qualified freshman

and sophomores.

Exceptions to the standard school day schedule

Dr. Carter explained that there were few exceptions to the typical school day

schedule. There were typically one to two pep rallies per year, Multi-cultural Day, and no

outside assemblies. Multi-Cultural Day was an assembly where students performed

traditional songs and dances from their respective cultures. He explained that he made

that exception because ―that‘s actually part of what we‘re doing here at the school, as

opposed to me bringing in a speaker from the outside.‖ Dr. Carter explained that the

administration wanted to ―make sure the teachers get the maximum number of minutes

per – literally – per day that they can with their kids.‖ School leadership would alter the

standard bell schedule during testing time. Dr. Carter explained that the school had tried

many variations of the testing schedule.

[T]he school year for us pretty much ends by the first week of May because we‘re

testing from there on out, between AP testing starting the second week of May

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 through the SOL testing that starts later in May, and by the time the SOL exams

end, we‘re right into final exams – why we have final exams is kind of beyond me

– between the AP exams and the SOL exams, it seems like we can call it a day

there, but we don‘t, we have final exams on top of it… It‘s incredibly disruptive

to the flow of the school day, what the teachers are doing. Sometimes they have

the kids for very long periods of time, or they don‘t see their kids for an entire

week, and any other combination you can imagine in between.

Mrs. Edwards mentioned that another exception to the typical bell schedule was that most

Wednesdays the students arrived one-hour late to school, which provided the teachers

with time to collaborate.

Three of the student participants claimed they appreciated the late arrival day to

sleep in, catch up on work, or even come to school to make-up a test or quiz.

Extracurricular Activities Schedule

Most aspects of the extracurricular schedule were beyond the control of the school

leadership. Mr. Brown and Dr. Carter explained that an outside organization scheduled

the games. Mr. Brown explained that three factors determined the practice schedule:

available space, the needs of the athletes, and the coach‘s availability. The lack of space

often meant that teams had to practice away from campus. Mr. Brown gave the example

of the freshman boys basketball team who practiced at a local middle school. Claire had

mentioned that she had to drive 30-45 minutes to the practice facility of the crew team.

Dr. Carter said coaches did not begin practices before 3:00, which gave student athletes

time to meet with teachers, if needed. It also gave time for teachers who were coaches to

transition from one job to the other. Some coaches, especially for the freshman and JV

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teams, provided study halls for the athletes between the end of the school day and

beginning of practice, but they were not necessarily mandatory.

Homework/Workload Policies

During the interview, the researcher asked the school leader if there was an

official workload or homework policy in effect at the high school. Two school leaders

mentioned that there was no school policy, but that departments or grade level teams

developed their own workload and homework policies. Mr. Brown referred to specific

guidelines for homework set forth by the school district that homework should not exceed

two hours per night. ―It is recognized that students vary significantly in the amount of

time they need to complete given assignments. Teachers should estimate the amount of

time the average student would require to complete an assignment. In general, homework

across disciplines should not exceed… 2 hours at the high school level. Long-term

projects may require additional time. Teachers should adjust daily homework

assignments accordingly‖ (School District, 2008). Two of the school leaders estimated

how much time they thought students spent on assignments outside of the school day, Mr.

Brown estimated 1-3 hours; Dr. Carter estimated 4-6 hours. Mr. Brown stated, ―we have

assignments that are given for students solely on the purpose of, ‗Learn this material

‗cause we don‘t have time necessarily to go in depth on it.‘‖ Three school leaders

mentioned that there were ongoing discussions amongst the leadership team about at the

potential development of a homework policy.

Student participants budgeted an average of two to four hours of homework, in

addition to flex time and lunchtime for doing homework. Todd claimed he did not do any

busy work, and Heather claimed that she had skipped homework assignments that were

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not contingent on a grade. Heather felt that AP teachers overestimated the amount of time

needed for homework.

And then with AP classes, they always tell you like how many hours of

homework would go with that class. Like as a general rule. And I never really

thought that was that accurate. But, I don‘t know, maybe it is. Well, I‘m taking

four APs this year, and I‘m not—I don‘t spend that much time on homework.

That‘s for sure…I don‘t know what they count, like those hours as, maybe if it‘s

like study time, too.‖

Heather differentiated between homework and studying time.

Dr. Atkinson explained her approach to homework for her physics classes. She

required each student to keep a spiral notebook that she called a journal. In their journal

students kept all class notes and assignments. At any point in time, students took an

unannounced, open-journal quiz. Quiz questions were slight variations from problems in

the assignments. She explained, ―if they've done their work, they should be able to finish

that very quickly. And I'll time it. I have strict timing, because this – if they did it, fine; if

they didn't, they can get some of it done.‖ Students might have worked in groups to

complete the assignments but they were responsible for understanding everything in their

journal. She explained that any student who simply copied the notes would not

understand the differences between the assignment problem and the quiz problem. She

explained, ―[S]o, in a nutshell, do I give homework? Yes. Do I collect homework?

Never… Do I assess homework? Yes. Right? But I don't collect homework.‖

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Student and School Leader Perspectives

During the course of the three interviews, the researcher asked similar questions

of the student participants and school leaders and compared responses. As presented

throughout this chapter, the school leaders shared many of the same concerns as the

students. During the first interview, the researcher asked the students two questions,

specifically about the administration of the high school:

What are the expectations of your teachers, administrators, counselors, and/or

coaches of students here at _______ High School?

Do you feel as though the administration has a good understanding of what it‘s

like to be a(n) _________ student?

Only Heather claimed to have any personal contact with the administration through

participation on the state-championship winning varsity girls basketball team and other

school activities. She claimed that, the administration really seemed to care about the

well-being of the students. She acknowledged, however, that many of her peers claimed

to never see the administration. Despite not having personal contact with the

administration, all four had a negative perception of the administration‘s expectations of

them as students. Claire believed that ―they just want us all to get into good colleges, and

not shame the school publicly.‖ Rose believed, ―[they] just want the students to look

good so the teachers and administration look good.‖ Adam speculated that the

administration wanted to maintain the school‘s reputation with high graduation rates,

GPAs and SAT scores. Four of the student participants claimed that some of the teachers

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were understanding, compassionate, and had realistic expectations, while others did not.

Todd explained,

I took AP Lang and my teacher, he‘s a cool guy. So, I enjoy, like, having a

person I can talk to. And as someone who‘s viewing English as a future, maybe,

or writing, things like that, it‘s always nice to have someone who has done it

before, right? And so, there‘s like that mentorship, sort of, aspect that comes in.

Three of the students felt that the school counselors were ―nice‖ and had best interest of

their students at heart. Heather explained that she had a good relationship with her school

counselor, who helped her devise a creative way to get through her challenging AP

Physics course. However, Heather claimed that many of her classmates did not know

their school counselor and Todd lamented there was no outreach from the counselors.

Dr. Carter also commented on the disconnect between students and school

leadership.

I bet you your kids would be surprised if they knew my thinking on what they‘re

going through. And that disconnect to a certain extent bothers me as well. I can

only do so much; the teachers need to be very much involved in this as well but,

as I said, I think the kids would be surprised if they came to the realization that we

feel or as the leader of the schools feels as though it may be a little too much here.

We could dial it back a little bit and they‘d still be just as prepared

Despite the evidence that there were few discrepancies between the students‘ and school

leaders‘ perceptions of school culture, the students perceived the differences existed. The

perceived expectations were not necessarily accurate.

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Conclusion

The researcher found that the study site provided a plethora of information to

better understand how a school‘s culture, specifically the elements of time management

which impacted that culture, impacted academic stress. Students at the school were

enmeshed in a culture of academic rigor, competition and stress. School leaders were

reluctant to eliminate all of the academic stress was not going to help prepare the students

with the critical thinking skills necessary for college success. The school leaders were

working toward some effective solutions to alleviating the negative impacts academic

stress: ―flex time,‖ the advisory period, support systems for students taking rigorous

courses, and the AVID elective. There were, however, some areas where school

leadership could do more to alleviate academic stress. Better coordination between

academic areas to reduce simultaneous deadlines would help reduce stress during high-

pressure times of the year. Better communication between the school leadership and

student body could help the students feel more supported, less disengaged, and therefore,

less stressed. Chapter V will discuss the researcher‘s interpretation of these results and

provide recommendations for working toward a less stressful school environment.

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 CHAPTER V

INTERPRETATIONS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The purpose of this study was to explore how students experienced their school‘s

organizational culture, whether they perceived that experience to be academically

stressful, and how their perception compared to the perception of the school leadership.

The researcher wanted to understand how the students perceived the school‘s culture as

related to time management, specifically the scheduling of courses, organization of time,

homework and workload policies, and extracurricular activities and their relation to

academic stress. The researcher explored the following primary research question: How

do adolescents perceive the academic expectations through the culture of their high

school? This primary research question led to the following secondary research

questions:

How do adolescents experience the culture of their high school?

How do adolescents experience the tenets of the school culture: scheduling of

courses, time, and extracurricular activities during a typical day?

Is there a discrepancy between the perception of school culture, specifically

related to stressors from the administrators‘ and the students‘ point of

view?

The researcher selected the site for this study, based on the school‘s reputation as an

academically rigorous and successful school. It embodied the American push for a more

globally competitive educational system. The researcher collected data through five

three-part interviews with students and five three-part interviews with school leaders. The

researcher found that this ―do more and do it better‖ attitude had contributed to a stressful

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school environment for the students at a point in their development when they were

especially prone to internalizing the high expectations of others (Nakkula & Toshalis,

2006). The researcher interviewed some students who found value in the academic

challenges they faced, who were making sacrifices in order to keep up with the perceived

expectations of others and some who were disengaged. The researcher also discovered

that the use of flex time and the advisory period helped eliminate academic stress;

however, simultaneous deadlines and conflicts between homework and busy

extracurricular scheduled contributed to academic stress. The researcher also learned that

academic stress could be positive if it was linked to critical thinking, whereas busywork

and rote teaching created stress with no positive benefit. School leaders were aware of the

concept of academic stress and were making changes that could potentially change the

school culture and intentionally or unintentionally alleviate the consequences of academic

stress; yet, the students were not always aware of the administration‘s concern for their

well-being.

Interpretations and Conclusions

Academic Stress.

One aspect that most participants agreed upon was that this high school was

academically competitive and that academic stress existed. The students felt that they

were expected to attend an elite college; they made choices about what courses to take

and in some cases, what activities to participate in, because they were trying to be

competitive for these elite colleges. Much of the pressure related to academic stress

focused on the perceived expectations of the college admissions department. Several

participants pointed out that in Virginia, the state of the study site, there were fewer

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options for attending an in-state school than in some of the surrounding states. Even

though there are approximately 50 colleges and universities to choose from in Virginia,

students focused on fewer than ten, because they felt the reputation of the college was

important. The state of Virginia is home to two of the top 10 public colleges and

universities, University of Virginia and The College of William and Mary (Best Colleges,

2013). Both schools have very competitive admissions, with University of Virginia

admitting 29.6% of applicants and The College of William and Mary admitting 32% of

applicants (Best Colleges, 2013). Claire addressed the importance of the reputation of a

college in one of her interviews. She had been accepted via early decision at a larger,

well-known prestigious institution, but had then visited a smaller, lesser known

institution which suited her better and had a program in the field in which she wanted to

study. She expressed some regret in her decision but decided, ―I know I‘m gonna be

happy there. I know I‘m gonna end up fine. It‘s not gonna be a problem, and it‘s a very,

very good school‖ and stated she could go to the smaller school for her Master‘s degree.

Because students were competing for spots at the larger, well-known, in-state institutions,

they perceived that they were competing against their classmates for a limited number of

spots (Chandler, 2010). This led to an intense focus on grades, GPA, course selection,

and extracurricular activities.

Impact of Academic Stress.

As participants discussed the culture of their school, trends emerged indicating to

the impact of academic stress: disengagement, depression, lack of sleep, and academic

dishonesty. Research suggested that there were other impacts: anxiety, anger, drug and

alcohol use and self-medication (Connor, Pope & Galloway, 2010; Leung, Yeung, and

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Wong, 2010; Foust, Hertberg-Davis, & Callahan, 2009; Hall, et al, 2005; Nazer Bloom,

2005; Pope & Simon, 2005; Pope, 2001). It is possible that because the students were

being interviewed by a faculty member, they were reluctant to talk about issues that could

get them ―into trouble‖ like drug and alcohol use, self-medication or cheating.

Positive Impact of Stress.

Both Adam and Dr. Atkinson discussed the positive impacts of stress. Dr.

Atkinson differentiated between the stress of memorizing rote information, which she

viewed as pointless, as opposed to the stress of critical thinking, which she believed

would help the students succeed in higher education. Linley and Joseph (2004) coined the

term ―adversarial growth‖ (p. 11) to describe the positive changes experienced after

dealing with adversity. Furthermore, Newmann (1982) noted that challenge, with a

―reasonable possibility of success‖ combined with ―some risk of failure‖ was a key

aspect of a developmentally productive environment. If students were stressed and were

able to problem-solve to surpass those stressors, they would be stronger students because

of it. The increase in academic stress was occurring at a time when many high school

students had support through the school and family, as opposed to college, where long

distances and large institutions could inhibit access to that support system. At the high

school, they had access to emotional support through school counselors, psychologists

and some caring teachers and school leaders, along with the support of their families.

Academically, support was available through the student learning center, teachers who

taught study skills as part of their curriculum, and flex time to meet with teachers.

While stress could lead to strong students if students were equipped with

problem-solving skills to surpass stressors, when individuals coped with stress through

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avoidance, those individuals experienced higher stress levels (An, et al, 2012) or a low

sense of well-being (Karlsen, Dybdahl, & Vittersø, 2006). The students who disengaged

put themselves at a greater risk of the negative consequences of stress. The researcher

learned that Todd did not connect with his teachers or school counselor; he quit the track

team and chose not to complete homework. He was diagnosed with dysthymia, a chronic

form of depression, during his sophomore year. His avoidance of stressors may have

contributed to his diagnosis, while that is most likely not the cause of his depression, it

certainly exacerbated the symptoms.

The participants overwhelmingly agreed that the students would be academically

prepared for college because of the rigor of their high school curriculum. This supported

the research by Foust, Hertberg-Davis, and Callahan (2009) who found that students were

willing to maintain a heavy workload and sacrifice sleep, because they felt the end result

was worth it.

Depression.

Previous research had linked academic stress and depression (Ang & Huan, 2006;

Hake, 2006; MacGeorge, Sampter, & Gillihan, 2005). Todd attributed one of the causes

of his depression to the rote teaching methods, lack of creative outlets, and the challenge

of living up to the perceived 4.0 Ivy League-bound expectation. Pope and Simon (2005)

found students felt depressed when they realized that by earning a ―B,‖ average, they

might be at a disadvantage in the highly competitive world of college admissions. While

Todd preferred to seek treatment outside of school, it is important to note that he did have

some resources available to him in school: his school counselor, the school psychologist,

even his AP Psychology class. Todd explained that none of his teachers were sympathetic

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because they were not aware of the depression that he was feeling. While he chose not to

share that information with his teachers, he was still frustrated by the lack of empathy

from his teachers and the lack of outreach from the school counselor and psychologist.

Pope (2001) found that teachers often did not get to know the whole student due to

several factors including the student‘s desire to only let the teacher see a certain side of

his or her personality. It is important for teachers to know the signs of depression and so

that school staff can be more proactive in opposing depressions‘ negative impact on a

student‘s education.

Disengagement.

Claire and Todd, two drastically different students, both experienced

disengagement. Claire was taking five AP courses, and Todd had failed two courses the

previous year but was taking two AP courses in an effort to bring up his GPA. These two

students who expressed the highest levels of disengagement were also the two most

creative students; one was involved in theater and the other, creative writing. Both

aspired to be writers. They both lamented the lack of opportunities to be creative during

the school day. Eccles and Midgely (1990) wrote about the Person-Environment fit

theory, which provided that mental health and motivational problems occurred the

environment did not meet an individual‘s needs. If a school setting was not

developmentally appropriate, i.e., the standards were too high or the teacher was not

supportive enough, this could lead to a student‘s lack of motivation. In this case, the lack

of a creative outlet could be contributing to the student‘s disengagement. The school

itself, however, offered many elective courses allowing for creativity including 13

different theater classes and three levels of creative writing (Study Site Course Catalog).

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Dr. Carter commented on the inability of the school leaders to run more creative elective

courses because students chose to take more electives in academic courses: foreign

languages, social sciences, and science courses. The school leaders made decisions to run

the courses based on student enrollment. While Todd was enrolled in Creative Writing,

Claire was not enrolled in any theater classes. She chose to take academic electives,

specifically AP Calculus and Anatomy, because she believed she needed those courses to

get into an elite state institution. The disconnect between student perception and the

information made available through the course catalog and school leader interviews could

be contributed to the school culture.

Lack of Sleep

Research recommended an optimal 9.25 hours of sleep for adolescents

(Carskadon, 1999). The student participants in this study ranged from 4.5 to 7 hours of

sleep, with an average of just under six hours of sleep per night. A lack of the appropriate

amount of sleep could lead to depression (Carskadon) or a diminished ability to cope with

stressors (Vollmer et al, 2011).

Academic Dishonesty

While students did not discuss academic dishonesty, with one exception, the

school leaders discussed the link between stress and cheating, which was supported by

previous research (Connor, Pope & Galloway, 2010; Trudeau, 2009; Pope, 2005). There

was a possibility that students were reluctant to admit to cheating because they were

talking with an adult faculty member. None of the students mentioned academic

dishonesty, in the sense of copying someone else‘s answers; that information came from

the school leaders. One student, Heather, admitted to telling lies to get extended time to

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finish an assignment, which is a form of academic dishonest One the other hand, another

student, Rose, stated she was periodically allowed to turn assignments in late because her

teachers trusted her, which is not a form of academic dishonesty, but does provide

support for Pope‘s observation that students created alliances with adults in order to get a

better grade (Pope, 2005).

Conceptual Framework

Both high expectations and pressure potentially had a positive impact, until the

expectations and pressure became too burdensome then the impact became negative

(Hewitt & Flett, 1993, 1991; Costanzo, Woody & Slater, 1992). Pressure from time

constraints and internalized expectations, real or perceived, contributed additional

stressors. As the researcher listened to the experiences of the students, she examined

where pressure and expectations seemed appropriate and where the expectations and

pressure became too oppressive for adolescents who were internalizing these

perfectionistic standards.

Theoretical Framework.

The researcher used two theories to frame this research: Socially Prescribed

Perfectionism and the Optimal Pressure Model. Costanzo, Woody and Slater (1992)

found that pressure created an inverted ―U‖ shape in relation to performance. Not only

did the number of pressure sources have an influence, but the level of pressure did as

well. They found that both a lack of pressure and multiple pressure sources created a

decrease in performance, while a single source of pressure improved performance.

Students at this study site talked about the expectations of their teachers and

administrators, and the perceived expectations for enrollment into an elite university.

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School leaders talked about the expectations of parents and the community. Many of

these students were facing pressure from multiple angles. Claire, a senior, discussed one

of the reasons she felt that she was able to handle the academic stress better than some of

her classmates, ―While my parents have always pushed me to do my best, in recent years

I've managed to convince them I have most of my academics under control. Many of my

peers have their parents still breathing down their necks.‖ While she had the pressures of

college acceptance, she did not have the pressure of high parental expectations. She even

commented that she felt less pressure now that she had been accepted to college. Todd, a

junior, still had the pressure of college acceptance, peer pressure to achieve, the pressure

of teacher‘s expectations, and social pressures. One of the students, Adam, who moved

to the area from Egypt had a very different outlook than the other four student. Despite

the stress of adapting to a new school and a different culture, he had a positive

perspective on academic stress. Other students discussed perceived pressure from school

leadership, peer pressure, and the pressure of college admissions, and even the political

pressure and pressure from the media. Furthermore, important tests and projects

occurring simultaneously, along with duties to academics and extracurricular activities

create additional pressure points.

Socially Prescribed Perfectionism is the pressure to live up to others‘

expectations. Hewitt and Flett (1993) defined Socially Prescribed Perfectionism as ―the

belief that others are imposing perfectionist standards on the self‖ (p.58). The school

leaders who were interviewed said that they wanted students to learn for the sake of

learning and have time to be a kid, but students interviewed had a perceived expectation

that they had to take AP courses, earn straight A‘s, and be involved in competitive

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extracurricular activities. There was clearly a disconnect. The disconnect could be

explained by the culture of the school and the developmental stage of the adolescent.

Despite the intentions of school leadership to focus on learning, there are tenets of time

management and school culture that still contribute to a culture of achievement. The

amount of time dedicated to testing- two weeks for AP exams, two weeks for state-

mandated end-of- course exams, and then one week dedicated to final exams pointed to

the importance of test scores. The lack of communication between departments

concerning important deadlines led to mixed messages with each teacher giving the

impression that his or her class was the most important class. Even the building itself

with the state championships listed on the front of the building demonstrated that the

achievement of the students at the high school was valued. These tenets of school culture

in combination with the perceived expectations of college admissions along with peer

pressure and perhaps family pressure created the perception that others expect the

adolescents to attain highly established standards. Damon and Lerner (2008) wrote that

during the late adolescent stage these expectations of others, or in this case, perceived

expectations became internalized by the adolescents.

Tenets of Time and School Culture and Their Impact on Academic Stress

At the study site, school leaders implemented several initiatives intentionally or

unintentionally to reduce the negative consequences of academic stress; however,

academic stress still existed so there was more that could be done. The block schedule

allowed more time between classes to comprehend lessons and complete assignments.

Flex time and the advisory period provided time when the students could relax and

regroup. That fit with Conner, Pope, and Galloway‘s (2010) research that students could

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be better served with fewer transitions during the school day and more downtime, along

with the research of Veal and Flinders (2001) who found that students experienced less

stress in a block schedule than in a traditional schedule. By stretching out the school days

and allowing down time, the school leadership team alleviated the pressure of

consistently imminent deadlines.

Struthers, Perry, and Menec (2000) determined through their research that if

instructors encouraged good study skills and time management, it would help alleviate

student stress. Dr. Atkinson discussed the time she spent teaching study skills in her AP

Physics class. Other programs like AVID have the potential to equip more students with

the study skills needed to be successful in advanced classes. Providing support for

students who have internalized perfectionistic standards and encouraging them to use the

support, could help the students understand that there is value in the learning process and

not just the academic achievements.

However, students stated that the end of each quarter was a time of increased

stress due to multiple deadlines occurring at the same time. This supported the findings of

Rice, Leever, Christopher and Porter (2006) who found that at the end of the semester

there was a stronger correlation between perfectionism and the effects of perceived stress

at the end of the semester due to a greater focus on achievement. The students also

reported that busywork, work that could be completed with little effort but took up time,

created stress. These multiple deadlines create additional pressure points, propelling

students toward the negative end of the Optimal Pressure Model.

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 First AP experience.

Two students suggested that their most stressful years coincided with their first

AP classes. Because the school had an open enrollment policy for advanced classes,

students could still choose to take an AP class without taking the corresponding

preparation course. Neither young lady took the traditional pathway to go into those AP

courses. Heather did not take Physics I before taking AP Physics, so she missed out on

some of the fundamentals of physics before taking the AP course. Students should be

encouraged to take those courses, which act like stepping-stones into more rigorous

courses, whether honors or AP. Support systems should be established in place for

students who did not follow the recommended sequence of courses, perhaps including a

study hall or enrollment in the AVID course, if the student qualified. Mrs. Davis

suggested that the AVID program could serve more than the small group of students who

were currently enrolled, ―AVID‘s, kind of, small right now…maybe, if it was just part of

the school culture... If we did that through advisory… maybe that‘s something that could

help with academic stress ‗cause those kids will feel like they have the support.‖

Providing support for and encouraging students to use available support strengthens the

expectation that one does not need to be perfect, just willing to accept a challenge.

Homework Policy.

A homework policy was already in the discussion phase at the study site. School

leaders saw a need to address the workload of the students and the purpose of homework.

For the most part, the students felt that their teachers assigned a fair amount of work, but

what caused the stress was simultaneous deadlines, finding the time to complete the

assignments with a busy extracurricular schedule and busywork. This supports the

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research of Zuzanek (2009) who found that the time management associated with the

homework completion was more stressful than the homework itself. In creating a

homework or workload policy, the faculty needs to address the purpose of the

assignments. Three of the student participants claimed to complete ―busy work‖ half-

heartedly, while one claimed he did not do it at all. Student participants and school

leaders reported cases where teachers did not assess the homework or the teachers would

excuse the homework for some students. This leads to the questions, ―If students can

half-heartedly complete an assignment or skip it all together and still be successful in the

class, is the assignment really necessary?‖ Instead, assignments that allow for student

creativity and critical thinking, as opposed to rote drills and memorization, might be more

valuable to the students. This supports the research of Ross and Broh (2000) who

discovered that when students experienced higher self-esteem, when they felt that their

academic success was in their own hands instead of those of an authority figure. Projects

allow students to take more ownership of the outcome than a test. Dr. Atkinson spoke

about the journals that students kept for her physics courses. In these journals students

took notes and answered assigned problems. Dr. Atkinson never collected and graded the

journals, but the students used the notebooks during pop quizzes and while studying for

tests. It is interesting to note that none of the students cited examples from physics class

as they complained about busywork, despite the fact that four of the participants were

either currently enrolled in the course or had already completed the course, perhaps

because they see the value in the assignments, as opposed to seeing them as busywork.

Furthermore, teachers need to honestly look at how long it takes to complete

assignments, study for exams, write papers, and allow sufficient time for students to

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complete those tasks pacing it out to approximately 15-25 minutes of homework each

night. Fifteen to twenty-five minutes of homework from four teachers would meet the

two hours of recommended homework time suggested by the School Board in

combination with the additional time that flex time provided. One student suggested that

when teachers allowed at least one weekend between the date the assignment was given

and collected to work on projects in made the deadline less stressful. Better coordination

between departments on due dates of major exams and projects, or even cross-curricular

projects, would alleviate the pressure of simultaneous deadlines. Allowing students to

take ownership of their own deadlines, would also help lessen the burden of deadlines.

Stanford University‘s Challenge Success program recommended giving students a

break from academic stress by creating homework-free holidays and summer vacation.

Dr. Carter claimed that while he supported the idea of a homework free summer vacation,

the school calendar made it difficult to enforce because students enrolled in AP courses

were at a disadvantage compared to peers around the country who started their school

year in August. He claimed that if the school year started earlier, the school leadership

would eliminate all summer work, but as it was, they settled for reducing the summer

work to one whole school reading assignment and AP assignments.

Flex Time.

Flex time may have been established for the purpose of remediation and/or

enrichment, but it was a proven to have a valuable secondary purpose. It was a de-

stressor. Both school leaders and students expressed a desire to have flex time every day.

One student, Rose, suggested that there be more of this time available, in the form of a

mandatory study hall. Her suggestion reflected the students‘ desire for more time to

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work. An additional idea for students who preferred to give themselves a mental break

during the day could be to offer sessions in stress relief such as yoga, meditation, games

or art, in order to de-stress. Cade (2007) polled counselors who implemented programs

training teachers and working with parents to reduce testing anxiety in their schools.

Popular strategies included study skills, test prep and relaxation techniques.

Advisory Period.

The advisory period received a neutral review. None of the student participants

had a problem with it, but did not see the most beneficial purpose of it: to build a school

community. Previous research had shown that when a student felt attached to his or her

school, school-related stress decreased (Kaplan, Lui, & Kaplan, 2005). While Heather

certainly demonstrated feeling connected to the school, she also admitted to experiencing

academic stress; however, she became a stronger student from the experience, moving

from two AP classes to four, her senior year. She said that she felt supported by school

leadership and that she had an open relationship with her school counselor. Adam talked

about the support he felt from his father. Rose talked about the trust her teachers had in

her. It becomes clear that perhaps having a connection with an adult is a key component.

Advisory gave students a chance to form one more relationship with an adult. Research

on the mentorship of adolescents has found that students find value in the interpersonal

relationships, the emotional support, and the break from daily stressors through their

relationships with their mentors (Spencer & Liang, 2009; Casey, 2000). Casey (2000)

examined the roles that mentors had in the affective, social, and vocational development

of gifted students and wrote, ―They might master the regular curriculum content without

too much assistance, but they master life much better with the appropriate help.‖ This

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was the first year advisory had been implemented at the study site. In future years, school

leaders could consider getting student input as to which advisory teacher might be a good

fit. Providing teachers with discussion points might help the students and their advisory

teacher develop a relationship. Those relationships might build a stronger school

community and alleviate some of the negative consequences of academic stress. This

prediction is supported by the research of MacGeorge, Sampter, and Gillihan (2005) who

suggested that social support might help alleviate stress for students. Casey (2000) also

suggested bringing in mentors from outside of the school. This would give time to

teachers to focus on providing extended instruction to struggling students, but give other

students the opportunity to be mentored by someone in a field which they are interested

in pursuing.

Collaboration.

According to Pope (2005), many teachers did not have the time to interact with

other teachers outside of their department, preventing them from discussing in common

students and getting to know the whole student. Having students report to school one

hour late one day a week, gave teachers a chance to collaborate within their teams or

departments. Using that time to allow collaboration between departments could be

beneficial to alleviate the stress of simultaneous deadlines. Furthermore, students

appreciated the downtime to either sleep or get work done. Giving teachers more time to

collaborate, could be mutually beneficial to stressed out students, by giving them more

time to work on projects, study, or catch up on much needed sleep.

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Student/School Leadership Relationship

Few previous studies of school culture focused on the student perspective and the

differences in perception between school leaders and students (Hong, Wan & Peng, 2011;

Kember; 2004; Mitchell, Bradshaw & Leaf, 2010; Richards, 2009; Tatar & Bekerman,

2009; Grant, et al, 2004). At this study site school leaders included administrators,

counselors and teachers. Because so many of the initiatives were teacher driven, it was

necessary to examine the role each group played.

Administration.

Administration impacted the school culture by hiring top quality teachers to

provide stimulating, challenging lessons to students. They further impacted the culture of

the school by giving teachers permission to not focus on test scores. This helped to

support the open enrollment policy for advanced class. It supported the research of

Pickering (2010) who found that there could be a domino effect of test anxiety, starting

with administrators, falling to teachers, and then to students, if there is too much of an

emphasis on test scores. However, administrators could observe classes and make

suggestions for changes that teacher need to make to eliminate ―busywork‖ or coordinate

a schedule of deadlines for test and major projects.

Both students and school leaders mentioned the various achievements of the

students, academically and athletically. This clearly shows a sense of pride in those

accomplishments. However, the researcher learned that this was all the students

perceived was valued. Administration needs to find ways to value and promote the

learning behind the accolades, equally, if not more than the achievements. A shift

towards standards based grading could possibly help to shift the focus from grades to

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learning by creating a standardized way to communicate about the students skills, as

opposed to achievements.

By making sure teachers got the maximum amount of instructional time per day

by not making exceptions to the typical school day schedule, the administration

emphasized the importance of learning. However, more exceptions, like the Multicultural

Day, which fall in line with school goals could help to shift the focus to learning without

the pressure of academic achievement. Multicultural Day gave the students a break and

embraced the non-academic talents of students in the building. Designating advisory or

flex time for fun, team-building activities could help relieve stress and build better

adult/student relationships throughout the building.

There had been studies that examined teachers‘ perception of students‘ needs and

administrators‘ perception of teachers‘ stress, but not on the administrators‘ perception of

student needs (Mitchell, Bradshaw, & Leaf, 2010; Pahnos, 1990). The school leadership

clearly had an understanding of the students‘ needs, but that understanding was not

reflected back to the students. The students perceived that the administration just wanted

them to achieve to make the school look good. More open communication between

students and school leaders needs to occur. Richards (2009) implemented a committee to

examine stress in a suburban high school. The committee gave students, parents, and

faculty members a voice in creating solutions to academic stress.

Teachers.

Previous research indicated that teachers had the biggest impact on positive and

negative student experiences in school (Dickeson, 2001). Additionally, Klien (2004)

found that student athletes felt less anxious about negative evaluations if they felt

118
attached to their evaluator. The administration had access to some data that informed

them that the students at the study site perceived that they lacked a relationship with their

teachers. This could perhaps explain some of the stress surrounding grades; if the only

affirmation the student receives from a teacher is a good grade, then they are more likely

to react negatively to a lower grade. All five student participants gave mixed perceptions

of their teachers, stating that some were supportive and others seemed to ―just pile the

work on.‖ Todd lamented a lack of concern from his teachers when his grades dropped

drastically. Pope (2001) reported that often teachers failed to observe the emotional toll

of academic stressors on the students because these students are either academically

successful or were perceived as unmotivated, rather than anxious or stressed (Pope).

Todd experienced this because he chose to disengage and chose not to complete

homework assignments. Teachers need to be able to recognize the symptoms of

depression and other mental health issues related to academic stress. They also need to

be aware that disengagement can be a product of academic stress.

The push for standardized testing could contribute to the academic stressors

experienced by the student participants. Hollingsworth (2007) learned that teachers

tended to resort to rote teaching methods to prepare students for standardized testing,

which also led to student disengagement. Several students referred to completing

worksheets. Because some students were reluctant to complain about specific teachers or

classes, the researcher could not specifically connect standardized testing and rote

teaching methods. Rose had expressed her concern with the pace of instruction. Pickering

(2010) found there was an increase in the pace of instruction as a result of state-mandated

assessments (Pickering). While the existence of standardized tests is out of the control of

119
teachers, teacher can control how much time is given to test preparation and the teaching

methods used to teach students the skills and material that is tested.

If teachers assign projects in place of some testing and allow flexibility in

deadlines, this will allow students to take more ownership of the learning process.

Teachers coordinating cross-curricular projects or at least coordinating due dates of major

projects and tests could help alleviate the stress of simultaneous deadlines.

Yeager and Dweck (2012) wrote that an important task of educators is to prepare

students to respond with resilience to the challenges that they faced. They established

that when students related success to ability instead of effort, students felt more

discouragement, vulnerability and stress. According to Yeager and Dweck, when well-

meaning teachers compliment students by stating ―you are so smart‖ or console students

with statements such as ―math isn‘t your thing‖ they associate success with an innate,

unchangeable ability. However, when educators emphasize that all people have the

ability to change, they established the student mindset that challenges could be overcome

with time, effort, patience, help, and new strategies (Yeagar and Dweck). Teachers can

help students establish resiliency by staying focused on the student‘s efforts rather than

abilities.

School Counselors.

School leaders and students both indicated that school counselors had an integral

role in making sure that students chose appropriately challenging courses. Two school

leaders believed that it was harder to convince the high achievers to step back than to

encourage students to challenge themselves. A study conducted by researchers at the

University of North Carolina found that there was no difference in the first year

120
performance between students who completed five or ten college prep courses in high

school (Kretchmar & Farmer, 2013). The researchers suggested that changes would need

to be made in admissions and communicated to parents and students. School counselors

should be the key communicator of the message that the reason educators encourage

students to take rigorous courses is to help students be successful in college, not simply to

earn acceptance into college. During college counseling sessions, counselors can be the

key communicator a student can acquire a good education at a lesser-known institution.

They can help students find the ―best fit‖ college or university. Robbins (2006) suggested

that counselors should help students find a school that suits them, not spend time

strategizing how to ―reengineer a life‖ to fit a particular school (p. 365). School

counselors should help students find a balance between interests and rigor. However,

school counselors might have an uphill battle in this task. Researchers have shown that

ninth grade students are more likely to talk to their parents as opposed to their school

counselors about college planning (Radford & Ifill, 2011). They suggested that college

counseling programs have less of an impact on students whose parents have college

degrees (Radford & Ifill).

Making sure that school counselors have an accurate idea of what the workload is

like in the various classes can help ensure students are taking a manageable workload.

Heather mentioned that she believed the approximations of homework load were

inaccurate. Whether that is because she differentiated homework and studying or whether

the counselors had an inaccurate picture of the course work, was not determined,

however, better communication between the teachers and the counselors can ensure

students are given a less stressful schedule. As part of the Stanford University Challenge

121
Success Program Menlo-Atherton High School created a Rigor Scale to for their

counselors to use, which identified the number of minutes of homework, the amount of

nights per week that homework is required and then ranked the courses in rigor. Mrs.

Edwards suggested that some courses partner well with one another while other cover

content that is very different. If counselors are aware of the curriculum in courses, they

will be better able to advise which courses partner well with one another and could help

students make a more appropriate four-year plan.

Furthermore, school counselors should encourage students to take the

recommended course pathway to ensure they will be successful in learning the material in

more rigorous courses. However, when students choose to follow a separate pathway,

counselors can help identify the students who are taking their first AP course, and ensure

that proper supports are in place for that student. Perhaps that means scheduling a study

hall in addition to the rigorous coursework, or enrolling them in an elective like the

AVID elective.

Finally, school counselors can provide emotional support for academically

stressed students. Todd mentioned that he enjoyed his AP Psychology class because it

gave himself and his classmates the opportunity to discuss their mental health and to see

that they were not suffering alone. School counselors could run groups for students who

are struggling with academic stress, depression, anxiety, or even for students who to take

a less traditional pathway to a college degree or career. Social support may help alleviate

academic stress (MacGeorge, Sampter, & Gillihan, 2005).

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Policy Makers

Policy makers could help alleviate academic stress in two ways. One is to pass

legislation that would guarantee more seats at in-state institutions to in-state residents. In

2013 some elected officials in Northern Virginia proposed a law that would limit the

number of out of state residents being accepted to Virginia universities (Chandler, 2013).

This would reduce the number of out of state residents from 33% of the students

accepted at the University of Virginia and 38% at the University of William and Mary to

25% (Chandler; Dean J, 2013).

Secondly, legislatures could provide more funding for mental health services in

the public school system. By either increasing the staffing of school psychologists and

school counselors or creating partnerships between public schools and existing mental

health facilities, depressed, anxious, or self-medicating students could receive the

treatment they need with less interruption to their school year.

Limitations

Interviewing participants required the participants to speak honestly about their

experiences with time, school culture, and academic stress. The students might have

tempered their opinions, especially those that would have them admit to drug or alcohol

use, self-medication, academic dishonesty, anger, or anxiety. Despite the assurance of

confidentiality, the students were reluctant to mention specific subject areas and teachers.

Furthermore, the students could have been outliers, who do not reflect the beliefs of other

students within the school building. School leaders who were vested in the changes they

proposed and implemented might have been reluctant to critique them honestly. There

was also a concern that because adolescents were so enmeshed in the culture of

123
achievement within their respective school they might not have been able to discern what

policies or practices contributed to their stress. Claire, who claimed to have control over

her stress, did not get enough sleep each night, admitted to falling asleep at inappropriate

or even dangerous times, and chose a college she was not convinced she want to attend

because it was a ―good school.‖ She believed that she was doing what was expected of

her to do. Furthermore students who disengaged or who avoided school as a result of

stress were unlikely to volunteer to participate because they would not have been in the

advisory period when the researcher presented the study to request those volunteers.

The researcher conducted the study during the last four months of the school year,

with some of the interviews occurring after AP exams were completed. At this point in

the year, the students are more relaxed that they might have been in November or March.

Conducting this study during a different time of the year, might yield different

information.

Recommendations for future research

Many of the school leaders and students attributed the cause of academic stress to

the competition for limited choice of colleges. Further research could explore students

experience more academic stress in states with more or fewer public institutions. The

impact of technology, especially the distraction and mismanagement of time due to

technology, was mentioned, but not thoroughly explored in this study. This impact of

technology on academic stress could be another future study.

Because research suggested that rote teaching methods caused disengagement and

was more pronounced in courses with a state-mandated assessment, future research could

explore if there is a trend of more stress and/or disengagement in courses with a state-

124
mandated end-of-course assessment and rote teaching methods. Furthermore, researchers

could explore if reducing the amount of homework has a positive or negative impact on

student stress levels and achievement. Finally, a follow up study could be conducted in

three years to determine if students felt a strong bond with faculty because of the

advisory period.

Because this study was completed in a upper middle class, suburban community,

research will be needed to see how students in urban, rural, and impoverished settings

respond to academic stress. While Lthar (2013) established that adolescents of high and

low socioeconomic status experience comparable levels of stress, drug and alcohol abuse,

criminal behavior, depression and anxiety, it would be worthwhile to explore how

socioeconomic status impacts response to academic stress. It would also be valuable to

explore whether students who experience non-academic stressors like poverty, family

issues, abuse, and cultural differences respond to academic stress.

125
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Appendix A: IRB Approval

153
 Appendix B: Informed Assent Form

Informed Assent Form

Academic Stress in an Achievement Driven Era

IRB #081251

Principal Investigator: Dr. Kelly Sherrill

Principal Contact: Mrs. Karyn Mrowka

You are invited to take part in a research study being conducted by Karyn Mrowka, a teacher
here at Oakton High School and a graduate student at The George Washington University in the
Education Administration and Policy Studies doctoral program.

You are being asked if you want to take part in this study because you have identified yourself as
a student who has had experience with academic stress. Please read this form and ask me any
questions that will help you decide if you want to be in the study. Taking part is completely
voluntary and even if you decide you want to, you can quit at any time. Your academic standing
will not be affected in any way should you choose not to take part or to withdraw at any time.

The purpose of this study is to determine how academic stress is experienced by students at
Oakton High School so that school leaders both here and at other high schools can create a
supportive, challenging school environment. We will specifically asking you questions about how
and why you selected the courses that you are currently taking, how you spend your time during
an average school day, how much homework you have and how you approach it, and what
extracurricular activities you participate in and how that schedule impacts your daily routine.

The total amount of time you will spend in this study is 90-135 minutes over the course of six
weeks. We will meet three separate times for 30-45 minutes during Cougar Time, lunch, or study
hall, so that I can interview you about your experience.

The study has the following risks:

You may feel some emotional stress/discomfort answering the interview questions. You are free to
skip any question(s) or stop the interview at any point. If you reveal something during the
interview that causes me to become concerned about your emotional or physical well-
being, I will refer you to your school counselor who will then follow proper School
District Public School policies to ensure you gets the proper support.

There is a small chance that someone not on our research team could find out that you took part
in the study or somehow connect your name with the information we collect about you; however,
steps are being taken to reduce this risk. First, you will select a pseudonym to use. This will be
the name you will be referred to during the interview sessions which will be audio recorded. This
is also the name you will be referred to in the interview transcripts, my notes, and final paper.
Any information with your real name on it (i.e. this document) will be kept in a separate, secure
location.

The records of this study will be kept private. In any published articles or presentations, I will
only refer to you by your pseudonym. The researcher will also leave out any uniquely identifiable
information from the paper and any published articles or presentations.

154
Your records for the study may be reviewed by the departments of George Washington University
responsible for overseeing research safety and compliance.

Taking part in this research will not help you directly; however, the benefit to society will be a
better understanding of the high school experience through the eyes of a student in an
increasingly rigorous educational environment. As a token of her appreciation, Mrs. Mrowka will
provide each participant a book upon completion of the third interview.

Talk to the research team if you have questions, concerns, complaints, or think you have been
harmed. You can contact the Principal Investigator, Dr. Kelly Sherrill, listed on the front of this
form at 678.266.2787 or sherrill@gwu.edu , or the Principal Contact, Mrs. Karyn Mrowka at
703-319-2941 @ kamrowka@sshs.edu. For questions regarding your rights as a participant in
human research call the GWU Office of Human Research at 202-994-2715.

If you agree to take part in this study, please sign below:

I agree to participate in the study conducted by Karyn Mrowka, entitled “Academic Stress in an
Achievement Driven Era.” I understand that I will take part in three separate 30-45 minute
interviews over the course of the next 6 weeks, and that I have the right to withdraw from the
study at any point in time.

Name (print):

_________________________________________________________________________

Name (sign):

_________________________________________________________________________

Date: _______________________________

After you sign this Assent form, the research team will provide you with a copy. Please keep it in
case you want to read it again or call someone about the study.

155
 Appendix C: Parent Permission Form

Parent Permission Form

Academic Stress in an Achievement Driven Era

IRB #081251

Principal Investigator: Dr. Kelly Sherrill

Principal Contact: Mrs. Karyn Mrowka

Dear Parent/Guardian:

Your son/daughter has been invited to take part in a research study being conducted by Karyn
Mrowka, a faculty member at Study Site High School and a graduate student at The George
Washington University in the Education Administration and Policy Studies doctoral program. Please
read this form and feel free to ask me any questions that will help you decide if your son/daughter
should be or should not be included in the study.

Recently in the media the concept of stress related to academics has been garnering a lot of attention.
Last year at Study Site High School, the PTSA sponsored a showing of Race to Nowhere which
addressed this issue. It is also the subject of The Secret Lives of Overachievers by Alexandra Robbins
(the same author who wrote The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth, one of our summer reading choices
this past year).

The purpose of this study is to determine how students spend their time at Study Site High School and
after school and whether or not that impacts academic stress. I will specifically asking questions
about how and why each student selected his or her courses, how time is spent during the school day,
how much homework students have, what extracurricular activities students participate in and how
much time each day is dedicated to those activities. In addition to interviewing your child, I will
request a copy of his/her schedule from the school counselor.

I will meet with your child three separate times for 30-45 minutes so that I can interview him or her
about his or her experience.

Participation in this study will not affect your child’s academic standing in any way even if he/she
chooses not to take part or withdraws at any time. Interviews will be conducted during Cougar Time,
lunch, and/or study halls, to eliminate missed class time for participation.

While this study has minimal risk with participation, the following risks have been identified:

The records of this study will be kept private. Individual interview transcripts will not be seen by
anyone other than the research team. However, in the case that your child reveals something during
the interview that causes me to become concerned about his or her emotional or physical well-being, I
will refer your child to his/her school counselor who will then follow proper School District Public
School policies to ensure your child gets the proper support.

There is a small chance that someone not on the research team could find out that your child took part
in the study or somehow connect his/her name with the information collected about your child;
however, steps are being taken to reduce this risk. Your child will chose a pseudonym to use during
the interview, which will be audio recorded. This is the name I will use to refer to your child’s insights
in my paper, and in any published articles or presentations. I will not use any uniquely identifiable
information attained during the interview.

156
The records for the study may be reviewed by the departments of George Washington University
responsible for overseeing research safety and compliance.

Talk to the research team if you have questions, concerns, complaints, or think you have been harmed.
You can contact the Principal Investigator, Dr. Kelly Sherrill, listed on the front of this form at
678.266.2787 or sherrill@gwu.edu , or the Principal Contact, Mrs. Karyn Mrowka at 703-319-2941
@ kamrowka@sshs.edu. For questions regarding your rights as a participant in human research call
the GWU Office of Human Research at 202-994-2715.

If you agree allow your son/daughter to be interviewed for this study, please sign below:

I give ______________________________ permission to participate in the study conducted by Karyn

Mrowka, entitled “Academic Stress in an Achievement Driven Era.” I understand that he/she will
take part in three separate 30-45 minute interviews over the course of the next 6 weeks, and that
he/she has the right to withdraw from the study at any point in time. I give the researcher permission
to access my child’s school schedule. I also understand that I will not have access to my child’s
individual interview transcript, nor a summary of the interview subject; however, I can request a copy
of the completed paper at the conclusion of the study.

Your child’s name (print): ________________________________________________________

Your name (print): _____________________________________________________________

Your name (sign): ______________________________________________________________

Date: _______________________________

After you sign this permission form, the research team will provide you with a copy. Please keep it in
case you want to read it again or call someone about the study.

157
 Appendix D: Informed Consent Form (for School Leaders)

Informed Consent Form

Academic Stress in an Achievement Driven Era

IRB #081251

Principal Investigator: Dr. Kelly Sherrill

Principal Contact: Mrs. Karyn Mrowka

You are invited to take part in a research study being conducted by Karyn Mrowka, a graduate
student at The George Washington University in the Education Administration and Policy Studies
doctoral program.

You are being asked if you want to take part in this study because you have been identified as a
school leader who has an impact on one or more of the following aspects of Study Site High
School: designing and implementing the school schedule, scheduling students into courses,
making decisions involving extracurricular activities and/or working with students who are
experiencing academic stress. Please read this form and ask me any questions that will help you
decide if you want to be in the study. Taking part is completely voluntary and even if you decide
you want to, you can quit at any time. Choosing not to participate in this study will have no
impact on your employment status.

The purpose of this study is to determine how academic stress is experienced by students at Study
Site High School so that school leaders both here and at other high schools can create a
supportive, challenging school environment. The questions you are asked will revolve around
your perceptions of student stress design of the schedule, student course selection,
homework/workload for students and the impact extracurricular activities on students.

The total amount of time you will spend in this study is 90-135 minutes over the course of six
weeks. We will meet three separate times for 30-45 minutes so that I can interview you about your
experience. We will arrange the schedule in a way that works most conveniently for you.

The study has the following risks:

You may feel some emotional stress/discomfort answering the interview questions. You are free to
skip any question(s) or stop the interview at any point.

There is a small chance that someone not on our research team could find out that you took part
in the study or somehow connect your name with the information we collect about you; however,
steps are being taken to reduce this risk. First, you will select a pseudonym to use. This will be
the name you will be referred to during the interview sessions which will be audio recorded. This
is also the name you will be referred to in the interview transcripts, my notes, and final paper.
Any information with your real name on it (i.e. this document) will be kept in a separate, secure
location.

The records of this study will be kept private. In any published articles or presentations, I will
only refer to you by your pseudonym. The researcher will also leave out any uniquely identifiable
information from the paper and any published articles or presentations.

158
Your records for the study may be reviewed by the departments of George Washington University
responsible for overseeing research safety and compliance.

Taking part in this research will not help you directly; however, the benefit to society will be a
better understanding of the high school experience through the eyes of a student in an
increasingly rigorous educational environment. As a token of her appreciation, Mrs. Mrowka will
provide each participant a book upon completion of the third interview.

Talk to the research team if you have questions, concerns, complaints, or think you have been
harmed. You can contact the Principal Investigator, Dr. Kelly Sherrill, listed on the front of this
form at 678.266.2787 or sherrill@gwu.edu , or the Principal Contact, Mrs. Karyn Mrowka at
703-319-2941 @ kamrowka@sshs.edu. For questions regarding your rights as a participant in
human research call the GWU Office of Human Research at 202-994-2715.

If you agree to take part in this study, please sign below:

I agree to participate in the study conducted by Karyn Mrowka, entitled “Academic Stress in an
Achievement Driven Era.” I understand that I will take part in three separate 30-45 minute
interviews over the course of the next 6 weeks, and that I have the right to withdraw from the
study at any point in time.

Name (print): _________________________________________________________________

Name (sign): __________________________________________________________________

Date: _______________________________

After you sign this Consent form, the research team will provide you with a copy. Please keep it
in case you want to read it again or call someone about the study.

159
 Appendix E: Interview Questions

Student Interview #1:

Describe your educational experience here at _______ High School.

Potential Follow-up questions:

Do you believe your experience is typical of ______ High School students? Why or Why not?

What are the expectations of your teachers, administrators, counselors, and/or coaches of students
here at _______ High School?

Every school is said to have its own culture, what is the culture like here? What is valued most
by students, teachers, administrators, counselors, and/or coaches? How would you describe this
school to another student who is about to transfer here?

Do you think _______ High School is different than other high schools? Why or Why not?

What do you feel as though you are adequately prepared to go on to college after graduation?

How did you decide what classes to take? Do you feel as though you have a lot of options? Who
helps you decide which classes to take? Who do you talk to if you have a question about the
courses?

Do you feel as though the administration has a good understanding of what it‘s like to be a
________ student?

Student Interview #2:

Describe a typical day for you as an _______ High School student.

Potential Follow-up Questions:

Do you feel as though a typical day for you is typical of most students?

When do you get up in the morning?

When do you leave for school? How long does it take you to get there?

What time do you get home from school in the evening?

How do you typically spend your free time in the evening?

What time do you go to bed?

How much time do you spend in classes each day? What do you do during lunch? What do you
do during flex time?

How much time is there between classes? What are you typically doing?

What is your homework like? On a typical evening, how much time do you spend on your
homework? Is your homework time dedicated solely to homework, or do you multitask (watch
T.V., text with friends, tweet/or check social working sites, surf the web, play video games)

160
Do you give your full effort to completing homework? Why or why not?

Do you use time during the school day to complete homework? If so, when?

Do you ever not have homework complete on time? Why? What do you do when you realize
you didn‘t/couldn‘t complete your homework?

Do you believe teachers give you enough time to complete each assignment to the best of your
ability?

How do extracurricular activities play a role in your day? What activities are you involved in?
What is the typical practice/meeting schedule for that/those activities?

Student Interview #3:

Do you ever feel stressed as a student and why?

Potential Follow-up Questions:

Do you think other students feel stressed? More or less? Why?

Has adding flex time/advisory period into the school made an impact on stress? How so?

Are there things that the faculty/administration at _______ High School could do to help alleviate
the stress felt by students?

Is there anything you‘d like to share with me about being a student that we haven‘t covered?

School Leader Interview #1:

Describe the educational experience here at _______ High School.

Potential Follow-up Questions:

How does the faculty and administration at _______ High School try to create a rigorous
environment for the students?

What are the expectations of your teachers, administrators, counselors, and/or coaches of students
here at _______ High School?

Every school is said to have its own culture, what is the culture like here? What is valued most
by students, teachers, administrators, counselors, and/or coaches?

Do you think _______ High School is different than other high schools? Why or Why not?

What do you feel as though _______ High School students are adequately prepared to go on to
college after graduation?

How are decisions about course scheduling made? How are decisions about which courses to
offer made? How are decisions about student enrollment in courses made?

School Leader Interview #2:

What does a typical day look like for a _______ High School student?

161
Potential Follow-up Questions:

Why is the school day schedule set-up the way it is? Why did _____ High School choose block
vs. traditional scheduling, flex time, etc?

Are there homework/workload policies in place? What are the typical expectations of teachers
for student workload?

How are schedules for extracurricular activities determined?

School Leader Interview #3:

Do you feel as though student stress is an issue here at ______ High School? Why or Why not?

Potential Follow-up Questions:

What has the leadership at ______ High School done to help alleviate some of the stress that is
typically associated with an academically competitive environment?

162
 Appendix F: Advisory Period Transcript

My name is Mrs. Mrowka. I am a teacher here at Study Site High School and a graduate student

at George Washington University. I have been researching academic stress. Perhaps some of you

attended the PTSA showing of ―Race to Nowhere‖ last school year or some of you may have read

the book Overachievers by Alexa Robbins (who also wrote our summer reading book). Both of

these talk about the concept of academic stress. Academic stress is defined as stress caused by all

work conducted in the typical classroom: homework, preparation for exams, deadlines, college

admissions. Some researchers define academic stress is ―the work students conduct as part of the

normal school curriculum‖ (Putwain, 2007, p. 210). Other researchers say that academic stress

comes from exams, excessive homework, poor academic performance, time management issues,

competition with peers, and parents or teacher expectations (Burnett & Fanshawe, 1997; Leung,

Yeung, Wong, 2009). My focus is to learn about how students perceive their educational

experience, how they spend their time during the school day and how school impacts a student‘s

time before and after school. I am looking for volunteers who have had some experience with

academic stress who would be willing to be interviewed about the subject. I am looking for

juniors or seniors, who have never had me as a teacher (to help eliminate any bias in the study).

We would meet three times for 30 minutes apiece, and I would set up these meetings during Flex

Times. If you are interested, please let Mr. or Mrs. ______________________ (advisory teacher)

know, and they will pass your name along to me. I‘ll set up a meeting with you, your school

counselor and myself, to go over the details of the study and give you paperwork to take home to

be signed by your parents.

163