Princeton High School (PHS) students are experiencing high levels of stress, low levels of joyful engagement with learning, and serious sleep deprivation, according to a recent survey conducted by Stanford University researchers. Parents, teachers, and administrators gathered last Wednesday to review the results of the survey and to discuss the way forward in pursuit of the District’s quest for “wellness and balance.” 

Of the 1417 participants in last fall’s survey at PHS, 81 percent reported that they were often or always stressed by schoolwork, 47 percent reported that a stress-related health or emotional problem had caused them to miss more than one day of school, and 41 percent had experienced exhaustion, headaches, and difficulty sleeping in the past month. Students estimated spending an average of three to three and a half hours a night on homework and getting only six to six and a half hours of sleep each night, with 64 percent usually going to bed later than 11 p.m.

The Stanford University Challenge Success survey measured students experiences with 12 different topics, including stress, academic engagement, perceptions of homework, extracurricular activities, parental expectations, sleep, academic integrity, and overall health and wellbeing.

The 15 percent of students reporting “full engagement” in their school work claimed to often or always work hard, enjoy the work, and find it meaningful. Forty-one percent of the participants in the survey, however, reportedly “do school,” often or always working hard, but rarely if ever finding their schoolwork interesting, fun, or valuable.

“Our students are working incredibly hard,” said PHS Principal Gary Snyder, “but many of them are caught up in going through the motions; they are ‘doing school.’ they may find their work interesting, but they are not always motivated by a joy of learning for the sake of learning.”

Mr. Snyder contrasted this with the 73 percent of students who reported participating in after-school, extracurricular activities С sports, community service, clubs, performing arts, religious organizations, and others С primarily because of personal enjoyment, not resume building. “One of our challenges,” Mr. Snyder said, “is to get the passion and motivation for mastery our students experience with their after school activities into the regular school day.”

Princeton Public School Superintendent Steve Cochrane said that a plan for proposed changes will be presented in June, with PHS piloting it throughout the coming school year and making systematic adjustments by the start of the 2018-19 school year. He added that parents, students, teachers, and the broader community will need to work together “to build a culture where students can have space to breathe, to try new things, to fail, to succeed, and to have a definition of success that revolves around joy and purpose.”

Mr. Cochrane pointed out that “academic stress and struggles with depression are at an all-time high nationally for both high school and college students. The goal we all share is to increase wellness while deepening learning.”

Noting the need for major innovative change, Mr. Snyder stated that he and a committee of administrators, faculty, and a few parents have already been exploring possibilities for alterations to the curriculum, assessments, and use of the physical space at PHS, as well as adjustments in the school schedule and opportunities for more problem-based learning, greater student choice, and more interdisciplinary experiences.

Emphasizing both the urgency of the situation and the need for caution, the eagerness for change and the fear of change, Mr. Snyder said, “This is important and we need to do it well and we need to do it soon. But we need to be careful not to do it in such a way that we rush in and stumble into things. We need to get it right.”

Among the most positive results on the Stanford survey was the 68 percent of students reporting that they had at least one adult in the school, mainly counselors and teachers, they could go to if they had problems.

Teachers have already begun having conversations with their students about the survey results, with some teachers experimenting with using class time for homework and adjusting and improving assignments accordingly.

The District will continue its analysis of the survey results as it works to reshape student experiences. Parents are invited to review the results, which can be found on the PPS website, along with the opportunity to submit thoughts and suggestions online.

As this year’s college admissions competition winds down, Princeton High School remains one of the most highly ranked schools in the state, but alarm bells from parents and others in the community continue to sound. “Bold leadership is needed to put the brakes on our academic arms race,” wrote local resident Carol Tate in the Town Topics Mailbox last week. “We need school administrators to act quickly to make long overdue changes to the school schedule and the school culture.”

According to Mr. Cochrane, the goals of increasing wellness and deepening learning are interwoven, not mutually exclusive.

“Students do not learn well when they are under stress,” he said. “None of us do. Students learn best when they connect personally with the material they are studying, when they are appropriately challenged to apply their learning, and when they have time to reflect on what they have learned.”