What Some Scarsdale Parents Do to Reduce Academic Stress at Home
Encourage connectedness and communication
- Eat family meals on a regular basis
- Foster family conversations
- Arrange family activities and vacations
- Teach verbal self-expression
- Listen
- Watch for signs of stress
- Talk with other parents about issues of academic stress
- Communicate concerns to teachers and administrators
Avoid parental over-involvement
- Support without pushing
- Allow children to make mistakes and to learn from them
- Avoid repeated questions about homework, grades
- Discuss topics of learning, not grades
- Let students choose courses, extra-curricular interests, while cautioning against over-commitment
Set boundaries and promote life balance
- Protect family time, including meals and down time
- Support good sleep habits
- Encourage healthy eating and exercise
- Allow/require free time, including time to transition, unload and re-group
- Limit or encourage restraint in the number of extra-curricular activities, commitments
- Caution about taking on too difficult a course load
- Limit computer/cell phone use
- For younger children, set limits on time spent on homework and contact teacher
- Encourage high school children to communicate homework overload to teacher
- Teach children how to set own limits
Re-define academic “success” in terms of effort, process and joy
- Reward effort and work ethic
- Aim to find what one enjoys doing
- De-emphasize the importance of grades
- Emphasize the learning process and a lifelong love of learning
- Focus on finding a “best fit” college
Humor
- Laugh over a good (or even a bad) joke. (Note: this one is supported by studies!)
What Scarsdale High School Does to Reduce Student Academic Stress
No class rankings
No “weighted” grades for AT/Honors courses
Counseling Department messages about appropriate course level and load
Counseling Department work with freshmen on time management
9th grade Social Studies – English team focus on study skills
Switch from Advanced Placement to Advanced Topics, with no mandatory AP exams
Alternative Assessments
Freshman Orientation
Freshman Civic Education/Freshman seminar
Teacher time with students outside class
Open Campus and free periods
Designated lunch period
Youth Outreach Workers/School psychologists
Student Organization monthly meetings, student representation on SHS Compact Team and meetings with Board of Ed
Breadth of extracurricular options
“Mercy Rule” for over 2 tests/papers/projects due on same day
Attention to scheduling conflict between major research papers – in progress
Reduced Vacation Homework – in progress
New Pilot Quarterly Testing schedule – in progress
Counseling Dept. messages about college search process and “best fit” college
Gap Year Fair
Annual alumni interview
