education
Lower stress to
boost scores
Millburn schools address student anxiety over academic success
L
ast spring, Natalie Ho, a
rising junior at Millburn
High School, walked out
of her classroom and
into her guidance coun-
selor’s office, where she
broke into tears. “I felt overwhelmed
because I had to study for my AP
exam, but at the same time study for
all my other classes,” she says. “Ms.
Siegel helped me understand that I
was comparing myself to others, and
helped me ground myself again.”
Reassured, she returned to her
classroom.
It’s no secret that a large num-
ber of students report feeling anx-
ious about doing well in school. A
February study by the Pew Research
Center found that 61 percent say
they feel a lot of pressure to get good
grades, and these concerns don’t go
34
BACK TO SCHOOL 2019 MILLBURN & SHORT HILLS MAGAZINE
away in college,
where, according
to the Chronicle of
Higher Education,
anxiety has been
on the rise for
seven years.
The pressure
Dr. Christine Burton
students feel can
be especially strong
in school systems such as Millburn’s,
which are traditionally ranked among
the best in the country by ratings
sites such as USNews.com and Niche.
com. This year, Niche rated Millburn
the top school district in the state.
“We’re not going to turn down the
element of rigor here, but we need to
allow kids to truly experience their
childhoods and adolescences,” says
Dr. Christine Burton, superintendent
of schools.
Millburn educators have worked
to address stress from academics for
years, she says, but started putting
a greater focus on promoting health
and wellness in 2017, when students
presented their concerns at a forum,
and the district invited Denise Pope,
co-founder of Stanford’s Challenge
Success program, to share her
insights.
“Challenge Success provides fami-
lies and schools with information and
strategies to strive towards a balance
between academic rigor and down-
time,” says Burton. Educators and
families have to make sure they’re
not asking kids to fit 28 hours’ worth
of living into 24-hour cycles, she
says. “When kids do that, sleep
usually suffers as a result, and
family time is next.”
Using input from professionals and
BROWN
WRITTEN BY CINDY SCHWEICH HANDLER