RESEARCH QUESTION:

Are there schools that produce strong student outcomes with much less achievement culture stress than BHS? If so, what can we learn from them?

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

Last year's Bexley High School SLRC group identified significant student and staff mental health issues resulting from the highly competitive “achievement culture” in our school. However, they struggled to determine what measures to recommend counteracting this phenomenon. This year we conducted a comparative study with two schools that use nontraditional approaches to teaching and learning yet still have strong student success outcomes. We are hoping to find learning models that yield great student results in a less stressful, more mentally healthy environment. If our research identifies such learning environments, we will recommend further qualitative research about those schools to explore the possibility of importing some of their strategies to our school.