END THE RACE! ACTION ITEMS

Things We Can Do Today To Make a Difference

What Parents/Guardians Can Do:

• Discuss what success means to your family. Do your family’s actions reflect your values?
• Reduce performance pressure.
• Avoid over-scheduling.
• Allow time for play, family, friends, downtime, reflection and sleep.
• Ask your children how they are feeling and be a good listener.
• Allow your children to make mistakes and learn from them.
• Have conversations with your children about their experiences in school.
• Know the signs of childhood depression, alcohol and other substance abuse.
• Discuss with your child what path he/she may want to pursue after high school – be open to nontraditional avenues.
• Make the college search about finding the "best fit" rather than finding the "best" college, which will promote college success and retention.
• Allow your high school children to make independent choices on course selection.
• Follow your instincts.
• Make sure you are not projecting your unfulfilled dreams upon your children.
• Educate yourself about local professional and parent resources like LEAD.
• Be aware of how your child is managing homework and share your concerns with your child’s teachers, if warranted.
• Eat dinner together as a family on a regular basis.
• Make sure there are other adults in your child’s life with whom to speak.

What Students Can Do:

• Speak to the adults in your life about how you are feeling.
• Make sure you get plenty of sleep.
• Unplug, slow down and reflect on the important things in life.
• Make time for things you enjoy.
• Limit AP classes to subjects you enjoy.
• Limit extra-curricular activities to those you truly take pleasure in.
• Seek colleges that use a comprehensive approach to looking at applicants.
• Learn about the long-term impact of performance-enhancing medications/drugs.
• Support your peers and let them support you in keeping a mindset that values one another’s individuality.
• Choose friends who make healthy lifestyle choices.

What Teachers Can Do:

• Become knowledgeable about research and best practices regarding homework.
• Appreciate the importance of play and downtime on child development.
• See what happens when you assign less homework.
• Make sure assigned homework is meaningful, connected, and necessary.
• Find opportunities to evaluate children aside from tests (e.g., projects, presentations, and portfolios).
• Incorporate open-ended questions into daily activities and allow students to go in different directions with responses.
• Get involved with school and district committees to bring about change.
• Emphasize character education principles in class.
• Respect student individuality.
• Go out of your way to look for what is special in every child.
• Be available to students outside of class.

What Clinical Professionals Can Do:

• Recognize the signs of youth stress: headaches, stomachaches, dizziness, chest pain, and change in appetite, sleeping patterns and refusal to go to school behaviors.
• Educate parents on the signs of depression in adolescents.
• Educate parents why stress, anxiety and depression often lead to the misuse of alcohol; illegal, prescription, and OTC drugs; and other risky behavior.

What Administrators Can Do:

• Develop a plan of action to create a positive and healthy educational environment that supports the whole child.
• Support multiple pathways in school integrating academics with career and technical education.
• Address sources of stress for children, educators, and families.
• Set expectations with staff members about homework parameters.
• Consider the way your school recognizes students and include opportunities for a broad range of ways to give acknowledgment.
• Create calendars for grade level teachers to reduce overlapping demands.
• Establish guidelines for tests and projects immediately before or after holiday breaks.
• Provide opportunities for open communication between teachers, parents, and students.
• Create a vision for change with an emphasis on engaged learning rather than teaching to the test.