Walking The Talk: Aligning Actions and Values for Youth Well-Being
with Madeline Levine, Ph.D. and Denise Pope, Ph.D.
 co-founders of ChallengeSuccess.org a project of the Stanford University School of Education.

March 14, 2011, 7:00-8:30 PM
Cornog Auditorium, New Trier High School Northfield Campus,
7 Happ Road, Northfield, IL

Presentation by Madeline Levine and Denise Pope as mp3 audio file

What constitutes success? Our cultural definitions of success involving extrinsic motivation (money; job; possessions) and numeric metrics (grades; scores; rankings) can work against healthy child development. While a teen may appear “successful” in these Modern Adolescent times, it’s not a
guarantee that he or she is flourishing. Depression rates are soaring; many teens are sleep deprived, anxious, suffering from sports/overuse injuries, self-medicating with drugs and alcohol, or self-harming, and many have very little free time for reflection, or for a family dinner. How do we realign ourselves with the things we most value, like cooperation, integrity, passionate curiosity, and social responsibility? How can parents slow the speed of family life in order to maintain balance in a performance-based culture?

Madeline Levine, Ph.D., author of The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids, and Denise Pope, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer at the Stanford University School of Education, and author of Doing School: How We are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students, are co-founders of Challenge Success, a research and intervention project based at Stanford’s School of Education that aims to reduce unhealthy pressure in youth and champions a broader vision of youth success. Two of the most cogent voices in the film Race to Nowhere, they’ll appear together for a highly-interactive presentation on why it’s essential to have the courage of your convictions in the face of enormous social and economic pressures to rank, sort and judge. This is a can’t-miss event!

Sponsored by the Family Awareness Network of New Trier Township (FAN), in partnership with New Trier High School’s Ethical Conduct and Global Citizenship (ECGC) Parent Committee and The Alison Tobey Smart Memorial Fund at Kenilworth Union Church. FAN is grateful for its 2010-11 exclusive partnerships with NorthShore University HealthSystem Foundation; Quintessential New Trier magazine; and The Book Stall at Chestnut Court. CPDUs for education professionals.

Madeline Levine, Ph.D., is a psychologist with over 25 years of experience as a clinician, consultant, and educator. Dr. Levine has taught child development classes to graduate students at UCSF Medical Center. She is also the author of two books on child development and the media: Viewing Violence and See No Evil. Dr. Levine lives in Marin County, California with her husband and is the mother of three sons.

Denise Pope, Ph.D., is a senior lecturer at the Stanford University School of Education where she has taught for the past 9 years, specializing in student engagement, curriculum studies, qualitative research methods, and service learning. In 2003, she founded SOS: Stressed-Out Students project, a research and intervention effort to help K-12 schools counter the causes of academic stress. SOS is the pre-cursor to and shapes the mission of Challenge Success. Her book, "Doing School": How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students (Yale University Press, 2001) received the Notable Book in Education by the American School Board Journal, 2001. Dr. Pope is a three-time recipient of the Stanford University School of Education Outstanding Teacher and Mentor Award. She lives in Los Altos, California with her husband and three children.

Challenge Success offers dynamic conferences for schools, parents, and youth to come together to address issues of student health, school engagement, and academic integrity. All conferences take place at Stanford University, where school teams comprised of principals, teachers, parents, counselors, students, and other community members work together to create site-specific plans for school reform.

Links:

The Pressure on High School Students to Build Their Resume … Whose Best Interest Is It?  Denise Pope and others - a synopsis of the NYTimes "Stress and High School" feature (link below)

NYT "Room for Debate"  Stress and the High School Student (reflections on the film Race to Nowhere) including Denise Pope talking about modifications to the school day and it's pace.

Amy Chua's 'Tiger Mother' style has flaws, by Madeline Levine in the San Franciso Chronicle.

Publicity:

Flyer for Levine / Pope event (pdf)

Flyer and press release for Levine / Pope event (pdf)