Denise Pope
Senior Lecturer in Education
Graduate School of Education
Bio
Dr. Pope specializes in curriculum studies, service learning, student engagement, school reform, and qualitative research methods. She is particularly interested in student voices and the students' perspectives of school. She focuses on academic stress and its consequences for students' mental and physical health, engagement with learning, and integrity. She co-founded Challenge Success to partner with schools and families to elevate student voice and implement research-based strategies for student well-being and engagement. She is the author of "Doing School": How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students (Yale University Press, 2001), which was awarded Notable Book in Education by the American School Board Journal, 2001. She is co-author of Overloaded and Underprepared: Strategies for Stronger Schools and Healthy, Successful Kids (Wiley, 2015). Dr. Pope co-hosts the podcast "School's In" with GSE Dean Dan Schwartz.
Administrative Appointments
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Senior Lecturer, Stanford University School of Education (2009 - Present)
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Co-Founder, Challenge Success www.challengesuccess.org (2003 - Present)
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Lecturer, Stanford University School of Education (1999 - 2008)
Honors & Awards
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Education Professor of the Year "Educators' Voice Award", Academy of Education Arts and Sciences (2012)
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Inaugural Girls’ Award for Leadership, The Girls' Middle School (2006)
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Outstanding Teacher and Mentor, Stanford Graduate School of Education (2005-2006)
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Outstanding Teacher and Mentor, Stanford Graduate School of Education (2002-2003)
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Outstanding Teacher and Mentor, Stanford Graduate School of Education (2001-2002)
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Exceptional Achievement in Teaching, Scholarship, and Service, Santa Clara University (1992-1993)
Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations
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Advisory Council Member, Mastery Transcript Consortium (2018 - Present)
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Advisory Council Member, The Girls' Middle School (2014 - Present)
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Steering Committee Member, Stanford University Mental Health and Well-being Task Force (2012 - Present)
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Trustee, Castilleja School, Palo Alto (2013 - 2019)
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Trustee, Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School (2002 - 2012)
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Research Advisor, Service Learning 2000 (1993 - 2000)
Professional Education
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A.B., Stanford University, English (1988)
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Ed.M., Harvard University, Teaching and Curriculum (1989)
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Ph.D., Stanford University, Curriculum and Teacher Education (1999)
Research Interests
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Adolescence
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Child Development
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Curriculum and Instruction
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Leadership and Organization
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Parents and Family Issues
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Professional Development
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Social and Emotional Learning
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Teachers and Teaching
Current Research and Scholarly Interests
Dr. Pope is co-founder of Challenge Success, a research and intervention project that aims to reduce unhealthy pressure on youth and champions a broader vision of youth success. Challenge Success is an expanded version of the SOS: Stressed-Out Students project that Dr. Pope founded and directed from 2003-2008. She lectures nationally on parenting techniques and pedagogical strategies to increase student well-being, engagement with learning, and integrity.
2024-25 Courses
- Curriculum Construction
EDUC 208B (Win) - Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods
EDUC 200B (Aut) -
Independent Studies (7)
- Directed Reading
EDUC 480 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Directed Reading in Education
EDUC 180 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Directed Research
EDUC 490 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Directed Research in Education
EDUC 190 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Master's Thesis
EDUC 185 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Practicum
EDUC 470 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Supervised Internship
EDUC 380 (Aut, Win, Spr)
- Directed Reading
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Prior Year Courses
2023-24 Courses
- Curriculum Construction
EDUC 208B (Win) - Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods
EDUC 200B (Aut)
2022-23 Courses
- Curriculum Construction
EDUC 208B (Win) - Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods
EDUC 200B (Aut)
2021-22 Courses
- Curriculum Construction
EDUC 208B (Win) - Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods
EDUC 200B (Aut)
- Curriculum Construction
Stanford Advisees
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Master's Program Advisor
Khongorzul Batireedui -
Doctoral Dissertation Reader (NonAC)
Archana Kannan
All Publications
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How Can Schools Support Gender-Diverse Students' Well -Being?
EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP
2024; 81 (5): 8-10
View details for Web of Science ID 001154012300002
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Helping students to learn and grow
PHI DELTA KAPPAN
2024; 105 (5): 13-18
View details for DOI 10.1177/00317217241230779
View details for Web of Science ID 001156722000017
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What Students and Teachers Do to Build Positive Reciprocal Relationships: A Study Co-Led by Youth and Adult Researchers
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION
2023
View details for DOI 10.1086/725585
View details for Web of Science ID 001025270500001
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A caring climate that promotes belonging and engagement
PHI DELTA KAPPAN
2022; 103 (5): 8-12
View details for DOI 10.1177/00317217221079972
View details for Web of Science ID 000751506200003
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Easing the stress at pressure-cooker schools
PHI DELTA KAPPAN
2019; 101 (3): 15–19
View details for DOI 10.1177/0031721719885910
View details for Web of Science ID 000493031800004
- A Systematic Review of Student Self-Report Instruments That Assess Student-Teacher Relationships Teachers College Record 2017; 119 (9): 1-42
- Overloaded and underprepared: Strategies for stronger schools and healthy, successful kids John Wiley & Sons. 2015
- Student Engagement in High-Performing Schools: Relationships to Mental and Physical Health Engaging Youth in Schools edited by Shernoff, D., Bempechat, J. National Society for the Study of Education Yearbook,. 2014; 113 (1)
- How Many Teachers Does it Take to Support a Student? Examining the Relationship between Teacher Support and Adverse Health Outcomes in High Performing, Pressure-Cooker High Schools Journal of Youth and Adolescence 2014; 98 (1): 22-42
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Nonacademic Effects of Homework in Privileged, High-Performing High Schools
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL EDUCATION
2013; 81 (4): 490-510
View details for DOI 10.1080/00220973.2012.745469
View details for Web of Science ID 000323631500003
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Not Just Robo-Students: Why Full Engagement Matters and How Schools Can Promote It
JOURNAL OF YOUTH AND ADOLESCENCE
2013; 42 (9): 1426-1442
Abstract
Research has long linked academic engagement to positive social, psychological, and physical developmental outcomes; however, qualitative studies in high-performing schools find that some students who work hard in school may be compromising their mental and physical health in the pursuit of top grades. Such research calls for closer and more contextualized examinations of the concept of engagement. This study examines academic engagement in a sample of 6,294 students (54 % female; 44 % White, 34 % Asian, and 22 % other racial or ethnic background) attending 15 high-achieving schools. Findings show that two-thirds of students at these schools are not regularly "fully engaged" in their academic schoolwork; that is, they do not regularly report high levels of affective, behavioral and cognitive engagement. Although most students report working hard, few enjoy their schoolwork and find it valuable. This lack of full engagement, particularly the absence of affective and cognitive engagement, is associated with more frequent school stress, higher rates of cheating, and greater internalizing, externalizing, and physical symptoms of stress. The study also finds that full engagement is strongly related to positive teacher-student relationships. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
View details for DOI 10.1007/s10964-013-9948-y
View details for Web of Science ID 000323252100008
View details for PubMedID 23592282
- Beyond 'Doing School': From 'Stressed-Out' to 'Engaged in Learning' Education Canada 2010; 50 (1): 4-8
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Success with Less Stress
EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP
2009; 67 (4): 54-58
View details for Web of Science ID 000272903400010
- Hazardous Homework? The Relationship between homework, goal orientation, and well-being in adolescents Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice 2007; 20 (4): 25-31
- Peshkin's problematics: teaching the nature of interpretation in qualitative research Qualitative Research Journal 2007; 6 (2): 173-182
- Stressed-out students – SOS: Youth perspectives on changing school climates International handbook of student experience of elementary and secondary school edited by Thiessen, D., Cook-Sather, A. Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2007: 611–634
- Students matter in school reform: Leaving fingerprints and becoming leaders International Journal of Leadership in Education 2006; 9 (4): 329-343
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Help for stressed students
EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP
2005; 62 (7): 33-37
View details for Web of Science ID 000228282100006
- Teaching qualitative inquiry: How Elliot Eisner “makes sense.” Intricate Palette: Working the ideas of Elliot Eisner. edited by Uhrmacher, B., Matthews, J. New Jersey: Pearson Education.. 2005: 153–161
- Rationales for Integrating Service-Learning in Teacher Education Service-learning in teacher education: Enhancing the growth of new teachers, their students, and communities edited by Anderson, J., Swick, K., Yff, J. Washington D.C.: American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. 2001: 2–18
- Doing school: How we are creating a generation of stressed out, materialistic, and miseducated students Yale University Press. 2001