Retrospective Student Experiences: A Study of Living with Persistent Environmental Stress During High School

Abstract

Home lives filled with stressors such as poverty, mental illness, substance abuse, and homelessness are some of the often-unrecognized realities students in schools across America face. These realities often put high-school students at risk for underperforming. Many current political policies are not suited to deal with the issues these students present, even though many of these policies provide guidelines for specific preventive measures, often in the form of student support programs embedded within high schools. However, little is known of the students' own perceptions of the intersection between their stressful home lives and high-school success. This study proposes to consider the experiences and stories of former high school students reflecting on their chronically stressful home environments and their experiences with supportive programs in high school. Understanding students' own perceptions will inform future practice within high schools. The findings of this study may be significant in redesigning student assistance programs across the state to provide supports that allow students to achieve academically and personally to their fullest potential. This phenomenological study is based on a conceptual framework with three main streams: struggles of students living with chronic stress, student support programs, and policy considerations. It also seeks to answer the following central question and three related sub-questions: 1. Central Question: How do former high-school students describe their chronically stressful home environments during high school, and how did the high school and supportive programming they may or may not have received at the time influence their home, social, or academic experiences? 2. Sub-Questions: a. What specific characteristics of high school do former high-school students identify as successfully supporting their ability to manage their chronically stressful environments? b. How did these characteristics allow for greater success during their high-school years? c. How do former high-school students who endured chronically stressful home environments describe their personal interactions with and attitudes toward school-facilitated services and support programs while in high school?Ed.D., Educational Leadership and Management -- Drexel University, 201