Denise Pope

About

Dr. Denise Pope is a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, where she specializes in curriculum studies, service learning, student engagement, school reform, and qualitative research methods. Her work focuses on student voices and perspectives of school, particularly examining academic stress and its impact on students' mental and physical health. She collaborates with schools worldwide to improve student well-being, belonging, and engagement. Dr. Pope co-founded Challenge Success, a nonprofit organization dedicated to partnering with schools and families to elevate student voice and implement research-based strategies to help all students thrive. She is the author of 'Doing School,' which discusses the creation of a stressed, materialistic, and miseducated generation, and co-author of 'Overloaded and Underprepared,' which offers strategies for stronger schools and healthier, successful kids. Additionally, she co-hosts the podcast 'School's In' with GSE Dean Dan Schwartz. Her research interests include adolescence, child development, curriculum and instruction, leadership and organization, parents and family issues, professional development, social and emotional learning, and teachers and teaching.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Social Science
• Political Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Pedagogy
• Sociology
• Computer Science
• Social psychology
• Public relations
• Mathematics education

Selected publications

• Nonacademic Effects of Homework in Privileged, High-Performing High Schools

  The Journal of Experimental Education · 2013-07-15 · 128 citations

  articleSenior author

  This study used survey data to examine relations among homework, student well-being, and behavioral engagement in a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper middle class communities. Results indicated that students in these schools average more than 3 hr of homework per night. Students who did more hours of homework experienced greater behavioral engagement in school but also more academic stress, physical health problems, and lack of balance in their lives. To bett…

  PublisherDOI

• Not Just Robo-Students: Why Full Engagement Matters and How Schools Can Promote It

  Journal of Youth and Adolescence · 2013-04-16 · 118 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Cheating in the age of generative AI: A high school survey study of cheating behaviors before and after the release of ChatGPT

  Computers and Education Artificial Intelligence · 2024 · 108 citations

  The public release of ChatGPT and other generative AI chatbot technologies has been accompanied by questions about how academic integrity and student cheating behaviors will be impacted. We analyzed anonymous survey data from three high schools to see if self-reported cheating numbers changed following the introduction of ChatGPT and similar technologies. This survey data set is unique in that data on cheating had been collected with this set of schools both before and after November 2022, when…

  PublisherDOI

• 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

  ˜The œHigh School journal/˜The œHigh school journal · 2014-09-01 · 39 citations

  articleSenior author

  Although considerable research has demonstrated the importance of supportive teacher-student relationships to students’ academic and nonacademic outcomes, few studies have explored these relationships in the context of high-performing high schools. Hierarchical linear modeling with a sample of 5,557 students from 14 different high-performing high schools reveals that students who believe more of their teachers care for them and students who have an adult confidant within the school fare signific…

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• A caring climate that promotes belonging and engagement

  Phi Delta Kappan · 2022 · 16 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  When students have a strong sense of belonging in their school community, they are more likely to thrive academically. In a study of 55,000 secondary school students across the United States, Challenge Success found further evidence of the bilateral relationship between students’ experiences of academic engagement and their sense of belonging, specifically when tied to school practices aimed at creating an authentic culture of inclusion and respect, an environment that fosters student agency, an…

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Jerusha Conner

  9 shared

• Sarah Miles

  4 shared

• Kate Phillippo

  Loyola University Chicago

  3 shared

• Mollie K. Galloway

  Lewis & Clark College

  3 shared

• Shannon Davidson

  University of Alabama

  3 shared

• Susan Verducci

  San Jose State University

  2 shared

• Don Hill

  2 shared

• Jerusha Osberg

  2 shared

Education

• M.A., Curriculum and Teaching

  Stanford University

  1995

• B.A., American Studies

  Stanford University

  1990

Awards & honors

• Notable Book in Education by the American School Board Journ…

Similar researchers at Stanford University

• Susanna Loebh-62
• Alfredo J. Artilesh-41
• Mitchell L. Stevensh-16