To generate a better understanding of students' experiences of studying A-levels, 136 A-level students in England were asked to provide three words or phrases to describe their experience of sixth form, and their reasons for choosing these terms, via an online survey. Data were analysed using content analysis and reflexive thematic analysis. The…

The purpose of the study is to examine the positive and negative experiences of teachers through a model in the process of designing a transdisciplinary integrated curriculum within the framework of IB-PYP. The design of the study included a holistic, multiple-case approach. The study was carried out with 50 teachers, among which 7 (14%) are male…

Students report experiencing elevated levels of academic stress while in Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate Diploma (IBD) classes. In response, we developed a classwide, preventative coping and connectedness curriculum, which consists of 12 50-minute modules for 9th-grade students enrolled in accelerated coursework. In this…

High school students in accelerated classes face heightened school-related stressors but have access to few specialized supports. This article describes the development and initial application of the Motivation, Assessment, and Planning (MAP) intervention, developed to meet the needs of freshmen in Advanced Placement (AP) and International…

Research has shown that students in Advanced Placement (AP) classes and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs experience higher levels of stress compared to students in general education classes. Elevated stress can serve as a risk factor for students' academic and mental health problems. Given the documented stress of these students,…

Successful coping with academic demands is important given the inverse relationship between stress and positive adjustment in adolescents. The Coping With Academic Demands Scale (CADS) is a new measure of coping appropriate for students pursuing advanced high school curricula, specifically Advanced Placement (AP) classes and the International…

In this qualitative study, we investigated 15 successful and 15 struggling high school students, perceived stressors, coping strategies, and intrapersonal and environmental factors that students perceive to influence their success in college-level courses. We found that students' primary sources of stress involved meeting numerous academic demands…

This article introduces the Special Class for the Gifted Young (SCGY), an early college entrance program in mathematics and science in China, which has been a focus for media coverage and public discussion of accelerated education in China. We first describe the admission policy and academic programming of SCGY and delineate its distinct features.…

Individuals respond to threats to affiliation and achievement needs through drawing on a repertoire of coping strategies specific to a given situation. Gifted adolescents in college-preparatory high school programs may be faced with novel stressors, and may have unique coping strategies to manage these challenges. The current study considers…

Students who are enrolled in academically challenging curricula face a multitude of stressors related to increased academic demands in addition to the developmental and biological challenges that are normative to adolescence. This article presents results of a qualitative study conducted to uncover the coping styles of students in a rigorous…

The gifted can suffer from too many demands on their time and attention. This qualitative study tested the theory that advanced placement (AP) and international baccalaureate (IB) participants may feel forced to choose between academic success and social acceptance. The results, however, did not support the theory. Not only did gifted students not…

This study investigates the relationships among stress, coping, and mental health in 139 students participating in an International Baccalaureate (IB) high school diploma program. Mental health was assessed using both positive indicators (life satisfaction, academic achievement, academic self-efficacy) and negative indicators (psychopathology) of…