Helping Kids Learn Better, Feel Better, and Live Better

by Jenny Anderson and Rebecca Winthrop

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Pre-Order now and receive a list of the signs that your student or child is in Passenger | Achiever | Resister | Explorer mode as well as tips from top teachers about how to have better conversations with kids about learning.  

“The Disengaged Teen" is an essential guide for parents, caregivers, and educators who want to help students develop a meaningful connection to learning. With practical, research-backed strategies and real-life stories woven throughout, this book will help adults understand disengagement and implement effective, tailored interventions that foster a love of learning.”

Lisa Damour – New York Times bestselling author of The Emotional Lives of Teenagers

A powerful toolkit for parents of both checked-out and stressed-out teens that shows exactly what to do (and stop doing) to support their academic and emotional flourishing. 

Adolescents are hardwired to explore and grow, and learning is how they do this. But a shocking majority of teens are disengaged from school, simultaneously bored and overwhelmed. This is feeding an alarming teen mental health crisis. As kids get older and more independent, parents often feel powerless to help. But fear not, there are evidence-based strategies to guide them from disengagement to drive, in and out of school.

For the past five years, award-winning journalist Jenny Anderson and the Brookings Institution’s global education expert Rebecca Winthrop have been investigating why so many children lose their love of learning in adolescence. Now, weaving extensive original research with real-world stories of kids who transformed their relationships with learning, they identify four modes of learning that students use to navigate through the shifting academic demands and social dynamics of middle and high school, shaping the internal narratives about their skills, potential, and identity:

Resister

When kids resist, they struggle silently with profound feelings of inadequacy or invisibility, which they communicate by ignoring homework, playing sick, skipping class, or acting out.

Passenger

When kids coast along, consistently doing the bare minimum and complaining that classes are pointless. They need help connecting school to their skills, interests, or learning needs.

Achiever

When kids show up, do the work, and get consistently high grades, their self-worth can become tied to high performance. Their disengagement is invisible, fueling a fear of failure and putting them at risk for mental health challenges.

Explorer

When kids are driven by internal curiosity rather than just external expectations, they investigate the questions they care about and persist to achieve their goals.

Understanding your child’s learning modes is vital for nurturing their ability to become Explorers. Anderson and Winthrop outline simple yet counterintuitive parenting strategies for connecting with your child, tailoring your listening and communication styles to their needs, igniting their curiosity, and building self-awareness and emotional regulation.

Want to know what mode your child is in? Quiz coming soon!

The authors

Jenny Anderson is an author and an award-winning journalist who spent over a decade at The New York Times before pioneering coverage on the science of learning at Quartz. She contributes to TIME, The New York Times and The Atlantic, among other publications.

Rebecca Winthrop is a leading global authority on education. She is the director of the Center for Universal Education at Brookings, where she conducts studies on how to better support children’s learning, and is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.

For media and publicity inquiries, please contact:
Tammy Blake, Penguin Random House:  tblake@penguinrandomhouse.com

Praise for The Disengaged Teen

“Our education systems are shortchanging far too many teenagers. This book is brimming with insights on how to change that. It’s an engaging, evidence-based, and practical read about how to develop a generation of lifelong learners.”

—Adam Grant, author of Hidden Potential and Think Again

“This authoritative guide addresses the most urgent challenges facing parents and educators today. If you aspire to be the psychologically wise adult of a young person, this book is for you.”

—Angela Duckworth, author of Grit

“So many parents want to help their teens become better learners but don’t quite know where to start. Here is a powerful, practical book that points the way.”

—Carol Dweck, author of Mindset

“Every parent of a checked out, overwhelmed, or frustrated middle or high-school student needs to read this book RIGHT NOW. Winthrop and Anderson take on some of the toughest questions about America’s education crisis—and, building on a decade of meticulous research, show parents the levers they can use to unlock inner drive in their children. This is exactly the right dose of science, rich story-telling, and actionable insights that parents need to get their teens out of a rut and set them up for success.”
—Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better

“The Disengaged Teen is an essential guide for parents, caregivers, and educators who want to help students develop a meaningful connection to learning. Jenny Anderson and Rebecca Winthrop delve into the root causes of why teens withdraw from school, offering a compassionate approach to identifying distinct types of disengagement. With practical, research-backed strategies and real-life stories woven throughout, the book will help adults understand disengagement and implement effective, tailored interventions that foster a love of learning. The Disengaged Teen is a compelling, enlightening, must-read book for anyone who cares about teens."
—Lisa Damour, New York Times bestselling author of The Emotional Lives of Teenagers  

“The Disengaged Teen offers everything a parent or teacher needs to understand, support, and empower a child's learning. With expert insights and practical tools, this book is a gift to parents and educators everywhere.”
—Jennie Wallace, author of Never Enough

“The disengagement crisis is real. It’s hurting our kids and our society. This book gives parents and educators clear, evidence-backed ways to help young people develop the agency they need to navigate our fragile and fast-changing world.”—Todd Rose, author of Dark Horse

“Anderson and Winthrop’s The Disengaged Teen may be the most important book of 2025. Grounded in real stories, informed by the best research, and written in an engaging and compassionate way, The Disengaged Teen is a must-read for every parent of an adolescent, or soon-to-be adolescent.”
—Paul LeBlanc, former president Southern New Hampshire University

“This urgent book demystifies one of the most important factors behind both academic success and emotional health in adolescence: student engagement. They make a persuasive case that parents hold more influence than they think, offering paradigm-shifting strategies for turning away from monitoring homework and grades to better unleash intrinsic motivation. Every parent of a child ten or older should read this book.”​
—Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach For America

“Just the book every parent, teacher and administrator need to understand disengagement and turn it into drive. Our kids deserve this.”
—Kaya Henderson, former DC Public Schools Chancellor and Executive Vice Aspen Institute

“A terrifyingly large number of our kids, bored or overwhelmed in school and trapped in social media Hell on their phones, are intellectually and emotionally adrift, with dire consequences for them and for society. Jenny Anderson and Rebecca Winthrop’s book is an empathetic look at how modern teens get lost and a practical guide to helping them get found. A welcome dose of hope.”
– Scott Galloway, Professor of Marketing, NYU Stern, Host of the Prof G Pod and Cohost of the Pivot Podcast

Sneak peek

Pre-order now and receive free:

  • For Parents: Signs your child is in Passenger | Achiever | Resister | Explorer mode

  • For Teachers: Signs your student is in Passenger | Achiever | Resister | Explorer mode

  • How to have better conversations with your child about school: Tips from Top Teachers

  • For Parents and Teachers: Bridging the vital connection between belonging and learning

Once you submit the form, you will receive the tips by email.

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For media and publicity inquiries, please contact:
Tammy Blake, Penguin Random House:  tblake@penguinrandomhouse.com