At the start of a student-powered improvement journey
Your school may have glimmers of experience with student-powered improvement.
There is so much possibility ahead.
Step 1
Reflect on your results
Reflect & Discuss
What were my results? Is there anything surprising about my results?
How did results vary across our team? Why?
Examine the 10 assessment statements in the box below.
Which statement is a strength?
Which statement is a growth opportunity?
Which statement were you most and least confident answering? Why?
What may have impacted the way you answered questions? Consider the role of your identity (role, race, gender, age, etc.), personal biases, and lived experiences.
Assessment Questions
In the past year, students’ experiences or perspectives have been deeply and continuously listened to.
In the past year, listening to students’ experiences and perspectives led to meaningful changes.
In the past year, students were involved in identifying what things needed to be improved.
In the past year, students helped design changes to practices or policies.
In the past year, students had power to help make decisions about practice and/or policy changes.
Partnering with students happens in multiple ways and over time, rather than being a one-time event.
There is a belief that students should have a voice in how things work.
Every student has an adult who they can trust.
Students who have been historically marginalized in education are the students most often invited to guide improvement efforts. Students have the capacity and wisdom to help make change.
Step 2
Explore resources
Classrooms
Building student-powered classrooms: A guide to partnering with students to improve schools
Learn strategies to collect student voice data and design solutions for classrooms together with students.
New!
Classroom empathy interviews
How empathy interviews led teachers to address classroom engagement by infusing more joy in their classrooms.
Schools and districts
Framework
Explore the student-powered improvement framework of possibilities.
Empathy interviews
Learn about the mindsets, tools, and best practices of empathy interviews.
Step 3
Make a Plan
Classrooms
Reflect & Discuss
What problem am I trying to solve?
Why do I need to involve students in the solution?
Will I empathize, involve, or share-decision making with students? Why?
What resources and support do I need?
What’s my first step? When will I take it?
What will success look like? How will I know?
How can we further build care, student agency, and vulnerability in our classroom to support student voice?
Schools & districts
Reflect & Discuss
What is the problem we’re trying to solve with students?
Will we emphasize, involve, or share decision making with students? Why?
Which group(s) of students will we prioritize?
How will we recruit students?
What resources do we need?
What’s our first step? When will we take it?
What will success look like? How will we know?
How will we attend to the guiding principles of student-powered improvement?
I think that students designing solutions for the problems that they're most connected to is really important.
