Course

Recruiting students for student-powered improvement

Purpose

To provide teams with specific strategies, tools, and examples to consider when recruiting students

Audience

Teams designing recruitment strategies

Suggested Use

Use this guide as a continual reference as you design and implement recruitment strategies

Time Needed

30 minutes to review the content, more time to discuss and implement the ideas with your team

“I think that the struggle is that we have these ways to hear students’ voices, but it is often only a select group of voices adults listen to. How do we get the whole wide spectrum of student voices?”

Student

Introduction

Recruiting students for improvement efforts is exciting and energizing. Thoughtful recruitment requires careful planning, discussion, and a great deal of time. It also requires flexibility when initial strategies need adjustment. Avoid the tendency to underestimate what it takes to equitably recruit students and sustain their involvement.

There are eight recruitment considerations distilled from partners doing different kinds of student-powered improvement work around the country.

Carefully consider the who
Involve youth in designing the outreach and recruitment
Make participation irresistible and expectations clear yet flexible
Provide compensation
Diversify your outreach and information streams
Anchor in relationships and trust
If there is an application process, make it youth-friendly and strengths-based
Provide families with information

Specific details and examples for each of these are found in the guide, available as a download, below.

Eight considerations for recruiting students for student-powered improvement