Your school has deep experience with student-powered improvement.
There is so much possibility ahead.
Step 1
Reflect on your results
Assessment questions
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
Reimagine power, privilege, and agency
Learn, reflect, and try ways to reimagine power, privilege, and agency.
New!
Partnering with students to co-design a more supportive classroom
How a teacher and students co-designed a more inclusive and connected classroom using the three aspects of the continuous improvement process.
Schools & districts
Participatory Budgeting
Budget decisions are made with students and families.
Care, truth, and hope
Learn, reflect, and try ways to create spaces of care, truth, and hope with this guide.
Step 3
Make a plan
Classroom
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 and 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.
