Involving Students: How-to Kits, Research and Theory

Youth organizing: an emerging model for working with youth

The Funders Collaborative on Youth Organizing published three articles and an annotated bibliography released in February 2003 to provide a comprehensive look at the growing field of youth organizing, presenting the history of the movement, profiles of current groups, and its impacts on youth.

First Ask, Then Listen: How to get your students to help you teach them better

This short manual offers a starting place for those interested in finding out what students have to say. Using the same questions that prompted the discussions leading to Fires the Bathroom (New Press, 2003), teachers can begin for themselves the honest dialogue from which both students and adults so richly benefit. Whether gathered through student writing or transcribed conversations, the responses will begin to build a base of mutual confidence that students have something valuable to contribute to their own education. As teachers hear their own students speak their minds in a structured and respectful setting, they can begin to adapt their practice to meet their learning needs more effectively.

NW Regional Educational Library: Listening to Student Voices Start Self-Study Toolkit. (link)

NWREL developed this tool kit based on research showing that students are more likely to care about their school when they contribute to its improvement. Students are capable workers and willing to serve as partners in school improvement work, contributing useful ideas and helping with data collection and analysis. Learn various methods for students to participate, from “data in a day” to student-led focus groups and survey analysis.

Students as Allies in Improving Their Schools: A project of What Kids Can Do and MetLife Foundation. (link)

In many classrooms across the country students speak of being barely visible,while just as many teachers struggle merely to get kids to show up—a symptom of a persistent divide, pitting teachers and students on seemingly opposing sides. Student researchers take on these negative dynamics.

It would help, to Incorporate Student Voice into Teaching Practice. (link)

John Kordalewski writes that in some classrooms student voices are barely heard. The teacher monopolizes classroom talk, and knowledge is treated as residing entirely with the teacher. This is what Paulo Freire (1970) terms "banking" education (teachers "deposit" knowledge into students' heads) and describes as the antithesis of teacher-student dialogue. A range of approaches to teaching highlight the importance of dialogue. Some of these approaches focus on classroom processes, while others are especially concerned with how students' cultural identities help to constitute their voices. This digest explores different ways in which student voices can be heard in a classroom.

Listening to Students: Engagement and achievement rise when students have a voice in classroom decisions. (link)

Susan Black writes that giving students a voice in classroom decisions (such as suggesting themes and topics to study) and in school policies (such as homework regulations) makes schools less autocratic and more democratic. And democratic schools, researchers say, tend to have fewer discipline problems, more civic involvement, higher student engagement, and higher achievement. Plus, schools that genuinely seek and appreciate students' ideas are more likely to see their school improvement plans succeed.

SoundOut.org. (link)

SoundOut works with schools, government agencies, and education organizations across the United States promote student voice in schools. The organization provides school-based programs, professional development for educators, training for students, and consultative services to a variety of organizations. SoundOut’s work focuses on connecting student voice with action in school improvement planning, professional development, and student training. Its “Meaningful Student Involvement Series” offers research on the importance of student voices in schools as well as resources on how to involve students. The series also inventories meaningful student involvement throughout the nation.

Best Practices Club. (link)

The Best Practices (BP) club at Lexington High School in Lexington, Massachusetts is a student-run club that works with teachers to improve teaching and learning at the high school. Students created BP as an outlet for providing positive feedback on teaching and learning.