SV 360 Quick Start
Do you value partnerships with students in your building, and include their voices and perspectives in reflection, school quality assessment, and decision-making?
Not sure yet
A culture of student voice and empowerment in schools is shown to improve attendance, attainment, engagement in learning, and investment in the school community.
- Start here
- The move to “EXPRESSION,” choose a strategy, and start listening.
- Read this research by Toshalis and Nakkula, Motivation, Engagement, And Student Voice.
YES - GREAT!
Do you have an established student leadership infrastructure?
For example, do you have a Student Voice Committee, Student Government, or other type of Student leadership group? Do you have systems established in which you are listening to student voices? e.g. school climate survey, focus groups, student congress or senate, etc?
- YES? Wonderful! You are prioritizing student voices and doing the hard work as an adult to make spaces for youth in school!
- NO? Student voice and leadership must first start with adults listening with intention, and ensuring students know adults are listening and they feel heard. Start with the strategies outlined in “Expression” or “Consultation”
How well are you and your team doing? How do you assess the quality of student voice?
- Start with an assessment of your practice using Hart’s Ladder of student voice. Consider using our Youth Voice Assessment Matrix as well.
- Depending on your assessment, you might want to start with ideas in “Participation” while you work on your team's capacity to move up the ladder. If your assessment generally falls in the middle or higher rungs of the ladder, you might try strategies in “Partnership,” and “Leadership.”
Student Voice in Schools Additional Resources:
- SV Measurement & Evaluation Throughout the SY: How and when student voice can be integrated during several important moments or processes across the school year.
- Toshalis and Nakkula, Motivation, Engagement, And Student Voice (Toolkit), April 2012: Resources and strategies to deepen student voice and inclusive partnerships in schools.
- Student Agency Resource Bundle from Students at the Center Hub
- Student-Centered Learning Schoolwide: Collaborative group work, Student choice, Inquiry-based activities, Authentic tasks. Video demonstrating student-centered learning in action
- UC Berkeley's Youth Participatory Action Research Tools: Includes curriculum, tools, and resources for youth participation, along with exemplars
- Erwin, Jonathan C., Classroom of Choice, Chapter 4 Power in the Classroom: Creating the Environment: Strategies for distributing leadership in the classroom
- WSCC Model: Framework for improving students' learning and health in our nation's schools