REL Pacific
Samantha Holquist
December 20, 2019
This is the second blog post in our series on student voice in K–12 decision making. The first blog post covered information on what student voice is, how it can influence student outcomes, and different models for engaging student voice in decision making. This first blog post can be found here.
Increasingly, educators are recognizing student voice as a necessary component for improving their K–12 school systems, and are beginning to incorporate student experiences into their decision making.1 However, because efforts to uplift student voice can potentially have negative effects, such as student disengagement or frustration, it is important that research-based effective practices are considered when designing and implementing student voice opportunities.2 We are dedicating the second blog post in our student voice series to highlighting these effective practices and identifying several steps educators can take to begin to incorporate student voice into their decision making.
While context and purpose will both influence how student voice opportunities are designed and implemented, there are several practices that educators should consider as they begin to incorporate student voice into decision making.3
Decide on roles and responsibilities. Before sharing their voice, students need to understand what their role is, and is not, and who is responsible for the decisions being made.4 Therefore, educators should work with students to create clear roles and responsibilities within student voice opportunities.5 For example, if teachers are asking students to provide feedback on classroom instruction, students should be informed of how and when their feedback will be used to make decisions. Studies suggest that clarifying roles and responsibilities promotes openness and trust between students and adults, which enables students to feel more comfortable and willing to participate in student voice opportunities.6
Offer diverse forms of participation. Studies show that not all students feel comfortable speaking to administrators, responding to surveys, or participating in clubs.7 Therefore, educators should strive to offer multiple ways for students to share their experiences. Examples of different ways for students to participate include asking students to take pictures, write a short story, or create an art project.8
Identify an adult ally. Asking students to participate in decision making can be uncomfortable for students, as this is often a new role for them.9 Research suggests that to help students share their experiences, it is often essential for educators to identify an adult ally with whom students can collaborate when engaging in student voice opportunities.10 An adult ally is a teacher or staff member who provides students with support and/or encouragement, answers their questions, and gives them advice. An adult may also champion students' needs with school leaders when student may not feel heard.
Foster relationships between students. Studies highlight that helping students build relationships with one another allows students to feel more confident and willing to share their experiences.11, 12 These peer-to-peer relationships provide essential supports to students engaging in student voice opportunities as they navigate new situations, overcome challenges, and work together to achieve common goals.
Offer students professional learning. Research suggests that professional learning activities enhance students' ability to participate in student voice opportunities.13 Student voice often requires students to share their voice in different situations, such as speaking to school board members and providing feedback on policies. Educators can support student participation by providing learning activities to students on topics they may not learn in school, such as conducting research and electronic communication. Feedback from students and their adult allies can help educators identify student development areas.
Resist tokenization. Researchers broadly define tokenization as a symbolic effort on the part of educators to be inclusive of student voices in decision making, but not truly including all student ideas, feelings, and thoughts in decision making.14, 15 For example, a school leader may ask students to provide feedback on a decision and then only incorporate the feedback that supports the decision the school leader wanted to make. Educators should strive to be open to all student voices even when they challenge existing decisions or views.16 When students see that their voices are being tokenized, they can become disengaged and unwilling to share their experiences in the future.
Using effective practices to design and implement student voice opportunities can help educators better understand student experiences and enable students to actively participate in K–12 decision making. While the practices shared in this blog post can help educators and students integrate student voice into their decision-making processes, they may not support the sustainability of these opportunities over time. Join us soon for the next blog post of this series, where we'll highlight sustainability concerns and discuss ways to maintain student voice in decision making.
______________Footnotes:
1 Holquist, S. (2019). Student Voice in Education Policy: Understanding student participation in state-level K–12 education policy-making (Doctoral dissertation). Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Retrieved from https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/206658/Holquist_umn_0130E_20534.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.