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| Help Us Help Ourselves: Developing Supportive Learning Environments with Students |
 PRINTABLE VERSION |
Combs the United States looking for compelling examples of young people working in their schools and communities on the real world issues that concern them most
Students for a Change
http://www.studentsforachange.net/
A Project of the Pennsylvania School Reform Network that was created to inspire, inform, and reflect students’ change efforts in Pennsylvania.
The Freechild Project - Student-led Education Reform Resources
http://freechild.org/student_involvement.htm
A volunteer-led program researching and promoting progressive student-led education reform resources for students and adults in several areas.
Institute for Community Leadership
http://www.icleadership.org
ICL’s Leadership Poetry Workshops engage students in powerful voice-finding activities designed to educate students about the power and possibilities of nonviolence. Students are then involving themselves throughout school change efforts, and using their voices to empower others.
Philadelphia Students Union
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia Student Union (PSU) helps young people become community activists and organizes them to fight for changes in the Philadelphia public schools. Accomplishments to date include $8,000 in new textbooks at Simon Gratz High School and securing funds for much needed repairs West Philadelphia High School. PSU is working on organizing campaigns around improper treatment of students by school staff, ensuring student input in the implementation of service learning in the public schools, and introducing interactive teaching tools in the school curriculum.
Student Advocates for Freedom and Equality
http://www.geocities.com/student_advocates/
SAFE is a student-led organization that supports several education reform platforms, including: an official list of Student Rights displayed in every school where it can easily be seen by the students and administration; they oppose homogeneously grouped classes; they believe that students, whether through a student or a student/ teacher coalition representative, should have the right to elect two members to their respective school boards with full voting rights to represent their views, and more.
Seattle Young Peoples Project
Seattle, Washington
Two of the student-led task forces currently working on school issues are addressing racism in schools and creating safe environments for gay, bisexual, lesbian, and transgender students. SYPP has also hosted several student education conferences in the past.
Minnesota Student Advisory Council
http://cfl.state.mn.us/youthadvisory/
The mission of the Youth Advisory Council (YAC) is to create a
respectful forum where representatives of Minnesota's diverse student
population contribute ideas about issues concerning their education,
peer relations, teacher/student communication and family involvement.
Having Their Say: Students' Input is Vital
http://www.nwrel.org/nwreport/may01/
An excellent publication by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. Their research proves that asking students what they think about their school, about learning, and how adults can help, can transform a school's improvement efforts.
About the Author
Adam Fletcher is a Student Engagement Specialist at the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Contact him at (360) 725-6105, or afletcher@ospi.wednet.edu.
Endnotes
National School Board Association. (1996). Council of Urban Boards of Education Triennial Survey. Alexandria, VA: NSBA.
Theisen, Rick. (2001). What They’re Saying. Curriculum Review, 40, p 3.
Learning First Alliance. (2001) Every Child Learning: Safe and Supportive Schools. Baltimore: Learning First Alliance. Throughout the booklet they provide scientific evidence supporting student involvement, and continually suggest student involvement’s potential in safe schools.
Anderman L. & Midgley, C. (1998). Motivation and Middle School Students. ED 421281.
Burnett, J. (1976). Introduction. From The Collected Works of John Dewey, 1889-1901, Volume 1. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. Throughout this collection Dewey made constant reference to students making strong decisions in schooling, and suggested their influence directly motivated teachers’ and students’ success.
Counts, G. (1932). Dare the School Build a New Social Order. New York: John Day Co. Counts vigilantly fought for progressive educators behaving progressively, and challenged schools to use innovative methods to promote the role of citizens and politics throughout society.
In 1996 the Youth Voice Project at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill talked to 500 youth from around the US. Then they developed the Principles for Youth-Adult Partnerships, a criteria that I've adapted for this article. Following are the Principles for Student-Adult Partnerships, a criteria for how to meaningfully involve students throughout schools.
RESPECT
Respect is mutual: You give it, you receive it.
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