student voice essay

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Simple Ways to Promote Student Voice in the Classroom

Giving students some say over what happens in class can promote engagement and a strong sense of community.

One of the most powerful ways to impact achievement is to actively engage students in the life of the classroom. Although educators know that our students’ contributions are vital to the learning process, educator and author Alexis Wiggins was surprised to observe that many students “feel like a bit of a nuisance all day long.” As teachers, we have the capacity to change our students’ experiences if we design lessons that prioritize student voice and participation.

Elevating student voice is critical for many reasons. For one thing, as Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey write , “The amount of talk that students do is correlated with their achievement.” There are strategies teachers can use to elevate student voice in order to strengthen relationships, foster a sense of belonging, increase engagement, and inform instruction.

Begin Class With a Welcoming Ritual

Students arrive to class with their minds swirling about failed quizzes, mounting pressure about homework assignments, and concerns about interactions with their peers. In order to help them clear these distractions from their minds, we might begin class with a predictable routine.

Students might share “breaking news” or “what’s on the top of your mind?” in pairs, with small groups, or with the whole class. This  welcoming ritual  allows students to release their most pressing thoughts and create space for new experiences. It also builds relationships between students as they share a little bit of themselves with their peers. Welcoming rituals foster a sense of belonging as the classroom becomes a place that accepts students not only for who they are but where they are at a particular moment.

This brief share might transition directly into an opening activity that connects to the learning of the day. Together, students might consider an essential question, share responses to a short quote or passage, or take time to reflect on the previous day’s learning. Opening class with an emphasis on student engagement rather than passive compliance prioritizes student voice and places students at the center of the learning experience.

Plan Consistent Opportunities for Student Voice

During the planning stage, prioritize active engagement and student voice by asking yourself:

• When will students collaborate to problem-solve, devise higher-order questions , contribute to the creation of a product, or otherwise actively grapple with a lesson’s meaning?
• How often are students offered the opportunity to speak at the front of the room, write on the board, or conduct demonstrations on the document camera?
• When are students writing for an audience beyond the classroom?
• Do students have choices regarding the work they’re doing?
• If (and in what ways) are students prompted to connect what they’re learning in the classroom to their lives outside of school?

Ideally, our classrooms would be places where students not only gain knowledge but also discover who they are and who they want to be. The only way students will come to these realizations is through both independent and collaborative explorations in which they add their voices to the conversation. Prioritizing student voice strengthens a sense of belonging, as the learning experiences are co-created by students and teachers.

Ask Students About Their Lives Beyond The Classroom

We need to show our students that we value who they are and understand the complexities of their lives. Some students will clearly make themselves known while others will fade into the background if we let them—so we need to intentionally interact with all students. These moments of listening and sharing with students reinforce belonging and build relationships.

We can do this while greeting students when they enter the classroom, while conferring with small groups, and while conferencing with individual students. We can schedule “lunch and learn” sessions or invite students to help us hang student work or otherwise contribute to the logistics of the classroom during their study halls or lunch periods.

When students know we value what they have to say, they’re more likely to share their thoughts and insights. It may seem like we don’t have time to engage with every student, but we don’t have time not to. As John Hattie reminds us , “A positive, caring, respectful climate in the classroom is a prior condition to learning.” Strong teacher-student relationships bolster students’ confidence to share their voices.

Ask for Student Feedback—and Use It

Another important way to elevate student voice is to ask for feedback. As much as we wish we could, we will never know what it really feels like to be a student in our classrooms, and our students hold many of the answers we seek. We can ask them for feedback throughout the year and (when feasible) implement their suggestions. Student feedback not only informs instruction, it conveys that we value their insight, and that their voices are at the center of the work that we do.

When we listen to and honor our students, we can show them that their voices can be powerful instruments of learning for themselves and others—and levers of change in their classrooms and beyond.

Center for American Progress

Elevating Student Voice in Education

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This report outlines strategies to increase authentic student voice in education at the school, district, and state levels.

Advancing Racial Equity and Justice, Education, Education, K-12, Racial Equity and Community-Informed Policies +1 More

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In this article

Introduction and summary

Students have the greatest stake in their education but little to no say in how it is delivered. This lack of agency represents a lost opportunity to accelerate learning and prepare students for a world in which taking initiative and learning new skills are increasingly paramount to success.

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When it comes to student engagement, there is a predictable and well-documented downward trajectory as students get older. According to a 2016 Gallup poll that measured student engagement, about three-quarters of fifth graders—an age at which students are full of joy and enthusiasm for school—report high engagement in school. 1 By middle school, slightly more than one-half of students report being engaged. 2 In high school, however, there is a precipitous drop in engagement, with just about one-third of students reporting being engaged. 3 Similar to the drop in engagement, a recent poll from The New Teacher Project (TNTP) found that students see less value in their work and assignments with each subsequent year of school. 4

There are limited studies that show a direct connection between student engagement and students valuing their education and opportunities to make their voices heard. Many advocates and researchers encourage schools to create opportunities for students to participate in decisions about their education as a means of increasing student engagement and investing students in their education. 5

The authors of this report define “student voice” as student input in their education ranging from input into the instructional topics, the way students learn, the way schools are designed, and more. Increasing student voice is particularly important for historically marginalized populations, including students from Black, Latinx, Native American, and low-income communities as well as students with disabilities.

Given the assumption that student voice can increase student engagement, such efforts to give students more ownership of their education may be linked to improvements in student outcomes. 6 For example, a 2006 Civic Enterprises report, which surveyed a diverse group of 16- to 24-year-old adults who did not graduate high school, found that 47 percent of respondents indicated that “classes were not interesting” as the main reason they dropped out. 7 Sixty-nine percent of participants said that they were not motivated to work hard. 8 Interestingly, the percentage of students who did not feel inspired to work hard increased among students with lower GPAs; among high-, medium-, and low-GPA students, 56 percent, 74 percent, and 79 percent reported not feeling inspired to work hard, respectively. Surveyed students and focus groups emphasized the need for student voice in curricula development, improved instruction practices, and increased graduation rates. 9

States, districts, schools, and teachers can solicit and incorporate student voice in many ways. Some of these strategies fundamentally change the way that schools and systems operate, and others are more marginal. This report provides an overview of eight approaches that teachers, school leaders, and district and state policymakers can use to incorporate student voice: student surveys; student perspectives on governing bodies such as school, local, state decision-makers; student government; student journalism; student-led conferences; democratic classroom practices; personalized learning; and youth participatory action research (YPAR).

Implementation of these strategies matters greatly. Efforts to incorporate student voice are stronger when they include the following elements: intentional efforts to incorporate multiple student voices, especially those that have been historically marginalized; a strong vision from educational leaders; clarity of purpose and areas of influence; time and structures for student-adult communication; and, most importantly, trust between students and educators. 10 Policymakers and educators should also incorporate principles of universal design to ensure that these efforts are accessible to all students and recognize the voices of all students, including students with disabilities and students whose first language is not English.

This report concludes with policy recommendations for school, district, and state policymakers.

Youth activism has been in the spotlight of late due to several high-profile efforts, including the advocacy of youth who oppose the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program as well as the Parkland, Florida, students who galvanized around meaningful gun control. 11 Youth have also crafted public opposition letters to education officials to protest policies that perpetuate the school-to-prison pipeline and its disproportionate criminalization of Black and Latinx students, LGBTQ students, and students with disabilities. 12 For instance, a group of youth activists called the Voices of Youth in Chicago Education were instrumental in driving the narrative and advocating for statewide change that resulted in the 2015 passage of SB 100 in Illinois, which addressed harsh, punitive discipline policies in school. 13

This youth activism is remarkable and helps change the debate on key issues facing the United States. This report, however, focuses on incorporating student voice within existing educational institutions.

What is student voice?

  The authors of this report define student voice as authentic student input or leadership in instruction, school structures, or education policies that can promote meaningful change in education systems, practice, and/or policy by empowering students as change agents, often working in partnership with adult educators. 14

Expert definitions of student voice

“At the simplest level, student voice can consist of young people sharing their opinions of school problems with administrators and facility. Student voice initiatives can also be more extensive, for instance, when young people collaborate with adults to address the problems in their schools—and in rare cases when youth assume leadership roles to change efforts.” 15

–Dana Mitra, a Pennsylvania State University scholar on education policy and student voice

“[A] broad term describing a range of activities that can occur in and out of school. It can be understood as expression, performance, and creativity and as co-constructing the teaching/learning dynamic. It can also be understood as self-determined goal-setting or simply as agency.” 16

­–Eric Toshalis, senior director of impact at KnowledgeWorks who focuses on student engagement and motivation

Experts on student voice, including Mitra and Toshalis, describe student voice as a spectrum or pyramid to illustrate that different forms of student engagement foster different levels of agency. 17 On the one hand, adults gather and use student perspectives, feedback, and opinions to inform change. On the other hand, students participate in decision-making bodies that drive change. 18 Student agency increases as students assume more leadership and have greater responsibility and accountability in instruction or policy changes.

All forms of student voice can be important and can meaningfully influence instruction, schools, and policies. But each approach has trade-offs, and one may be more appropriate to achieve certain goals than others. For example, schoolwide or districtwide surveys provide a snapshot in time with answers to a limited number of largely multiple-choice questions and often measure changes in the views of a large group of students over time. Student leadership through governing bodies or YPAR can allow for meaningful and extended conversations about complex topics and implementation; in most instances, however, this approach engages fewer students.

Strategies to incorporate student voice

Teachers, schools, and policymakers can use different strategies to incorporate student perspectives and empower students to lead. These strategies engage students at different points on the student voice spectrum and are not mutually exclusive. Schools and policymakers can adopt one or many of these strategies, as appropriate, to engage students and ensure that schools reflect the interests and needs of the populations they serve.

This section lists the most common student voice strategies based on CAP research; the pros and cons of each approach and suggestions for how to maximize the strategy’s effect; and one or more short descriptions of the strategies in practice. Student surveys are the first focus in this section because they can be a useful tool at all levels of education decision-making—state, district, school, and classroom. Next, the authors list strategies in the order of scale of reach, starting with those that can influence state policies and ending with those that affect individual learning. As discussed later in the report, implementation is critical to ensure that each strategy supports authentic student voice. 19

Student surveys

Surveys efficiently collect many student perspectives. The content and purpose of student surveys vary. Districts, schools, or teachers may choose to design and administer surveys to collect baseline information on student interests, school climate, rigor or quality of instruction, student behaviors, and perception of their own power to establish goals and measure growth over time.

Some surveys are formative, meaning they are designed to shed light on strengths, weaknesses, and areas on which to focus improvement but not to inform high-stakes evaluations. Other surveys are designed to assess certain programs, classrooms, or schools. Formative tools, for example, are classroom surveys that give private feedback to a teacher. Other surveys may have higher stakes. For instance, a district may opt to use student surveys as a factor in school ratings or as a component of teacher evaluations. Some student surveys are administered statewide, and the summary results are made available to the public. For instance, the Illinois Youth Survey is administered to students in grades eight, 10, and 12 and includes questions about drug use, experiences with violence, attitudes and engagement in school, and mental and physical health. 20 Other places such as the CORE Districts in California use student climate surveys in their accountability systems. 21

The level to which student surveys influence policies and the student experience depends on the purpose and design of the survey and how the results are used. Policymakers should use valid and reliable survey tools in high-stakes evaluations as a component of a school accountability framework. And while some survey data can provide meaningful, formative results, data can, in some instances, be unreliable due to reference bias—the effect of survey respondents’ reference points on their answers, among other concerns. 22 For example, there is growing interest in collecting information about social and emotional learning, but survey data unfairly hurt high-performing schools. 23 That is because, in general, students in higher-performing schools with more rigorous expectations rate themselves lower in self-control and work ethic than students in lower-performing schools. Researchers have developed valid survey tools to measure school culture and climate. 24

The design, topics addressed, and intended use of the survey will also influence the need to protect students’ privacy and the confidentiality of survey information. Educators need to be mindful of federal privacy laws, specifically the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment and the Family and Educational Rights and Privacy Act, when developing surveys.

• Collects information from the entire target student population rather than a subset
• Provides a fair process for ascertaining student opinions in a way that students do not influence one another
• Can be designed, administered, and scored easily and at a relatively low cost
• Can be used to set goals and measure growth over time
• Can disaggregate data to determine if there are variations among racial and ethnic groups, students from families with low incomes, or students from other identity groups
• Can be used to compare schools when administered statewide or districtwide and can provide additional information and context beyond test scores to understand school quality
• Represents only a snapshot in time
• May not allow for nuanced responses from students
• May not get at core aspects of student experience in the school
• Risks being ineffectual if survey data are not acted upon
• Does not empower students to lead the change they desire
• Leaves open the possibility that teachers or administrators will seek to influence results to be seen in a more favorable light, particularly when consequences are attached to the results

How to maximize the strategy

• Use as part of a broader strategy to empower students as change agents
• Administer surveys with students as creators or even co-researchers who analyze data and provide recommendations to improve school climate and practices
• Be thoughtful around the use of survey results as an accountability measure for school quality, if at all
• Maximize response rates and find ways to increase investment among students and parents and be consistent in recruitment efforts
• Ensure that surveys are universally designed and accessible to all students through translation for students who are learning English, accommodations for students with disabilities, and access to necessary technology

Student surveys inform school ratings in New York City Public Schools

Since 2007, the New York City Public School District has conducted an annual survey that targets parents, teachers, and students in grades six through 12. The results are included in each school’s rating, and principals are encouraged to use the data to improve instruction, culture, professional development, and family engagement strategies. The student survey is anonymous and includes questions to examine academic rigor and supportive environment. 25 Over the past decade, about 80 percent of students in participating grades took the survey. 26

Empowering students to analyze and develop solutions using survey data

Unleashing the Power of Partnership for Learning (UP for Learning) is a Vermont-based nonprofit organization that fosters student voice through a youth-adult partnership model. The organization helps students not only share their perspective, but also analyze data, develop data-informed solutions, and become agents of change. 27 The organization partners with schools to prepare students to advocate for change based on Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data, a survey administered nationally by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention every two years to collect data on health behaviors and high school students’ experiences. 28 In response to limited follow-up opportunities for students to be able to analyze the data, UP for Learning piloted the Getting to Y initiative in Vermont high schools and has implemented the initiative for about 10 years since. Schools reach out to UP for Learning to train students in data analysis and facilitation. Students use these skills to bring meaning to YRBS data, develop recommended policy or programmatic changes, and implement these changes accordingly. UP for Learning worked with the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque to replicate the model. 29

Student perspectives on governing bodies

Decision-making bodies at the school, district, and state levels can give students an active role or consider student perspectives. This approach can take different forms: Policymakers can allow students to serve on decision-making bodies such as state or district school boards or in a voting or advisory capacity on school committees; form a group of students to serve on a parallel, student-only body akin to a student school board; or create student advisory committees—similar to the way that many states and districts convene teacher advisory committees—to weigh in on important policy debates. 30

Including students or their perspectives in governing bodies actively engages students in the education system and provides a point of view that is often underrepresented. 31 As consumers and beneficiaries of the education system, students have a different perspective than teachers, administrators, and parents—and that unique insight can shed light on new approaches or solutions. 32 Engaging student perspectives generates important feedback and creates a sense of ownership that can lead to higher student performance. 33

For school-level governing bodies, partnering with students can help develop culturally sustaining educational practices and select curricula and instructional materials that are most relevant and engaging to their various communities. While teachers should be proactive in incorporating culturally responsive instruction, students can help highlight practices and instructional materials that align to student interests and values to help educators avoid blind spots. 34

Various districts and states include students on their boards of education. A 2014 analysis of student participation on state boards of education (SBOE) by SoundOut, a nonprofit organization that partners with educators, districts, and district officials to implement student voice initiatives, found that 19 states included at least one student member on their SBOE. 35 For example, the Pennsylvania SBOE changed its bylaws in 2008 to require one high school junior and one high school senior to sit on both the Council for Basic Education and Council of Higher Education for their SBOE, but the students have no voting power. 36 The Pennsylvania Association of Student Councils, a statewide student leadership organization that works with administrators and students alike, recommends high school students for the Council of Basic Education. 37 Vermont has two student members on their SBOE, one of whom has voting power upon the second year of their service. 38 The Maryland State Department of Education sponsors the Maryland Association of Student Councils, which nominates one student for the SBOE to serve alongside another governor-appointed student. 39

Some states have explicit laws to encourage or prohibit youth participation. According to a 2014 SoundOut analysis, 14 states have laws that explicitly prohibit students from serving on district school boards. 40 Twenty-five states permit students to sit on district school boards, but that does not mean that all districts within the state choose to include student members. 41

Building demand for youth perspectives

In some states, especially Kentucky and Oregon, youth are pressing the case to have their perspectives considered and are demanding a seat at the table by working outside of existing structures, informing themselves about policies, effectively lobbying legislators, and holding press conferences. 42 For instance, the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, a nonpartisan, nonprofit citizen’s advocacy group in Kentucky, is helping policymakers and educators see the value of youth perspective as part of their larger goal to improve academics and educational equity across the state. 43 The organization has a Student Voice Team of approximately 100 self-selected students ranging from elementary school students to college students. 44 According to the group’s website, it uses “the tools of civil engagement to elevate the voices of young people in education research, policy, and advocacy.” 45

Furthermore, in some states and cities, including Denver and Los Angeles, youth have worked to lower the voting age for school board members to age 16 as a way to encourage student civic engagement and utilize students’ first-hand experience with school-related issues. 46 In Colorado, a coalition of youth advocates were key in convincing a state senator and a state representative to introduce legislation in 2019 that seeks to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in local school board elections. 47

• Gives student representatives real power over state and district policies, including hiring and budgeting
• Gives voting student members equal power to adult members
• Allows students to gain experience with governing bodies
• Fosters open conversation between students and adult decision-makers
• Engages only a few select students
• Often includes students for whom the current education structure is already working
• May not influence change if the student is not a voting member
• Dependent on the structure, risks student representatives not feeling empowered to voice their opinions or to disagree with adult authority figures
• Is less appropriate for younger students
• Give student representatives voting power
• Recruit and seek out diverse candidates to run or be appointed to governing bodies
• Create two or more slots for students
• Schedule meetings at times and locations that are accessible and convenient for students
• Offer training to both youth and adults to foster and build toward a concrete and authentic youth-adult partnership

Case studies

Pittsfield middle high school site council, pittsfield, new hampshire.

Started in 2010, the Pittsfield Middle High School Site Council is a majority-student school governance body with 10 student members, six faculty members, and three community members 48 who are responsible for deciding school policies such as dress codes and class schedules. Students work with teachers and community members to discuss policy changes to address long-standing academic and school climate issues. Pittsfield Middle High School has also implemented other strategies that promote student choice, including shifting to competency-based learning. Since the school adopted some of these approaches, Pittsfield Middle High School’s dropout rate has decreased by more than half, from 3.9 percent in the 2010-2011 school year to just 0.6 percent in the 2016-2017 school year. 49

Montgomery County Public School Board of Education, Maryland

In Maryland, Montgomery County Public Schools’ Board of Education is made up of eight members, one of which is an elected student member with full voting rights. The board addresses a variety of issues, including operating budgets and school building closings. Additionally, the current student board member plans to discuss topics such as affirmative consent and high school dress codes. 50

Boston Student Advisory Committee

In Massachusetts, two representatives from most Boston high schools serve on the Boston Student Advisory Committee (BSAC), which Boston Public Schools (BPS) created to make recommendations to the BPS system’s Boston School Committee. In addition, BPS asks the student representatives to share their work with their peers to make sure that all students are more informed about current district policy debates. According to BPS, the BSAC is “primary vehicle for student voice and youth engagement across the Boston Public Schools.” Participating students receive public-speaking training, learn about community organizing, and are taught how to navigate political situations. At weekly meetings, the BSAC discusses several important issues such as school discipline and climate, BPS budget, student-to-teacher feedback, and school equity. 51

Student governments or councils

Student governments, sometimes called student councils, are comprised of student representatives who weigh in on or oversee school-related matters. The number of students on a student council varies by school. Roles on student councils typically include a president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary, among others. Typically, representatives run campaigns and are elected by their peers. In some instances, elected students or the school administration can appoint students. 52

The responsibilities of student councils are sometimes outlined in a formal framework such as bylaws or a constitution. 53 Student councils typically have no authority over budgeting, school hiring, pay and other personnel matters, discipline, grades, or the length of the school day. They do, however, tend to have shared responsibility for homecoming, dances, and civic and volunteer activities. Often, they have complete authority over student council initiatives, school spirit weeks, fundraising for council projects, staff appreciation, and more. 54 In general, school administrations can assign specific responsibilities or projects to student councils and assign a faculty adviser to them. Student councils can also maintain autonomy and budget authority over the programs under their control. As liaisons between administrators and students, student councils can have a significant effect on school climate.

To make student governments representative of the entire student body, it is important for schools to encourage diverse candidates to run for office. Intentionally diverse student representation encourages discussion of different viewpoints and various student interests.

• Empowers students to make decisions and engage in issues that are important to the student body and school culture
• Fosters leadership development
• Enables students to gain experience with democracy, administration, and communicating with administrators
• Generally involves a small number of students who are elected by their peers and typically have higher social capital
• Leaves the possibility that student council activities are restricted to the responsibility granted by a school and faculty advisers
• Empower student councils to have a voice in consequential school matters
• Consider consulting with student government on important decisions such as school schedules, school budget, hiring, and discipline policy
• Support all students who demonstrate interest in running for student government to cultivate less-likely candidates or structure the council to make it more inclusive of all interested students
• Encourage student councils to undertake initiatives that align with their values and could have a significant and lasting effect on the school community or the community writ large

Weston High School Student Council, Weston, Massachusetts

Each year, Weston High School students elect five representatives from each class along with six elected student officers to represent the student body as the student council. The 26 members plan schoolwide social events. Some of these events raise money for charities that the council chooses. In 2018, the council raised more than $8,000 for Camp No Limits, a camp program for children with physical disabilities. The student council works to develop opportunities for all students to discuss strategies to improve school culture. Each year, two members from the Weston High School council join the Greater Boston Regional Student Advisory Council to represent the school at the state level. 55

Student journalism

Student journalism provides students with a platform to gather information, interview sources, raise issues, and report news. Student journalism can be used to expose problems in a school or community and as an outlet to express students’ opinions. Student journalists now share stories and their ideas using student-led television programs, podcasts, social media, blogs, and most traditionally, newspapers. Student journalism allows students to try their hand at writing and reporting—skills that can help them prepare for their careers. While high schools are more likely to have reporting and editorial teams, some middle and even elementary schools have school newspapers. Some student publications publish monthly; others publish weekly. Middle school and high school students and their schools can even win awards for their journalism. For example, the Journalism Education Association (JEA), an organization dedicated to protecting and enhancing journalism education, offers awards such as the Aspiring Young Journalist Award and the Student Journalist Impact Award. 56 The JEA also offers Journalist of the Year Scholarships to high school seniors who submit digital essays to their state JEA director and go on to a national competition. 57

Teacher advisers often oversee student reporting, although their level of oversight differs significantly by school. In some instances, administrators strictly filter content and limit the topics on which students can report. In fact, in 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a school district is allowed to censor work in school publications if the writing is poor or if the content does not align with certain values. 58 As a result, similar to professional journalists, students have varying degrees of freedom to select and report on topics. Some student journalists cover controversial issues such as elections, teacher walkouts, safe sex, and school shootings, while other schools only allow students to cover school-based social events and reviews of pop culture. 59

• Enables students to raise issues, start conversations, and express their opinions on issues related to their schools, districts, and state policies
• Allows student journalists to gain practical skills that can give them a leg up in their careers
• Allows students to become more informed about current events
• Enables students to write and report on topics that they find important
• Provides an outlet for students to be recognized for academic and athletic achievement as well as other contributions to the school community
• Leaves decision-making to schools on how much flexibility students have over news production and content
• Requires established structures and resources within each school
• Provide training on writing, reporting, and the best ways to use different media tools to share ideas 60
• Encourage all students to read and discuss student articles in class
• Engage a trusted adviser to help students manage logistics and serve as an advocate for the publication
• Submit student articles to local papers to increase impact and visibility

The Eagle Eye , Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, Florida

Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, manage The Eagle Eye , the student newspaper, with the support of a teacher adviser. Students take a journalism class to learn research and writing skills necessary to contribute to the publication. In the wake of the devastating school shooting in February 2018, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School principal, Ty Thompson, gave The Eagle Eye significant flexibility in how the students covered the event and the following advocacy. The Eagle Eye sensitively and accurately captured the stories of victims in the publication following the tragedy. The Eagle Eye has run articles on local school board elections and an op-ed on why juniors should not be allowed to park in the senior parking lot. 61 While students develop and are responsible for the paper’s content, a teacher adviser helps students navigate challenging issues, copyedit content, and meet publishing deadlines. 62

Student-led conferences

Student-led conferences change the players and the dynamic of the conventional parent-teacher conference. At most schools, individual parents and teachers meet twice during a school year to discuss a student’s progress and brainstorm solutions to academic or behavioral issues. However, the student-led conference invites the student into the conversation and allows them to describe their academic progress and collaborate with teachers and parents to address academic, behavioral, or social challenges. The student-led conference model provides students with a forum to share their work and discuss what they find most difficult and most meaningful in their educational experience.

Teachers and parents can engage students of any age in a conference, but participation will look different depending on the student’s age and development. In most instances, students share a representative portfolio of work that they prepared prior to the conference. A first grader, for example, may use the portfolio of work to explain what they have learned thus far during the year. A fifth grader, on the other hand, may employ the portfolio to explain which learning goals they have yet to master or to develop a plan to complete more homework on time.

• Provides greater transparency for students in understanding the progress they are making and the areas for improvement
• Strengthens communication between parents and guardians and students
• Allows students to demonstrate responsibility and communication skills when sharing about their work
• Requires educators to change their mindset of the traditional teacher-student dynamic to ensure student agency
• Limits the ability of parents and teachers to speak candidly about the challenges a student may have
• May be difficult for students to feel comfortable sharing feedback among teachers, parents, guardians, and other relevant adults
• Create developmentally appropriate guidelines for students to participate in conferences that help build students’ ability to discuss their learning and development
• Reframe learning as a youth-adult partnership to empower both parties to share responsibility in learning  

Two Rivers Public Charter School, Washington, D.C.

The staff of Two Rivers Public Charter School believe that students should be in control of their own learning. Student-led conferences allow students to share their learning goals with teachers and parents. 63 The school holds student-led conferences three times per year to collect data, highlight progress, and set future learning goals for students. 64 The school offers resources for students to prepare for the conference, including a handbook and checklist, which help students review important information while still allowing them to customize the conversation to their personal learning goals. 65

“Student-led conferences allow us to take ownership of our learning. Only we know how we are doing and where we are running. There isn’t always going to be an adult there to help us.” ­–Payton, sixth grade student, Two Rivers Public Charter School, Washington, D.C. 66

Democratic classroom practices

Democratic classroom practices allow students to help shape the structure and climate of their learning environment. Teachers make joint decisions with groups of students, helping students develop skills to collaborate with their peers and teachers. 67 In general, teachers facilitate group conversations with a class to set expectations, solve problems, or make important classroom decisions, including co-creation of curriculum and design and assessment measures. 68 For instance, at the beginning of the school year, students and their teacher can develop rules, norms, and consequences. Throughout the year, the class revisits this agreement, tweaking components to ensure that everyone’s needs are met. When problems arise, the teacher facilitates a discussion, framing the problem in a collective voice.

Students of all ages can participate in group decision-making, but teachers should adjust expectations to meet students’ social development. Democratic classroom practices can also include students providing periodic feedback to their teacher about what is or is not working as it concerns the learning environment.

• Enables changes to be made at the classroom level by individual teachers or schools
• Empowers students by letting them weigh in on how the classroom works
• Increases relevance in learning, which leads to increased student engagement
• Appropriate for very young students
• Fosters a sense of community and collaboration among students, teachers, and administrators
• Limits influence to classrooms and, sometimes, schools
• Requires educators to have a change in mindset, which can be difficult to implement
• Adopt a building-wide democratic, problem-solving approach and shift school structures and processes to allow for schoolwide conversation
• Help teachers develop the mindsets and skills to meaningfully implement this approach in their classrooms
• Ensure that administrators and teachers keep an open mind and adjust decisions based on student input

Responsive classroom

Responsive classroom is a specific approach to democratic classroom practices that seeks to incorporate academic and socioemotional learning and is designed for grades kindergarten through eight. Responsive classrooms, or classes that implement this approach, are “developmentally responsive to their (students) strengths and needs.” 69 Responsive classroom incorporates essential teaching practices—including morning meetings, interactive modeling, positive teacher language, and logical consequences—as well as choices in instruction to help students develop and grow academically, socially, and emotionally. Teachers make time in the beginning and end of the day as well as in academic lessons to work through challenges as a class with an eye toward respecting the social and emotional needs of every student. 70

Youth participatory action research

The action research approach provides students the space and time needed to conduct systematic research, analyze oppressive issues in their schools or communities, and develop solutions to address them. When carried out by students, this type of approach is called youth participatory action research (YPAR) or student action research. 71 In implementing this approach, schools or districts may start by inviting students to form research groups with the guidance of a teacher or school counselor. Often, students receive training on how to develop research questions, collect data, conduct interviews, and advocate for solutions. They then use these skills to conduct deep, collaborative research—with other students, teachers, and/or community members—on issues that can range from increasing access to healthy food to addressing the school-to-prison pipeline. 72 The research process can last a few months to an entire year. At the end of the process, students develop recommendations for social change. Students have the opportunity to present their policy ideas to decision-making bodies, or they can begin to develop strategies on their own to implement their recommendations. Usually, a teacher or other adult acts as a guide or coach to help students navigate the research process and determine how to advocate for and implement change, including facilitating discussions with relevant decision-makers.

Action research is most appropriate for middle school and high school students. It gives participating students the opportunity to address pressing issues in their school and community; moreover, the concrete tasks of action research promote key learning outcomes related to reading, writing, and inquiry. Often, action research occurs outside of existing school structures and can feature collaboration with community groups.

• Enables students to focus on issues that matter most to them and to their communities
• Supports students in developing research and advocacy skills
• Allows for open conversation between students and decision-makers
• Builds civic engagement and sense of empowerment when projects result in positive change
• Helps students learn to work in teams
• Shifts adult perceptions of the capacity of youth to be change agents
• Requires significant time to organize and support
• May be difficult to develop actionable, relevant, and timely solutions when projects are conducted on a part-time basis
• Not as easy to coordinate among younger students
• Make concerted efforts to support students in their idea development, research, and execution
• Guarantee that action research groups have an audience and invite students to present to school leaders or district policymakers
• Create a context where students feel safe to ask critical questions about their school experiences and challenge business-as-usual attitudes and practices

Student Board Challenge 5280, Denver Public Schools

Denver Public Schools’ (DPS) Challenge 5280 invites high school students to participate in action research. In 2014, DPS launched the competition with financial and programmatic support from the Aspen Institute, an international think tank. 73 Today, DPS fully funds and manages the program and has integrated the challenge into DPS’ Student Board of Education. Initially a seven-week program, Challenge 5280 now runs as a yearlong student leadership class and is positioned in the district as a Civic Leadership Development program. In recent years, high school students investigated pressing social justice concerns in their school community and helped institute a range of actions, including requiring implicit bias training for teachers, establishing student hiring committees, and implementing restorative justice practices. 74 Current student research topics address social justice issues such as sexual health and wellness, culturally responsive professional development for teachers, and the empowerment of young men of color. 75 Each SBOE Challenge 5280 team has a coach who is typically a full-time classroom teacher, though a few are guidance counselors and administrative staff.

At the end of the school year, SBOE Challenge 5280 teams present their research and solutions as part of a competition in front of community, city, and district policymakers. Challenge teams also meet with administrative leadership in their schools throughout the year. Almost half of the high schools in the district participate with schools having the autonomy to implement the program based on their specific dynamics. 76 More than half of participating schools offer an elective course on action research to ensure that more students have the time and space to participate. 77

“The growth that comes with understanding the true value of students in education; that students have the voice, strength, and knowledge to enact change in any system, and have just as much right as anyone to do it, especially in education. Without that understanding, I wouldn’t have been able to recognize those values in myself.” –Jua Fletcher, class of 2018 student, Denver South High School 78

Personalized learning

Teachers and schools can give students a voice in what and how they learn through personalizing instruction. Personalized learning tailors at least some of the learning experience based on students’ individual needs, skills, and interests.

Teachers can adapt instruction in different ways. For instance, a teacher can allow students to select topics for projects or reports based on their interests or differentiate instruction based on what students need to master course material. Personalized learning can transform elementary and secondary schools when schools, districts, and states allow students to have greater control over what, how, and at what pace they learn. For example, states or districts may allow schools to change the way students earn credit for courses. Instead of following a regimented scope and sequence, schools may allow students to demonstrate mastery or competency of learning goals in classroom and out-of-school activities that interest them.

• Allows students to explore topics that interest them, which can increase the relevance and engagement of instruction
• Allows change to happen at the classroom level
• Works very well for students who are self-directed and motivated
• Implementation quality can vary widely
• Some programs are overly reliant on technology to provide instruction, leading students to experience too much time in front of screens
• It can isolate students and weaken relationships with other peers that facilitate learning
• Pass state and district policies that create flexibility in the way students progress through learning goals and demonstrate mastery
• Ensure that students are working closely with their peers and adults and that the school and classroom has strong systems for monitoring student progress and ensuring students receive personal attention and remain on track

MC² STEM High School, Cleveland

Students at MC² STEM High School in Cleveland learn through an entirely project-based curriculum that is designed to prepare students for in-demand science, technology, engineering, and math roles in the community. Students drive their own learning by selecting a topic for semester-long, interdisciplinary, theme-based projects. All projects align with Ohio’s state standards and reflect the needs of local industry partners. Throughout the year, students have access to local experts, industry groups, and internships so that each student can tailor their learning to their specific areas of interest. 79

Meaningful implementation of student voice strategies

“We’ve been moved from the kiddie table to the adult table, but our portions remain the same.” –Elijah Jones, 11th grade student, The Tatnall School, Wilmington, Delaware 80

Careful design and implementation of student voice strategies are critical to ensure that any strategy meaningfully incorporates student perspectives and empowers students to influence instruction and policies. The following components can build the foundation for and improve the implementation of any strategy designed to empower students to share their perspective and lead.

• Diverse student perspectives . Student voice is not a monolith. Students have diverse perspectives and needs. Strategies to incorporate student perspectives and position students to lead should try to engage many students, especially traditionally disempowered students who may be struggling to succeed in the current school structures. Incorporating student perspectives is easier to accomplish in student surveys, democratic classroom practices, personalized learning, and student-led conferences that inherently allow more students to participate. Also, YPAR can be designed in ways that target specific subgroups that are not typically heard in decision-making processes. 81
• Clear expectations, goals, and processes for both students and adults. Students will have different levels of input and decision-making power based on the specific strategy, age level of students, or entity such as the school board, school, councils, and more. Adults—administrators, teachers, and policymakers—at all levels should be transparent about the areas in which they are seeking student voice and how they will incorporate student perspectives. 82 Doing so will require that many adults step outside of their comfort zone of control and embrace a new paradigm. By doing so, students can clearly see how their ideas and actions change policies and practice.
• Adult-student trust . Students and adults should respect and value each other’s perspectives and assume best intent. Underlying trust will allow students and adults to work through differences in opinions. Schools can help foster these connections by creating time for adults and students to collaborate and talk outside of specific academic classes. 83
• Scaffolding for students . Many of the strategies listed above are most appropriate for middle or high school students, but schools should build the skills and mindsets needed for students to take initiative, advocate for solutions, and drive change beginning at an early age. Educators can help cultivate student voice by scaffolding some of these strategies for students’ development level. For instance, in student-led conferences, students in the third grade may describe what they have been learning, while students in the seventh-grade may have the ability to share where they are struggling or exceeding expectations.
• Scaffolding for adults. Effective implementation of these practices requires adults to shift their mindset and develop new skills for collaboration. Adults may need support learning how best to adapt structures to facilitate open dialogue and trust among adults and students. 84 They may also benefit from seeing successful strategies in action and hearing from adults who have seen the positive effects of authentic partnership with students.  

The following table outlines examples of the ways that schools or policymakers can implement these strategies with varying degrees of significance. The table also highlights the zones of influence for different strategies and the grade-span most effective for each strategy.

Policy recommendations

Schools and policymakers should value student perspectives—student voice—and give students the opportunity to influence instruction and policy decisions by adopting and implementing appropriate strategies.

State level

State policymakers should incorporate student perspectives as they develop and implement policies and encourage schools to empower students to drive their own learning and influence school procedures and practices. To do so, state policymakers should do the following:

• Include a voting student member on the state school board. State school boards should appoint a student member with voting power to the board. State boards should develop a democratic process to select the student and assist the student in soliciting diverse student perspectives to make sure a wide cross section of student opinions inform policy decisions.
• Create student advisory committees for state policymakers. Similar to teacher advisory committees, state policymakers can create student-populated bodies to advise decision-makers on challenges and on policy development and implementation. These committees should meet regularly and discuss consequential matters.
• Require statewide surveys to collect information on students’ attitude toward school and their community and make the results public. More states should require all schools to administer surveys to consider students’ attitudes toward school and their community. States should collect the data, publish the results, and encourage districts to use the information to inform policy changes. States should involve students in data analysis and any subsequent actions.
• Encourage student-centered learning. States can create flexibility in how students can demonstrate mastery, allowing students to learn at their own pace and in ways that align with their areas of interest. To do so, some states are eliminating the use of the Carnegie Unit, the practice of measuring student learning by seat time in each course. For example, New Hampshire eliminated the Carnegie Unit in 2005, and the state allows districts to develop a competency rubric to measure student mastery. 85

District level

Similar to states, school districts and boards should incorporate student perspectives in their decision-making process as well as implement policies that encourage schools to empower students to drive their own learning and influence school policies. To do so, district level policymakers should do the following:

• Support state-required surveys and develop district-level student surveys to gather information about instruction and school climate. Districts should support schools in administering state surveys, if the surveys are required by the state. Districts can supplement that information and develop student surveys on the rigor of instruction, quality of teaching, and school climate while ensuring youth involvement in each step of the process. Districts should publish the school-level data and use the results to create improvement plans and support school leaders. For instance, if several schools struggle with school climate, a district may hire a consultant to help those schools develop a positive behavioral intervention system, develop democratic classroom practices, and find context-specific approaches to improve student-adult relationships.
• Include students on governing bodies and create student advisory committees to engage more student perspectives in important decisions. District school boards should appoint at least one student member with voting power to the board. District boards should develop democratic processes to select the student and help the student representative develop strategies to gain input from diverse student perspectives before weighing in on school board matters. This student advisory group could undertake YPAR or other forms of research about student experiences to inform their policy arguments and recommendations.
• Create specific initiatives to engage student groups that are historically marginalized. While efforts to create strategies to engage all students are important, targeted programming enables specific subgroups such as students of color, students who identify as LGBTQ or students from other marginalized racial or ethnic groups to have a voice. For example, Denver Public Schools has a Young African American and Latinx Leaders group, which addresses systemic inequities facing African American, Latinx, and indigenous administrators, teachers, staff, and students. 86
• Encourage schools to build time for student-educator collaboration and enable personalized learning. Districts should help schools think creatively to shift school schedules to enable students and educators to collaborate outside of instructional time. Districts should also assist schools in restructuring their schedules to allow for project- or inquiry-based learning. This may require schools to create fewer, longer instructional blocks throughout the day rather than the traditional eight 45-minute block schedule. Or districts could allow high schools to offer course credit for projects done in conjunction with community or local industry partners.
• Offer student-led conferences and provide training to teachers on how to conduct them. Student-led conferences can be empowering for students—even very young students—but they involve a shift in the typical teacher-parent communication. Teachers would benefit from district and administrative support in implementing these conferences.

School level

Schools leaders should design schools that foster adult-student trust and communication as well as promote personalized learning. To do so, school leaders should do the following:

• Empower students to drive their learning and foster a positive school climate. Schools should help teachers personalize learning and customize curriculum to meet the interests and needs of each student. Teachers and schools can help students to critically consider their environment and effectively articulate challenges and solutions by adopting democratic classroom practices. For older students, this interaction would include action research. Schools can help students take the reins of their learning by allowing students to lead parent conferences and develop their own personalized learning plans.
• Administer student surveys in a strategic manner to increase participation rates, utilize the results to inform strategy and operations, and create informal information-gathering tools and polls to inform classroom decisions. If the state or district requires a survey, school administrators can access those results, partner with students to set goals for improvement, and develop strategies to meet those goals with student input. Administrators should highlight the survey results and the strategy for improvement with teachers, students, and parents. Students should have time to complete the surveys during class in order to increase participation rates. School leaders can include students in the process of analyzing, reporting, and utilizing the student survey data to improve instruction or climate. Also, schools or teachers can create their own surveys or polls to inform school or classroom decisions.
• Create student newspapers and empower student journalists. There are many new and exciting ways for students to explore issues of interest to them and share them with their community. Schools should explore creating podcasts, blogs, and more to provide students with avenues to share their opinions and gain valuable skills. Administrators should provide training and guidance but should not place restrictions on content whenever possible. Schools should devote resources to student journalism and work with students to create an effective distribution strategy.
• Provide student governments with meaningful authority . Schools should consider expanding the scope of student council responsibilities to include weighing in on the core issues affecting the student experience such as the school schedule, budget, discipline code, curriculum, and hiring decisions. Schools should also encourage student governments to undertake important initiatives that would improve the school culture and community. School administrators should empower student-led governments by encouraging a diverse pool of students to run for office, including marginalized, underserved, and less extroverted students. School administrators can also suggest alternatives to the traditional voting system process that would serve to include more students from the groups listed above and would encourage any interested student to participate. School administrators should also carve out time for candidates to campaign and allow student-led governments to organize important school functions.
• Offer professional development to help teachers and administrators shift mindsets and build skills to effectively implement student voice strategies. School administrators benefit from training that helps them implement structures and communication techniques that build trust between students and educators. Adults may need to shift mindsets around existing power structures that tend to invalidate student opinions and contributions. In order to shift this paradigm, teachers and administrators must be open to change.
• Restructure school schedules to build in time for students and teachers to share perspectives and discuss school policies. To effectively incorporate student perspectives in school policies, students and teachers need time to discuss challenges and develop solutions related to instruction, school climate, and other school policies.

Studies show that people who take initiative and demonstrate leadership skills are more likely to succeed in their careers. 87 Yet schools do not always foster those very qualities—sometimes they even stifle them. Numerous surveys show that students do not feel engaged in school, especially in later years, which can be an impediment to success in their academic career. Therefore, ensuring that all students are engaged by increasing access to rigorous coursework and providing the necessary supports for success is paramount. Equally important is the need to ensure students have a voice in their education. Schools should empower students to influence instruction, school climate, and education policies. In addition, teachers, school administrators, and policymakers should adopt practices or structures that allow students to share their perspectives—and make their voices heard.

As noted in this report, many of the strategies to incorporate student voice are most effective when teachers or policymakers adopt them in combination with other strategies. However, schools and policymakers do not have to do everything at once. They can build upon existing strategies over time.

When it comes to strategy, implementation matters. Schools and policymakers should empower all students rather than a select few. Moreover, there must be a clear purpose to any student voice strategy in order to increase buy-in of adults and students. Finally, adults and students must trust each other and develop skills to build collaboration.

Across the country there are various examples where schools, districts, and states are meaningfully incorporating student perspectives. They are not only empowering students to share their perspectives—but they are also encouraging them to actively partner in transforming schools. Clearly, given their experience, more schools, districts, and states should follow suit.

About the authors

Meg Benner is a senior consultant at the Center for American Progress.

Catherine Brown is a senior fellow at the Center.

Ashley Jeffrey is a policy analyst for K-12 Education at the Center.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge several people who provided guidance and insights for this report. Helen Beattie, founder and executive director of UP for Learning; Seyma Dagistan, Ph.D. student in educational theory and policy at Pennsylvania State University (PSU); Ben Kirshner, associate professor at the University of Colorado Boulder; and Dr. Dana Mitra, professor of education in the Educational Theory and Policy Program at PSU, who generously reviewed and provided invaluable feedback on an earlier version of this report.

The authors would also like to thank Dr. Aaliyah El-Amin, lecturer and researcher at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE); Dr. Gretchen Brion-Meisels, lecturer at the HGSE; Dr. Meira Levinson, professor of education at the HGSE; Solicia Lopez, director of Denver Public Schools; Mark Murphy, founder of GripTape and former Delaware secretary of education; and Eric Toshalis, senior director of impact at KnowledgeWorks for connecting with them to discuss their research and work in the field.

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• Journalism Education Association, “Student Awards,” available at http://jea.org/wp/students/ (last accessed June 2019).
• Journalism Education Association, “Journalist of the Year Scholarships,” available at http://jea.org/wp/home/awards-honors/journalist-of-the-year/ (last accessed June 2019).
• United States Courts, “Facts and Case Summary: Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier ,” available at https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/facts-and-case-summary-hazelwood-v-kuhlmeier (last accessed June 2019).
• Jaclyn Peiser, “Hard News. Angry Administration. Teenage Journalists Know What It’s Like,” The New York Times , July 1, 2018, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/01/business/media/student-journalism-school-newspaper.html .
• Alyson Klein, “Keeping High School Journalism Class on the Cutting Edge,” Education Week , October 3, 2018, available at https://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2018/10/03/keeping-high-school-journalism-class-on-the.html .
• The Eagle Eye, “Home,” available at https://eagleeye.news/category/politicsactivism/ (last accessed June 2019).
• Whitney Shefte and Alice Li, “’We’re Kids, But We’re Also Journalists,’” The Washington Post , April 12, 2018, available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/national/parkland-documentary/?utm_term=.a7f6b4b3a36a .
• Jeff Heyck-Williams, “Student-Led Conferences: A Key Structure of Student Agency,” Education Week , January 22, 2018, available at http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/next_gen_learning/2018/01/student-led_conferences_a_key_structure_of_student_agency.html .
• Learn with Two Rivers, “Student-Led Conferences Deep Dive,” available at http://www.learnwithtworivers.org/deep-dive—student-led-conferences.html (last accessed June 2019).
• Heyck-Williams, “Student-Led Conferences.” 
• SUNY Cortland, “A Democratic Classroom Environment,” available at http://www2.cortland.edu/centers/character/wheel/democratic-classroom.dot (last accessed June 2019).
• Matt Doyle and Craig Gastauer, “Transforming High School by Engaging Student Voice: Co-Creating Learning,” Next Generation Learning Challenges, April 22, 2019, available at https://www.nextgenlearning.org/articles/transforming-high-school-by-engaging-student-voice-co-creating-learning-experiences .
• Joan Murphy, “The Responsive Classroom: ‘Why Is Everyone So Nice Here?’”, Edutopia, October 7, 2015, available at https://www.edutopia.org/blog/responsive-classroom-everyone-so-nice-joan-murphy ; Responsive Classroom, “Principles & Practices,” available at https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/about/principles-practices/ (last accessed June 2019).
• Responsive Classroom, “Principles & Practices”; Murphy, “The Responsive Classroom”; Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, “Responsive Classroom,” available at https://casel.org/guideprogramsresponsive-classroom/ (last accessed June 2019).
• Youth-led Participatory Action Research Hub, “Learn about YPAR,” available at http://yparhub.berkeley.edu/learn-about-ypar/ (last accessed June 2019); Beth C. Rubin and Makeba Jones, “Student Action Research: Reaping the Benefits for Students and School Leaders,” National Association of Secondary School Prinicipals Bulletin 91 (4) (2007): 363–378, available at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0192636507310316#articleCitationDownloadContainer .
• Robin Lindquist-Grantz and Michelle Abraczinskas, “Using Youth Participatory Action Research as a Health Intervention in Community Settings,” Health Promotion Practice (2018), available at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1524839918818831 ; Stacey Michelle Ault, “Queens Speak: A Youth Participatory Action Research Project: Exploring Critical Post-Traumatic Growth among Black Girls within the School to Prison Pipeline” (San Francisco: University of San Francisco, 2017), available at https://repository.usfca.edu/diss/348/ .
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• Denver Public Schools Foundation, “Challenge 5280 Event at Coors Field: Empowering Today’s Youth,” December 30, 2015, available at https://dpsfoundation.org/2015/12/30/challenge-5280-event-at-coors-field-empowering-todays-youth/ .
• Denver Public Schools, “Students Inspire at Challenge 5280,” available at https://www.dpsk12.org/students-inspire-at-challenge-5280/ (last accessed June 2019).
• The Aspen Challenge, “Denver Public Schools.”
• The Aspen Challenge, “Denver Public Schools”; Ben Kirshner, professor, University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, personal communication with authors via phone and email, September 20, 2018, on file with authors.
• Jua Fletcher, student, Denver South High, and Solicia Lopez, director, Denver Public Schools, personal communication with authors via email, June 19, 2019, on file with authors.
• Edutopia, “Real-World Internships Lead to College and Career Readiness,” November 3, 2012, available at https://www.edutopia.org/video/real-world-internships-lead-college-and-career-readiness ; MC 2 STEM High School, “About Us,” available at https://www.mc2stemhighschool.org/about_us (last accessed June 2019).
• Elijah Jones, student, The Tattnall School, Conference panelist, September 20, 2018.
• Mary Alice Scott, Kimberly B. Pyne, and Darris R. Means, “Approaching Praxis: YPAR as Critical Pedagogical Process in a College Access Program,” High School Journal 98 (2) (2015), available at https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1051373 .
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• John Weiss, “Involving the Stakeholders That Matter Most: Student Voice in School Reform,” ASCD Express 13 (13) (2018), available at http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol13/1313-weiss.aspx .
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• New Hampshire Department of Education, “State Model Competencies,” available at https://www.education.nh.gov/innovations/hs_redesign/competencies.htm (last accessed June 2019).
• Denver Public Schools, “Youth African American & Latino Leaders,” available at https://studentvoice.dpsk12.org/about-dps-svl-yaall/ (last accessed June 2019).
• Scott E. Seibert, Maria L. Kraimer, and Michael J. Crant, “What Do Proactive People Do? A Longitudinal Model Linking Proactive Personality and Career Success,” Personnel Psychology 54 (4) (2006), available at https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2001.tb00234.x .

The positions of American Progress, and our policy experts, are independent, and the findings and conclusions presented are those of American Progress alone. A full list of supporters is available here . American Progress would like to acknowledge the many generous supporters who make our work possible.

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Students voices matter

Why Student Voice Matters

The reinvention of power in a participative democracy

by: Susan Groundwater-Smith

date: December 7, 2016

Why should we be concerned about student voice? In an introduction to one of Paulo Freire’s later works, Henry Giroux argued that “all human beings perform as intellectuals by constantly interpreting and giving meaning to the world.” 1 In his own conclusion to the same publication, Freire maintained that in seeking to transform society in the interests of a more habitable, democratic and liberated world, the task ahead is “not to take power but to reinvent power.” 2

Young people in schools are indeed intelligent beings who live their lives in these often highly regulated spaces and constantly interpret and give meaning to their lives, but whose interpretation and meaning-making is often marginalized at best and even frequently ignored. For many it is the case that they can neither take nor make power in any reinvented form.

Pessimistic as these words may seem, there is clearly change afoot. First of all, the rights of young people to be heard and for their voices to be listened to in the context of schooling and research in education now has a host of advocates, such as the late Jean Rudduck and Michael Fielding. This wave of interest, policy and activity finds its motivation in the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention is comprehensive and entitles children to a broad range of rights, including the right to have their best interests treated as a primary consideration in all actions concerning them, including decisions related to their care and protection (such as their education). In particular, Article 12 states that children have the right to say what they think in all matters affecting them, and to have their views taken seriously.

One outcome of the widespread ratification of the Convention has been that the perception of autonomy and participation rights for children has become the new norm. 3 Even so, perception is one thing, actualization is another. Participation, that is the exercise of authentic agency, must address matters of power.

Power over others is never equal, even among young people themselves. However, power in schools and school systems is increasingly centralised, governed by rules and regulations as part of a competitive global scenario over which students have no control. As Taylor and Robinson have observed, there is “an uncritical view of the entrenched, hierarchical power relations in schools,” 4 with the result that student voice activities are often little more than tokenistic interventions serving established power. Typically, student representative groups are enabled to run charity events or social occasions such as school assemblies, rather than have an input into the ways in which teaching and learning are conducted. There is an unfortunate tendency to reduce concepts of “voice” to nominal engagement that co-opts student voice to legitimate the entrenched interests that inform the design and enactment of schooling practices. 5

There is also a growing acknowledgement that young people in schools are the “consequential stakeholders” who bear the brunt of decisions made on their behalf and thus should be participative in making those decisions. However, many of the arguments are of an instrumental kind, seeking to “improve” student learning outcomes within the existing frameworks of practice. There is an emphasis upon responsibility, accountability and a sense of autonomy, but little space granted to allow for the possibility of questioning the curriculum or the organization of schooling itself. As Prout has recognized, “Listening to children’s voices has become so ubiquitous that is has become part of the ‘rhetorical orthodoxy’.” 6

The slow take-up

What is it, then, about the nature of schooling that mitigates against the possibility of a re-imagined place for young people’s learning? Is it that having evolved thus far, the bones and form of the classroom are now given? In 1969 Edward Blishen launched The School I’d Like , a book based upon the huge range of entries to The Observer newspaper’s invitation the previous year for young people to submit their thoughts in a variety of media regarding the school that they would like, but which revealed most insistently what they did not like. The exercise was repeated in 2001 and again in 2011 by The Guardian . Burke and Grosvenor reviewed the collection and reported that the students’ views reflected the most human of needs related to the social and environmental contexts for learning, rather than what is to be learned. Children perceived that they were confronted by “a closed social order.”[7] So what are the factors that constrain an engagement with student voice that is of an authentically satisfying and transforming kind?

Of the many elements and dynamics that inhibit change, there are several key factors:

• the lack of a public discourse on Children’s Rights to which children themselves have access
• the fact that children and young people are generally only informed of their rights under exceptional circumstances; it could be argued that it pays to keep them in the dark
• the fact that students from disadvantaged and challenging backgrounds (lower socio-economic status, students of colour, young people with a disability that may inhibit their engagement) have fewer opportunities and often insufficient social capital to discuss and engage in the civic learning that would enable them to be more participative in school-based decision-making
• the denial of the legitimacy of student perspectives whereby their claims and perceptions are rarely taken into account, and often dismissed as little more than fantasies
• the dominance of accountability practices that leave teachers tethered to reductive numeric measures of student performance, leaving little time for dialogue and debate.

Certainly these variables are significant, but do they constitute a complete paralysis? The burgeoning of literature on student voice advocacy and research, including young people being engaged in participatory research, argues that there is some movement of a positive kind.

What is to be done?

So, what is to be done? Is it possible to identify modest but compelling examples that demonstrate the potency of reinventing power in the relations between young people in schools and those who teach them?

A recent international conference held in Cambridge, U.K., part of a series held in honour of the contribution of the late Professor Jean Rudduck, demonstrated the extent to which a range of schools and academic communities have engaged with the notion of student voice in both celebratory and critical fashions. Sessions focused on areas such as the co-creation of learning and teaching; the ethical implications of eliciting young peoples’ voices; an exploration of conceptual and empirical ambiguities; emotional and empathic understandings; and consulting young people in the context of cultural institutions.

A notable feature of the conference was the participation of teachers and students from a range of settings well beyond the academic community, demonstrating the power of voice when groups that are normally excluded from established structures are enabled to take and express a stance both controversial and confronting. For example, Norwegian students discussed the capacity of Norway’s School Student Union, a national organization for students 13 to 18, reporting that Union members were able to attend meetings with senior policy figures such as Ministry officials to discuss issues of relevance to them.

Encouraging consultation with and participation of children and young people as a means of commenting on their circumstances has become, in some cases, the province of employing authorities themselves. For example in Ontario, student voice has been nominated as a tool to be employed in school improvement. 8 Through a pedagogy of listening and inquiry, it is argued that a responsive learning environment may be co-created. A framework was constructed to develop student voice work progressing from expression, to consultation, to participation, to partnership and to, at the apex, shared leadership, where students are seen as “co-leaders of learning and accept mutual responsibility for planning, assessment of learning and responsive actions.” 9 While the document aims to improve rather than critique, nonetheless it provides an example of an authority taking a positive stance in relation to interacting with young people within a framework that would permit their voices to be heard.

While there are many studies that relate to issues affecting children, there are few that directly present the young person’s point of view. In one of them, Sargent and Gillett Swan 10 posed open-ended questions to participants from a range of primary and secondary schools in Australia, Sweden, New Zealand, Italy and England (mean age 11). Among them were two that they perceived to be of particular interest: “What is the question that you have for adults?” and “What is the one thing that you would like adults to learn?” Page after page of responses expressed the dissatisfaction and frustration that the young people felt:

They (adults) tell you to do stuff because they feel that’s the right way, but they never actually ask you what you think is the right way. “The one thing that I’d like adults to know is that us children can have our own opinions and we can do things on our own but we also need a lot of help so they should support us and not make us feel small.” ”There are things that they (adults) don’t think about, coz if we do something that they tell us to do, it might affect us later in ways they don’t know and they can’t help.

There are also examples of more extended engagement with student voice to be found. In a four-year longitudinal study, conducted by Mayes 11 in one of Sydney’s most challenging secondary schools, a cohort of young adolescents acted as co-researchers, investigating a series of matters, year by year. The four research areas were: The school I’d like; The teaching I’d like; The learner I would like to be; What I would like to learn.

The study was groundbreaking in its length, scope and the extent of risk-taking on the part of both the young people, as apprentice researchers, and their teachers. It is particularly noteworthy because it engaged a cohort of young people as a community in liaison with their teachers, rather than as individuals endowed with agency. Currently, there is a problematic neo-liberal ensnaring of the notion of “agency” that frames that attribute as a property of the individual, with the implication that teachers can gift agency to their students as a form of individual empowerment. Under the aegis of neo-liberalism, education becomes a commodity that benefits individuals, with little consideration for the communal and public good. In contrast, the Mayes study captured the collective of voices, rather than those of privileged individuals. In effect, it was created to permit those with the least power to speak.

Fostering student voice in schools will remain a challenge in relation to matters of power and agency. In his concluding essay published in the book cited in the introduction to this piece, Freire argues that a profound transformation of education can only take place when society itself is transformed. This can be achieved, not just by revolution, but by a series of smaller steps, one of the first being a recognition that education is both a political enterprise and a moral project. Throughout this article I have argued that education cannot be thought of as independent from the power that constitutes it, but it can be acknowledged as a springboard that allows all who participate in it to be recognized as functioning members of that power base. Reinventing education through the participation of those it most affects may take time, but measure for measure is an investment without parallel.

En Bref: Dans cet article, Susan Groundwater-Smith se penche sur le potentiel qu’ont les voix des élèves de réinventer la nature du pouvoir en classe. De nombreux obstacles se dressent sur la voie d’une nouvelle façon d’imaginer l’école en tenant compte des perspectives des enfants et des jeunes qui en sont les parties prenantes corrélatives, en tenant compte d’aspects tels que l’accès et la légitimité. L’auteure présente néanmoins plusieurs cas où les élèves ont non seulement été consultés au sujet de questions scolaires, mais ont également participé à la recherche et à l’élaboration de politiques. S’appuyant sur le cadre de la Convention de l’ONU sur les droits de l’enfant, elle soutient qu’il n’est pas que pragmatique d’encourager la voix étudiante en éducation, c’est aussi – et surtout – un projet moral.

Photo: Dean Mitchell (iStock)

First published in Education Canada, December 2016

1 H. Giroux in P. Freire, The Politics of Education: Culture, power and liberation (Hampshire: Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1985), p. xxiii.

2 Freire, p. 179.

3 D. Reynaert, M. Bourverne-de Bie and S. Vandevelde, “A Review of Children’s Rights Literature since the Adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child,” Childhood 16, no.4 (2009): 518–534.

4 C. Taylor and C. Robinson, “Student Voice: Theorising power and participation,” Pedagogy, Culture and Society 17, no.2 (2009): 166.

5 N. Mockler and S. Groundwater-Smith, Engaging with Student Voice in Research, Education and the Community: Beyond legitimation and guardianship (Dordrecht: Springer, 2015).

6 A. Prout, “Participation, Policy and the Changing Conditions of Childhood. In Hearing the Voices of Children: Social policy for a new century , eds. C. Hallett and A. Prout (London: Routledge Falmer, 2003), p. 11.

7 C. Burke and I. Grosvenor, The School I’d Like Revisited (London: Routledge, 2015), p. 96.

8 Student Achievement Division, “Transforming Relationships,” Capacity Building Series (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2013). www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/CBS_StudentVoice.pdf

9 Student Achievement Division, “Transforming Relationships,” p. 8.

10 J. Sargeant and J. Gillet-Swan, “Empowering the Disempowered through Voice Inclusive Practice: Children’s views on adult-centric educational provision,” European Educational Research Journal 14, No. 2 (2015): 177–191.

11 E. Mayes, “Students Researching Teachers’ Practices: Lines of flight and temporary assemblage conversions in and through a students as co-researchers event (paper presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education, Adelaide, December 2013).

Meet the Expert(s)

Susan Groundwater-Smith

Susan Groundwater-Smith is an Honorary Professor attached to the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney. She has written widely regarding participatory research with children and young people, both in terms of how it might be accomplished and the cautions that are required. In recent years she has explored the perceptions of children and young people regarding key education provisions that have assisted in informing policy.

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What is the student voice? 13 essays on how to listen to students and how to act on what they say

• 5 August 2021
• By Michael Natzler
• HEPI number 140

What is the student voice? 13 essays on how to listen to students and how to act on what they say edited by Michael Natzler, HEPI’s Policy Officer, is a new collection of essays which provides a range of views on what and where the student voice resides and how to listen and respond to it.

The collection covers a wide range of topics from the role of sabbatical officers as governors to the National Union of Students, mature students and includes contributions from survey experts, sabbatical officers and a vice-chancellor as well as interviews with the Office for Students’ Student Panel.

Including a chapter by Nick Hillman, HEPI Director, the chapters are:

• Students as governors: walking the tightrope and shouting into the void Eve Alcock, Former Student Union President at the University of Bath
• What do students think and how do universities find out? Professor Graham Galbraith, Vice-Chancellor, University of Portsmouth
• Disabled students: the experts we forget we need Rensa Gaunt, Former Disabled Students’ Officer 2020/21, University of Cambridge
• Using surveys to represent the student voice and demonstrate the quality of the experience Jonathan Neves, Head of Business Intelligence and Surveys, Advance HE
• The virtuous loop: capturing the student voice through course and module evaluation Dr Helena Lim, PFHEA, Head of Opportunities, EvaSys
• The student voice at the heart of the system (but only when they’re thinking what we’re thinking) Professor Andy Westwood, Professor of Government Practice, University of Manchester
• The Office for Students’ Student Panel in their own words Michael Natzler, Policy Officer, HEPI
• The importance of the NUS for representing the voices of students Aaron Porter, Council Member of Goldsmiths University, Chair of BPP University and a former President of the National Union of Students in 2010/11
• Restoring the real student voice Dennis Hayes, Emeritus Professor of Education, University of Derby
• Students’ voices in curriculum design Professor Dilly Fung, Pro-Director Education, London School of Education and Political Science
• The student voice and accommodation Jenny Shaw, Student Experience Director, Unite Students and Paul Humphreys, Founder and CEO, StudentCrowd
• Mature students: a silent or a silenced voice? Cath Brown, former President of the Open University Students Association
• International students in the UK – perspectives put in context Roy Kiruri, Former International Students’ Officer 2020/21, University of Bristol

• What is the student voice_HEPI Report 140_FINAL (PDF, 773 KB)

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Bring Student Voice to the Forefront

May 23, 2022

Dara Fontein

7 ways to promote student voice in the classroom.

The past few years have proven how important it is to center student voice in learning outcomes. From social justice movements to the pandemic, a historically inequitable and sometimes divisive social landscape created a shaky foundation for the modern student’s day-to-day schooling.

As teachers and education leaders struggle to create a dynamic and valuable educational experience for all students , the need for a student-centered approach is becoming more and more apparent. Although students are well-informed, innovative, and future-focused key stakeholders in their education, they rarely have an actual say in it.

While the concept of student voice is a growing movement in educational systems, not all schools and knowledge organizations know how to implement it—or why it’s beneficial. In this post, we’ll explain what student voice actually is, provide a few concrete examples of it at work, show some of its many benefits, and teach you seven ways to capture student voice in your organization successfully.

What is student voice?

A definition of student voice should include reference to both the noun and the process involved. At its core, student voice is the expression and reflection of students’ thoughts, ideas, opinions, and values that they share to drive change within a school community.

Student voice as an action or approach is the process of students sharing their values and perspectives with those in educational leadership positions—and those leaders actively listening and making decisions based on these shared ideas.

As research from Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center of Transition explains: “Instead of a top down , teacher-directed approach to learning, [student voice ensures that] students play an active and equal role in planning, learning, and leading their classroom instruction as well as contributing to the development of school practices and policies. This significant philosophical shift requires all stakeholders to embrace the belief that there is something to learn from every individual regardless of age, culture, socioeconomic status, or other qualifying factors.”

With student voice, students can contribute to the decision-making process and actively shape their own educational experience. Let’s look at some great, real-world examples of student voice at work.

Examples of student voice

Elgin school district u-46.

One of our favorite examples is the case of Illinois’ Elgin School District U-46. When a group of African American students shared that they didn’t feel represented and called for a mandatory African American Studies course, Dr. Teresa A. Lance, Assistant Superintendent of Equity and Innovation, was ready. A champion for inclusive, equitable education, she’d recently proposed a similar course.

Instead of just creating a quick and simple course in response to these students, Dr. Lance used ThoughtExchange enterprise discussion management software to gather student voice and find out what was most important to her learners. By using ThoughtExchange, Dr. Lance was able to hear from all participating students anonymously, which helped create an environment free of judgment and where their ideas could flow honestly.

The students’ collective answers revealed areas for the course to focus on, which shows exactly how leaders can use student input to influence future classes and curricula. As Dr. Lance shared, “We use adults to vet curriculum and resources, but we miss the student perspective in all of it. And we’ve got to do better. Building student agency, allowing students to have voice and ownership on what’s in front of them, is crucial, and ThoughtExchange allows that opportunity on such a grand scale.”

Kohala High School

West Hawaii Complex Area student Kassie Tarpley saw an opportunity to use student voice for good in her school community. For her senior project, Kassie aimed to study the trending issue of bullying prevention from the student’s point of view.

After speaking with Art Souza, superintendent of West Hawaii Complex Area, Kassie decided to use this opportunity to study all schools in the district rather than just her own. In order to conduct research at this scale, Kassie partnered with ThoughtExchange to crowdsource her data. She used ThoughtExchange’s software to ask students across the district one question: “What instructions, if any, has your school provided on bullying prevention?”

By gathering candid and anonymous responses from students across the island, Kassie found quite a discrepancy between how school leaders and administrators thought they were handling the issue of bullying and how well-equipped students actually felt. As Kassie explains, “a lot of students won’t go to teachers or principals to talk about bullying. But this was an opportunity to get their voice out to the administration.”

By capturing student voice in a meaningful way, Kassie influenced Hawaii’s state policy on bullying in schools. Here, we can see just how impactful student voice can be. What started with one student’s idea grew to include the input of countless others across the region and influenced the student experience at a state-wide level—while closing the gap between students’ needs and what administrators are providing.

The benefits of student voice

Implementing and working with student voice helps accomplish a number of goals, both for students and educational leaders. Student voice promotes student engagement at every level and helps address equity in the classroom and in the wider community.

When it comes to a student’s time in school, a successful student voice program will enhance the learning experience and drive a deeper sense of understanding between students and their teachers. Finally, student-led approaches help leaders gain support for beneficial programs and initiatives while improving overall student mental health . Let’s take a closer look at some of these benefits of student voice.

Promotes engagement

A number of different factors can cause a lack of student engagement. From personal family issues at home to a disinterest in the subject matter, there are many possible reasons any particular student isn’t fully engaged in the classroom.

Instead of teachers and educational leaders spending countless hours trying to figure out why their students aren’t engaged and implementing initiatives that may or may not work, they could look to student voice. Just as businesses can increase engagement levels among employees when they share in the decision-making process, schools can use some of these same approaches to boost engagement amongst the student body.

By having constructive conversations and asking students to share their thoughts, opinions, and perspectives, educational leaders can quickly and effectively discover exactly how to keep their students engaged. When students have a voice and an opportunity to share their ideas, they naturally become invested in their own learning experiences. As Dr. Dana Mitra, an expert on student voice and engagement explains, “When students believe that they are valued for their perspectives and respected , they begin to develop a sense of ownership and attachment to the organization in which they are involved.”

Rather than having a top-down approach where leaders tell students what to do and what to think, student voice empowers them to construct an education aligned with their values, interests, and greater goals.

Increases equity

Capturing and amplifying student voice is especially important for commonly marginalized groups. Students from racialized communities, lower-income communities, and those who are disabled have much more at stake both in and out of the classroom. While core aspects of the curriculum or in-classroom time may be working for some students, marginalized students may be having a completely different, usually more negative, experience—one that their teachers may not be aware of or understand.

By incorporating inclusive student voice initiatives, educators can work to encourage and improve equity throughout their institutions. As a report from American Progress finds, “ efforts to incorporate student voice are stronger when they include intentional efforts to incorporate multiple student voices, especially those that have been historically marginalized.”

Student voice enables educational leaders to uncover issues and areas of weakness in their organizations regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion. For example, when Dr. Jason Andrews and his team at Windsor Central School District wanted to work in alignment with their values and facilitate “conversations where everyone has an equal voice, and all voices are valued,” they turned to ThoughtExchange.

After launching an Exchange and tapping into student voice, they discovered that students were interested in private unisex bathrooms for their school.

Enhances the learning experience

When students play a significant part in deciding their academic experience, they’re much more likely to succeed. Research from the Quaglia Institute for School Voice and Aspirations found that “students who believe they have a voice in school are seven times more likely to be academically motivated than students who do not believe they have a voice.”

Emphasizing this point, a report from the Rennie Center’s Department of Education and Policy explains, “When students have a say in their own learning, they build their sense of academic self-efficacy and are more likely to engage deeply in challenging academic work .” This report also found that when students can contribute to decision-making and express themselves within a greater social environment, they can better develop skills like “critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration, all of which are essential civic—and workforce—attributes.”

Incorporating student voice helps students act more like stakeholders and partners in their education, rather than passive recipients of information and a set of rules to follow. There’s a natural motivation and inclination towards creating positive change in the learning environment through dedication, engagement, and collaboration.

Improves student mental health

When students attend school, they aren’t just learning about their multiplication tables and ABCs; they’re learning important social and emotional skills for the future. This includes managing mental health challenges and building emotional intelligence skills that are “ crucial for reducing bullying and risky behaviors, working with others, overcoming obstacles, and setting and achieving goals.”

However, not all schools are doing everything they can to support students through this learning journey—especially with mental health challenges faced throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. With anxiety and depression affecting more than 25 percent of adolescents since the beginning of the pandemic, and historically marginalized youth more likely to report mental health problems, student voice has never been more important.

While districts will often rely on the input and guidance of adult experts when it comes to the mental health issues faced in their schools, student involvement in these matters is crucial. As we explained in a previous post , “Allowing students to weigh in on the decisions made on their behalf means that the [school] district’s actions will have more support and be easier to implement. Students will feel heard, and leaders will get a prioritized list of their students’ needs.”

How to capture and promote student voice

Facilitating student surveys.

Granting student governments real authority

A student council is an effective way for educational leaders and students to work together while promoting student voice.

With student governments or councils, “ students can voice their opinions and take action on their ideas through council structures, procedures, interactions and involvements.” Students can run campaigns based on their interests (from social justice issues within the school to the cafeteria menus) and then work with faculty and other district leaders to take action and make change.

While it is often the louder or more confident students that tend to run for student government positions, all students have the opportunity to vote for and work with those they believe are amplifying their perspectives and voices.

As Megan Ferren from American Progress explains, “ Engaging in opportunities like student government not only benefits individual students by improving their leadership and communication skills, it also benefits school culture, facilities, and procedures.” For example, Chicago’s student voice committee , a student government initiative, conducted student surveys, held town halls, and interviewed both students and teachers to improve student-teacher relationships, identify solutions to issues facing many of their peers (such as hiring additional school counselors to relieve stress during the COVID-19 pandemic), and find ways to improve remote learning experiences.

Ferren recommends that schools not only grant their student council groups real and meaningful responsibilities but ensure that they “ consider methods to increase participation in student government of students from traditionally underrepresented or marginalized groups—an effort that may include developing alternative selection methods to a traditional voting system or providing a stipend for elected positions.”

Granting anonymous insights using technology

To create a safe space where students can feel comfortable sharing their opinions and ideas, educational leaders can turn to technology and digital tools.

Tools like discussion management platforms allow for groups of students to share unbiased insights with teachers, educators, and their peers. Students can feel confident that their answers are being shared anonymously, without the worry of being singled out. By creating a trusting environment with digital tools, educators can gather student voice by hearing a diverse range of perspectives from a larger number of students. While other methods of gathering student voice may result in only hearing the loudest and most outgoing students, collective intelligence technology ensures the student voice represents all members of the student body fairly.

With a tool like ThoughtExchange, educators can ask their student body questions and receive dynamic, honest answers.

Supporting student journalism

While perhaps a more traditional method of elevating student voice, student journalism — such as a school newspaper, morning news show, or podcast — gives youth the opportunity to express their opinions through dedicated platforms. With these formats, they can investigate, discuss, and bring attention to the issues that matter the most to them.

As American Progress explains, “ Student journalism can be used to expose problems in a school or community and as an outlet to express students’ opinions.” For example, suppose students are noticing that LGBTQ+ issues aren’t being appropriately addressed in their classrooms. In that case, they might interview faculty members or educational leaders in their district along with the actual students being affected by this discrepancy and write an article in their school newspaper.

Alternatively, students of any age can create and produce content on a podcast to magnify student voice. For example, second-grade teacher Paula Diaz gave her 7-year-old students the tools and guidance they needed to create a podcast where they came up with questions, learned how to use the technology involved, and interviewed their school principal. This empowered them to express themselves, have their say, and gain the confidence they need as they learn, grow, and continue to share their voice.

Student-led conferences

While in the past schools used parent-teacher conferences to discuss students and their status, student-led conferences (SLCs) allow students to play a significant part in crafting their own experiences at school.

SLCs provide a dedicated space for sharing and maximizing student voice. These events bring teachers, other faculty members, and parents together with students to hear from those who are most impacted by decisions made about their own learning experiences.

• Where am I?
• Where do I want to go?
• How do I close the gap between the two?

Applied learning activities

While not a standalone activity, amplifying and nurturing student voice can only happen when students know how to take ownership of their ideas and confidently make decisions. This is made possible through applied learning activities that should begin as soon as the student starts school. As the State University of New York defines, “ Applied learning refers to an educational approach whereby students learn by engaging in direct application of skills, theories, and models.”

Applied learning activities are not a one-time thing. Instead, they’re incorporated at every opportunity in the classroom. For example, if a teacher assigns a book report to their students, they may provide some general guidelines, a due date, and basic information required to complete the project. However, the students have the freedom and agency to choose the book they’ll be reporting on or even the report format (ie. traditional written report, video, comic book-style, painting, diorama, etc.).

Throwing debates

For example , when teacher Dan Shackelford started teaching at a school where many students were experiencing poverty and other challenges, one of his first tasks was organizing a schoolwide debate to nurture student voice. He explains: “I let them choose the topics they wanted to discuss and listened as they talked about their fears, their realities, and their experiences as kids growing up in Detroit. Their preferred topics included public education, poetry, racism, and the importance of individual action over letting the government do it.”

He saw his students come out of their shells through running regular debates, gain invaluable skills and knowledge for their futures, and build their confidence. As Shackelford concludes, “Each student had a unique voice and they were just waiting for someone to listen.”

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Created by the Great Schools Partnership , the GLOSSARY OF EDUCATION REFORM is a comprehensive online resource that describes widely used school-improvement terms, concepts, and strategies for journalists, parents, and community members. | Learn more »

Student Voice

In education, student   voice  refers to the values, opinions, beliefs, perspectives, and cultural backgrounds of individual students and groups of students in a school, and to instructional approaches and techniques that are based on student choices, interests, passions, and ambitions.

As a school- or instructional-improvement strategy, the concept of student voice has grown increasingly popular in recent decades. Generally speaking, student voice can be seen as an alternative to more traditional forms of governance or instruction in which school administrators and teachers may make unilateral decisions with little or no input from students. For a more detailed discussion of the concept, see  voice .

Historically, student councils and other forms of student-led government were the most common channels for students to share their opinions and viewpoints, but many of these opportunities did not allow students to make authentic contributions to the leadership of a school. Increasingly, more school districts now have voting or nonvoting student seats on the school board, and some states even elect student representatives to the state board of education. Students may also be asked to serve on a formal committee, such as a school-improvement committee, or participate in the hiring of a new superintendent, principal, or teacher. In addition to taking on leadership roles in a school, student voice is playing a larger role in instructional decisions. Students may be involved in selecting education materials, or they may be given more choices over learning content, products, and processes in the classroom (which educators consider to be a form of student voice). In addition, students may write stories for their school or community newspapers, and they may blog about their opinions about and experiences in school.

For related discussions, see differentiation , learning pathway ,  personalized learning , relevance , and  student engagement .

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Student Voice: 100 Argument Essays by Teens on Issues That Matter to Them

Publisher description.

Finally, mentor texts written by teenagers, to help your students craft convincing arguments. In this new collection of 100 essays curated by The New York Times, students will find mentor texts written by their peers—13-to-18-year-olds—on a wide range of topics, including social media, race, video games, lockdown drills, immigration, tackle football, and the #MeToo movement. All of the essays were either winners or runners-up from The New York Times Learning Network 2014–2019 Student Editorial contests, in which students could take on any issue they liked and, in 450 words or fewer, persuade readers—including educators from around the country as well as Times judges—to adopt their point of view. The essays have been selected for their voice, style, and use of evidence, as well as to present snapshot of issues across a dozen categories that are of particular interest to adolescents. Student Voice is also available as a package with Raising Student Voice: 35 Ways to Help Students Write Better Argument Essays, from The New York Times Learning Network, a teacher's companion guide packed with practical advice from teachers, Times editors, and even student winners about how to use these essays in writing instruction.

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Student Voice: 100 Argument Essays by Teens on Issues That Matter to Them Hardcover – September 15, 2020

Finally, mentor texts written by teenagers, to help your students craft convincing arguments.

In this new collection of 100 essays curated by The New York Times , students will find mentor texts written by their peers―13-to-18-year-olds―on a wide range of topics, including social media, race, video games, lockdown drills, immigration, tackle football, and the #MeToo movement. All of the essays were either winners or runners-up from The New York Times Learning Network 2014–2019 Student Editorial contests, in which students could take on any issue they liked and, in 450 words or fewer, persuade readers―including educators from around the country as well as Times judges―to adopt their point of view. The essays have been selected for their voice, style, and use of evidence, as well as to present snapshot of issues across a dozen categories that are of particular interest to adolescents.

Student Voice is also available as a package with Raising Student Voice: 35 Ways to Help Students Write Better Argument Essays, from The New York Times Learning Network , a teacher's companion guide packed with practical advice from teachers, Times editors, and even student winners about how to use these essays in writing instruction.

• Reading age 12 - 18 years
• Print length 272 pages
• Language English
• Grade level 7 - 12
• Dimensions 6.4 x 1 x 8.6 inches
• Publisher W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date September 15, 2020
• ISBN-10 0393714306
• ISBN-13 978-0393714302
• See all details

Editorial Reviews

About the author, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company (September 15, 2020)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393714306
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393714302
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 12 - 18 years
• Grade level ‏ : ‎ 7 - 12
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.4 x 1 x 8.6 inches
• #158 in Teen & Young Adult Composition & Creative Writing
• #580 in Curricula (Books)
• #819 in Language Arts Teaching Materials

About the author

Katherine schulten.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

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Writing Resources

Voice and analysis in your essay, the tour guide approach.

This handout is available for download in DOCX format and PDF format .

Several people have asked me what I mean when I ask for more VOICE in your essay. This is a great question, and it gets to the heart of what analysis looks like in a research paper. The goal of a research paper is to use the literature (your research) to support your own unique argument. This is different from a literature review, which simply reviews what others have said about a topic. In a research paper, there is some literature review, typically towards the beginning, but the larger goal is to DO SOMETHING with this literature to show your own take on the topic . This is analysis and it is what gives voice to your essay. One way to think about voice is to see yourself as the TOUR GUIDE of your essay.

Imagine a tour of a city. The guide's job is to take people from place to place, showing them things that make the city special. A mediocre guide might just say, "This is Westminster Abbey," "This is Big Ben," etc. They might provide facts, such as who is buried at Westminster Abbey, but they don't put any of the information in context. You might as well do a self-guided tour. This is the equivalent of a literature review: you describe all of the studies and theories, but you don't tell the reader what to do with this new knowledge. The EVIDENCE is there, but the ANALYSIS is missing.

On the other hand, a good tour guide doesn't just show you the buildings. Instead, they tell you about how these monuments reflect the history and culture of the city. They put the buildings into context to tell a story and give you a sense of place, time, purpose, etc. This is the equivalent of a good research paper. It takes evidence (data, observations, theories) and does something with it to communicate a new angle to your reader. It argues something, using the literature as a foundation on which to build the new, original argument.

Good tour guides (writers) insert their voice often. The voice can be heard in topic sentences , where the writer tells the reader how the paragraph fits into the larger argument (i.e., how it connects to the thesis). The voice can be heard in the analysis in the paragraphs as the writer tells the reader what has been learned and what it means for the larger argument. The voice often gets stronger as the essay progresses—especially since earlier paragraphs often contain more background information and later paragraphs are more likely to contain argument built on that background information. A good tour guide also:

• Doesn't tell the reader things they already know
• Doesn't over-explain or provide unnecessary detail
• Doesn't rush— if they move too fast, their tour won't be able to keep up
• Keeps things interesting (doesn't visit boring sites!)
• Keeps things organized (no backtracking to sites they've already visited)

How to use this in your writing:

Analysis is any moment in which you tell the reader your interpretation, how ideas fit together, why something matters, etc. It is when your voice comes through, as opposed to the authors of the articles you cite.

What might analysis / tour guiding look like in a research essay?

• Critique of the literature (methodological flaws, different interpretations of findings, etc.)
• Resolution of contradictory evidence
• Analysis of differing theories (in light of the evidence)
• Incorporation of various lenses, e.g., cultural or societal influences, cross-cultural similarities or differences, etc.
• Historical changes
• Fusion of literature or topics that are not obviously related
• Transitional language that connects pieces of the argument

Credit: Elissa Jacobs, University Writing Program

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Your Writing “Voice”

What Is Voice in an Academic Essay or Some Other Type of Composition?

Voice has at least two distinct meanings:

• The audible sound of a person speaking (e.g., high-pitched, rhythmic, loud, soft, accent, pace). Even in writing, the author’s words create the “sound” of the writer talking. Effective writers can control the sound of their words in their readers’ heads.
• The communicator’s implied beliefs and values. Every utterance conveys the impression of a person behind the words—a “self” that may be authentic or constructed as a persona. This “self” can extend beyond an implied personality to include the communicator’s political, philosophical, and social values as well as his or her commitment to certain causes (civil rights, gay rights, women’s rights).

Elements of Voice

Because audiences experience a communicator’s voice as a whole expression, not a set of parts, a reconsideration of some commonly understood elements of voice may be useful.

• Tone. Tone is the communicator’s attitude toward the subject and audience as expressed in a text. For example, are you trying to convey anger, joy, sarcasm, contempt, anxiety, or respect? To gain control of your tone, read drafts aloud and listen to the attitudes you convey. Is the tone consistent throughout the text? Should it be? Have you struck the tone that you were hoping to strike?
• Style. Style is the distinctive way you express yourself. It can change from day to day but it is always you. The style that you choose for a particular writing assignment will largely depend on your subject, purpose, and audience. Style in writing is affected by such values as the level of formality/informality appropriate to the situation and by the simplicity or complexity of words, sentences, and paragraphs. To gain control of style, learn to analyze the purpose and audience. Decide how you want to present yourself and ensure that it suits the occasion.
• Values. Values include your political, social, religious, and philosophical beliefs. Your background, opinions, and beliefs will be part of everything you write, but you must learn when to express them directly and when not to. For example, including your values would enhance a personal essay or other autobiographical writing, but it might undermine a sense of objectivity in an interpretive or research paper. To gain control of the values in your writing, consider whether the purpose of the assignment calls for implicit or explicit value statements. Examine your drafts for opinion and judgment words that reveal your values and take them out if they are not appropriate.
• Authority. Authority comes from knowledge and is projected through self-confidence. You can exert and project real authority only if you know your material well, whether it’s the facts of your life or carefully researched material. The better you know your subject (and this is often learned through drafting), the more authoritative you will sound. Your audience will hear that authority in your words.

What Is Voice in an Academic Essay?

Many students arrive at college with the notion that they must not use the first-person “I” point of view when writing an academic essay . The personal voice, so goes the reasoning, undermines the student writer’s authority by making the analysis or argument or whatever the student is writing seem too subjective or opinionated to be academic. The student who subscribes to this notion is correct—or possibly incorrect; it depends on how the assignment has been designed. One advantage of not using the first-person “I” is that it challenges the student to present ideas as objective claims, which will amplify the degree to which the claims require support to be convincing. Notice the different effects of these two claims:

I feel that Pablo Picasso’s reputation as a great artist conflicts with what his biographers have to say about his personal relationships, especially with women.  

Pablo Picasso’s reputation as a great artist conflicts with what his biographers have to say about his personal relationships, especially with women.  

      The only measurable difference between the two sentences above is that the first of them is couched in the first-person phrase “I feel.” The two sentences differ more consequentially in terms of effect, however. The writer—and readers—of the second sentence are probably going to sense more strongly the need for support to make the claim convincing. That’s a good thing, for it indicates to the writer the work that needs to be done to make the claim convincing.

      The disadvantage of keeping the first-person “I” voice out of an essay is that it may squelch something unique and authentic about the writer’s voice and vision, turning the essay into something more formal in tone—something more conventionally academic, let’s say. What is more, while denying the first-person “I” a place in an academic essay may heighten awareness of an essay’s argumentative weaknesses, it also participates in a tradition that privileges certain modes of thought and expression. The traditional ways of approaching academic essays, instructors are coming to accept, may be too limiting for today’s students.

      So, is the first-person “I” correct or incorrect? Ask your instructor this question before you begin writing your academic essay . Talk about what you need, in terms of voice, to convey your ideas most effectively.

Quick tip about citing sources in MLA style

What’s a thesis, sample mla essays.

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Student Voice Prize Essays Published

Jo McPherson competition , daretothinkrare , findacure , medicalstudent , raredisease

Student Voice Prize 2019

Last month the winning essays from the Student Voice Prize 2019 were published in celebration of Rare Disease Day 2020! You can read all of them in full by following the links below and read the shortened runner-up blogs as part of the BMC’s  On Medicine  blog. The overall winner has been published in the Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases. If you didn’t get a chance to enter in 2019, make sure you look out for the competition this Autumn by following M4RD and signing up to our newsletter.

We would like to offer a huge congratulations to all of our winners, and a massive thank you to this year’s sponsors, judges, and our partner Findacure for helping to make the competition such a success.

You can read all the winning essays by clicking on the links below.

Anna-Lucia Koerling, University of Cambridge, “ No Friends 1 “

Anna-Lucia’s essay beautifully illustrated why we need to treat the patient, not the disease. So often patients are reduced to bed numbers or to which clinical examination they have the best signs for. But Anna-Lucia’s interaction with ‘David’ is an eloquent reminder that patients are much more than their presenting complaint and they don’t cease to exist outside the clinical setting. Plus she gives pragmatic and simple ways to improve the patient experience. It was an excellent essay and a pleasure to read. You can watch Anna-Lucia’s beautiful talk at The Royal Society of Medicine about David and her essay here .

The Runners Up

Sandy ayoub, st george’s university of london, “ dual deprivation for rare disease “.

Sandy teamed up with the patient group, FOP and Friends , to talk directly to a patient living with a rare disease. Her insightful and compassionate essay is a testament to the rapport she built up with the patient and his mother. She explores the intimate relationship between rare disease and mental health. Sandy gave a presentation about her experience at The Findacure Drug Repurposing Conference 2020 which you can watch to here .

Anneliese Ng, The University of Western Australia, “ No Country for Healthcare Equity “

Anneliese brought something completely new to the Student Voice Prize. She looked at health inequality within rare diseases between different populations of the same country. Anneliese is a student in Western Australia and her essay focused on the difference between outcomes for aboriginal and non-aboriginal populations. We were lucky to have Anneliese join us all the way from Australia for the M4RD symposium and the Findacure Drug Repurposing Conference.

Muhammed Shaikh, University of Leicester, “ Improving Rare Disease Recognition Via Medical Education “

Muhammed tackled the problem of how to improve the patient experience through medical education. His essay made some really interesting arguments including thinking of ‘The Rare Disease Patient’ as a model akin to ‘The Polypharmacy Patient’ or ‘The Patient with Multiple Comorbidities’. As rare diseases don’t belong to anyone specialty, this approach could help us systematically include rare disease in medial education. Something that we want to explore further. Well done Muhammed!

With thanks to the Student Voice Prize 2019 sponsors

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The Student Voice Prize

Svp23 is now closed for entries, here’s how it works:.

In   1,500 words or less , please answer   one  of the three essay questions provided below.

You can enter   only one essay,  so choose wisely!

We ask that you kindly   submit your essay through the entry form below   before  12:00 pm GMT on   15th November 2023  when the competition closes.

View the entry form and full submission details below to learn more.

Check out our questions for 2023!

Many people with long term conditions are exposed to considerable uncertainty. For those living with rare conditions, this can be amplified due to the lack of information, services and management.

Using a case study, explore how uncertainty can impact people living with rare disease and their families. Consider the psychological, emotional, and practical effects of effective and ineffective medical communication around uncertainty and health.

Many rare conditions are multi-system complex conditions with a genetic basis. They are challenging to understand and explain, and yet those affected by rare disease often have to become disease experts, fluent in medical language.

What are the major sources of information and knowledge available to people living with rare and genetic conditions? Use examples to explore the role that medical professionals can play in helping patients understand their condition.

Carrying out clinical research about specific rare disease can be challenging due to the small participant population available. However, research is an important part of rare disease management as it provides hope for better outcomes in the future.

Explore how people may be marginalised from taking part in research based on the language and format that is used in the recruitment of participants. Discuss how the lack of inclusivity in recruitment efforts hinders the representative participation of people in research. How does this exclusion perpetuate health inequity in the context of rare disease?

Before submitting your essay please ensure you have read the competition’s rules and regulations!

Don’t miss your chance to be paired with a patient!

**Please note, the patient pairing scheme is now closed for patients and students, but you can still enter the competition without it!**

Don’t forget you also have the opportunity to take part in our Patient Group Pairing Scheme ! This gives you the chance to speak to a rare disease patient group to learn first-hand about their condition and patient experience.

The insights gained during the conversation should be used to inform and enhance your essay. Learn more about the Patient Group Pairing Scheme !

Who can enter?

The Student Voice Prize is primarily aimed at medical students, but anyone studying medical and biological sciences is able to enter the competition.

It is an international competition so wherever you are in the world you can submit an essay, however, all submissions have to be written in English.

You can submit an essay if you are studying any of the following:

• Biomedical science
• Pharmacology

Not sure if you’re eligible? Contact us at [email protected] to find out

The competition is open to undergraduate and master’s students onl y.

Entries from phd students will not be accepted..

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Student Voice (Essay Sample)

The task was to engage the student into reasoning as to why they should be engaged in decision making at their respective learning institutions.As it will be observed, this sample has attempted to follow those instructions to ensure that a paper that provides both expected quality and quantity is achieved.

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Giving Voice to Values

Read the winners of the Undergraduate Community Initiative Essay Contest.

T his past spring, Columbia College, Columbia Engineering and Columbia General Studies came together to launch the Undergraduate Community Initiative (UCI), a series of programming focused on cultivating a shared commitment to the values of belonging, respect and service. The initiative kicked off in January with a celebration of the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., followed soon after by two performances by Theater of War, which stages readings of seminal texts to foster dialogue about difficult issues. Related events continued throughout the semester.

The UCI Essay Contest, meanwhile, invited students to reflect on a time that they chose to pursue or embody one of the initiative’s key values, and how that decision made a difference in their life and in the lives of others. Here, we share the winning submission, by Emma Shen ’26, which makes an affecting point about the value of listening and the power of small actions to make a significant difference. Second place went to Tazia Mohammad ’27, whose carefully observed piece about everyday communication can be found here .

Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to all the students who submitted their work.

Navigating the Universe of Human Connection

By Emma Shen ’26

Emma Shen ’26

I jolted in surprise from my seat and looked at my roommate. She was staring at the wall, her mind clearly on matters beyond the confines of our dorm room. I gave a noncommittal nod, a silent gesture to acknowledge what should have been an innocuous comment.

She opened her mouth as if to say more, but silence ensued. Instead, she gave a deep sigh and turned off the lights to go to sleep.

I lay awake for a while that night. It was cold, typical for February, but it felt even chillier than usual. Something bothered me about what my roommate had said. She had spoken into existence a feeling I’d been carrying with me all day, a feeling I could not identify because it was too complex to capture in a single word.

I had woken up that morning stressed and in a bad mood, mainly because I had a lot of schoolwork and two Hirevue interviews to film to help with my summer internship search (Hirevues are the bane of my existence). As a student-athlete, I can say with certainty that time is the most valuable commodity I have. With all of the tasks I needed to complete that day, I knew time was not going to be on my side.

Therefore, when one of my friends texted to ask if we could meet for lunch, my instinct was to decline. The precious hour that would be spent chatting about trivial matters was an hour that I could not afford. However, something in the way she wrote the text caught my attention, and I paused. I usually studied with this friend but never had meals with her. Was there something going on? My gut instinct was to accept the invitation, so I did.

We met at a nearby cafe, and I immediately could tell something was off. Her eyes were rimmed red; clearly, she’d been crying. I didn’t say anything, though, simply greeted her with a hug and suggested we find a table and get our food. Once we situated ourselves and had gotten past the usual pleasantries, I knew I had to ask: “Are you OK?”

Tears started streaming down her face as she tried to respond, but I could tell nothing coherent was going to make it out anytime soon. Concerned, I handed her the brown napkins from the middle of the table and waited until she was ready to speak.

“I have no one here at Columbia.”

Those were the first words she uttered. They are words I will never forget.

I won’t go into the details of our conversation because it’s private to me and my friend, but I will say this: As she expressed her emotions, I felt hot prickles of shame and guilt build up inside of me. Here I had been, just earlier that day, griping about trivial matters while my friend was struggling. I didn’t know where to hide my face.

We spoke for two hours, at the end of which my friend seemed to be in a significantly better state. I, on the other hand, felt like I’d been hit by a truck.

A s I lay in bed that night mulling over the day’s events, I reflected on myself. Time and time again, I have turned people down for the sake of maintaining a decent GPA, furthering my career prospects or attending sports practice. Yet I have never paused to consider how my actions have impacted others. The idea that they would even impact others feels counterintuitive because so many choices I have made are in my self-interest, and rarely pertain to anyone else. However, when it comes to building relationships and building a community, I could have done better. I failed to recognize a friend who was hurting, and I could not sleep because of that.

My solution is not groundbreaking; I simply make it a point to share a meal with a friend more often and ask them how they’re doing.

Is the fact that I have lunch more often with friends going to change the world? Probably not. But I write this essay because I think my experience is more common than one would think. The culture at Columbia and in NYC is fast paced and unforgiving. Taking the time to do small things like asking how someone is doing should be easy, yet it happens a lot less than it should. I am living proof of this.

I still take care of the tasks I need to complete, and I continue to prioritize my academics and sports performance. However, even though I’m the center of my own universe, nothing is preventing me from visiting the other planets. It just takes a little thought and some energy on my end.

Emma Shen ’26 is studying financial economics and computer science, and is on the golf team.

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A Med Student's Perspective on Mental Health

Ciara Robb, OMS-IV  RVUCOM-Southern Utah

What does mental health mean to you as a student doctor? 

Simply put, mental health is the state of the health of your mind. Mental health is an issue on everyone's mind. As the anxiety, depression, and self-harm rates rise within our community, we all need to take a deep look at what we can do to be well and promote wellness in our colleagues! 

How do you balance mental health with workload/academics? 

Medicine will take from you as much as you are willing to give. You have to set boundaries. For me, I would rather score lower on a test and be there for my spouse or family during important events; I would rather sleep 8 hours per night than be at the top of my class; I would rather be physically and emotionally well than have the most amazing CV. At the end of the day, if you are not well, you can not give your all to patients. We often don’t have the cure or the answer for our patients, but we can always help by giving our empathy and our undivided attention to our patient's suffering and sorrow. If you are not well, how are you supposed to be able to give that to your patients? Set boundaries for yourself, and often, you will find you can get more work done and accomplished in a shorter amount of time when you are well. 

What are the biggest misconceptions about mental health, and how do you respond to them?

The biggest misconception I see in our community about mental health is that you are weak and unfit for this profession if you struggle with mental health issues. My response to this is to try to view your situation more objectively. If a patient came to you with the same issues and concerns, what would you tell them? Take care of yourself like you take care of your patients and prioritize your health and wellness so you can be more present. 

What is a moment where you faced difficulty with your mental health, and how did you overcome it? 

During my second year of medical school, I struggled a lot with anxiety. The first step to improving my mental health was to admit there was a problem and take action to get help. I was very resistant to getting professional help or investing in my well-being until I was honest with myself about how much my anxiety was holding me back. 

In what ways would you like to see attitudes around mental health shift? What other changes do you think could be made to improve mental health challenges for student doctors? 

I would like to see attitudes around wellness in general shift. Often, we are praised for sacrificing ourselves and our wellness to the profession, but I would like to see more mentors praising students for being well and whole while still being great student doctors. The medical education system could beat down any well-adjusted human; there are reforms that need to be made to lessen the unnecessary burdens on our students. A big target for me would be reducing the cost of medical education and reducing interest rates on loans, as well as having more accountability for COMS to ensure they are following through on the promises they make to their students. There is a huge power differential between COM administration and students, and it can be really difficult to speak up and improve the systems at our local institutions without backlash. These things all play into burnout, which Is a huge driver of poor mental health among medical students. 

What advice do you wish you knew sooner as a student doctor on this topic?

Medicine will always be here. Your wellness is more important. Do what you need to do to get well and advocate for yourself! 

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Why Teen Voices Matter in the 2024 Election

Introducing the Headway Election Challenge, a running conversation with teenagers about their role in U.S. democracy.

By Matthew Thompson

For most teenagers, a presidential election year offers a dilemma. Elections have consequences, as the saying goes , and this is especially true for young people, who are at the center of any number of issues dividing the U.S. electorate. Yet most teens can’t vote.

All spring and summer, the Headway team has been talking with high school students about this year’s election. Headway is an initiative at The New York Times that covers the world’s challenges through the lens of progress. Since the march of progress will have its longest effects on the youngest of us, that lens has made Headway especially interested in the experiences of the world’s youth.

We have been especially curious about youth voter turnout this year, given how youth engagement in presidential elections has changed over the past few cycles. The 2020 election was particularly striking. The spread of the coronavirus meant that going to the voting booth was particularly fraught. The two contenders for the presidency were the oldest in American history. The 2016 election had notably low youth participation. On the eve of the 2020 election, The Times posed the question, “Why don’t young people vote, and what can be done about it?”

But then young people defied expectations. According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement at Tufts University, Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 voted at higher rates in 2020 than they had in any elections except 1992 and 1972 (which was right after the voting age was lowered to 18). Their votes last election far outstripped the margin of victory in swing states, making them critical to the outcome.

In collaboration with Chalkbeat , a nonprofit news organization that covers education in several American communities, the Headway team has been posing questions about the election to high school students, and asking them what questions they have for their peers about the race. We’ve heard from nearly 1,000 students from red, blue and purple states, all representing diverse backgrounds and schools. Their responses have been illuminating. While some high schoolers don’t consider the election particularly relevant to their interests, many do. Even when they can’t vote, many teenagers in every part of the country are highly interested in the election. They are eager to inform themselves about it, craving more forums to discuss it with peers and others, and yearning to see their voices represented in the outcome.

So for the next two months, if you’re a teenager in the United States, we want to ask you all about your experience of the election. Consider this your formal invitation to participate in what we’re calling the Headway Election Challenge.

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Master the art of admission essays with professional guidance.

Crafting an admission essay is like capturing a glimpse of your unique journey. The story you tell with your words and ideas is what sets you apart from other candidates. The pressure to succeed could be overwhelming. But it can be transformed into an inspiring story with the right guidance that touches the hearts of admissions officers.

There are so many students out there who need to consult with experts or take admission essay help to refine their writing and turn their essays into a strong reflection of their potential. To save you time and effort, I have discussed the most effective strategies to craft admission essays. Each of these are tips that experts have tried and tested. 

To that end, let’s check the tricks that can help you transform your essay into a powerful piece of writing.

Exceptional Strategies to Master the Art of Admission Essays

Understand the university prompts:.

Examine the requirements set out by the admissions committee and how your experiences meet or exceed them. That way, you’ll be well-prepared and confident in constructing your essay based on this information. Here is a breakdown of each section:

• Introduction : Start the introduction with a snapshot of who you are. You should give the reader a sense of that reflection of your personality. 
• Body Paragraphs : Demonstrate your qualification that fits the program. Each paragraph should have a focus on every aspect of your story. You can highlight the experiences and accomplishments that are relevant to the program. If you have learned anything from your experiences, don’t forget to include that. Showcase the experiences that align with your goals and the program’s offerings. 
• Conclusion : Recap the main points that emphasized your experiences. You can reiterate your interest in the program. Conclude the essay with a memorable statement or call to action. 

If you feel confused about how to write an admission essay , you can opt for essay writer service from reputable brands. 

Proper Utilization of Your Voice through Writing:

Every candidate has some unique goals with academic strengths and weaknesses. These distinctive characteristics are what capture our admissions counsellors to each of you. The most significant chance for you to express yourself authentically to them is through your application essay. That can be related to personal narrative, academic career goals, skills, or other achievements. While life experiences are universal, your responses to emotions around them are as distinct as your fingerprints. Tell us about what drives you, your priorities, your goals, and your strategy for achieving them.

Be Honest and Stay Focused:

Staying honest and focused is important while writing an admission essay. While you start writing, you can think about the people who inspire you or the events that shaped you. Select the story that holds significance for you. The admission consultants also love to read captivating stories. Apart from that, you have to keep one thing in mind. That is ‘show, don’t tell’. Describe an instance or conversation that exemplifies your compassion and determination rather than merely stating that you have these traits.

Showcase Your Personal Experience  through Proper Format:

Implementing proper formatting shows that you are capable of organizing and effectively expressing your ideas, as well as that you’re taking the application process seriously. It displays your professionalism and attention to detail. You can follow this format for your admission essay:

• Font and Size : You can use fonts like Times New Roman, Calibri, or Arial at 12-point 
• Margins : Keep the margin to 1 inch on all sides
• Line Spacing : Use double-spacing throughout the essay

Edit Your Admission Essay Carefully

Simply writing an essay following all the instructions is not enough to get selected for your dream university. You have to be careful when you work on the first draft. Writing an admission essay contains two essential phrases- editing and revision. So, go over your essay several times and pay close attention to the flow of writing, language, and clarity. Never be hesitant to make modifications if something doesn’t feel right to you. 

Practice to Write Exceptional Admission Essay

As we all know, ‘Practice makes perfect’. That same thing happened in the case of writing an admission essay. It may take time to experience and write a standout admission essay. Compose several drafts and evaluate various perspectives without fear. Your confidence can help you to articulate your ideas succinctly and effectively.

Ending Note ,

Writing an admission essay is not an uphill battle. One can craft it easily if you implement these strategies. So, accept the opportunity to convey your story with clarity and confidence. Allow personal narratives to shine through as you take the next step toward your academic and professional goals.

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