Student Voice Toolkit
“[Student] voice is about passing the microphone rather than ‘giving’ or ‘taking away’” -Dr. Clyde Barnett
What is Student Voice?
Student voice is an active and intentional engagement of young people as partners to inform and/or design youth experiences, including education. While there are many ways to incorporate student voice, aligned approaches focus on engaging students in the decisions that will impact them.
How to use this site
This site is designed to be used as a guide for educators, leaders, and those interested in increasing the use of Youth Voice and Student Voice in their schools and organizations. It is a guide, a toolkit, and a resource.
Who is this for?
This toolkit is for anyone who has an investment in young people and is interested in influencing the many systems and structures that impact youth lives (students, caregivers, teachers, administrators, educational staff, community partners, and more). The research, resources, and approaches included in this site are intended to provide educational stakeholders - especially those in the K-12 setting - the theoretical and practical frameworks to engage youth in meaningful and impactful ways.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to the school districts in Berrien County and Kalamazoo County who supported the development of this tool, including teacher and administrator partners, and especially the students who shared their leadership, insight, and feedback. School participants included:
Brandywine Middle Middle/High School,
F.C. Reed Middle School,
Galesburg-Augusta Middle School,
Parchment Northwood Elementary,
Portage Central High School, and
Portage Northern High School, among others.
The following students, together with their parents and guardians, gave us permission us to share our thanks for participating in our student voice sessions: Jenna Abdulhak, Turab Alam, Riley Allen, Tatum Carter-Titus, Nate Ellis, Payton Hall, Alanna Harris, Lincoln Hawes, Haley Marshall, Mekail Morales-Mills, Dakota Ratliff, Landen Reed, James Taylor, Lilly Walden, Julius Watson, and Alex Williams.
This Student Voice Toolkit was inspired by, adapted from, and built upon the great toolkits created by Chicago Public Schools (link to their toolkit) and Jackson County ISD (link to their toolkit) and informed by the research of The Forum for Youth Investment: Weikart Center along with many others. We have included citations and credit to these and other sources where appropriate (check them out!).
Created with support from Berrien RESA and Kalamazoo RESA. Authored by: Ethan Alexander, Abbie Benfield, Jen Hsu-Bishop, and Cara Weiler.
If you are interested in reading and exploring the content on this site in a Google Document, please view that HERE