Welcome to YPE!
Bringing Youth Voice to Minneapolis Public Schools
Youth Participatory Evaluation (YPE) allows MPS students to become evaluators, or the people who gather information from others in the school, figure out what’s working and what’s not working, and make recommendations about what needs to change. We believe youth have expertise that needs to be heard.
Born out of the District's agreement with the Office of Civil Rights, YPE students choose a research question that is important to them and relates to their education, school climate, and/or student engagement.
The team then tries to answer their question by collecting voices at their school, amplifying what they hear, and taking action. Youth recommendations contribute to school and District discussions and decisions.
Not Sure how to get Started?
Take some time to explore the website:
Why is YPE important?
What are past findings? What did past groups do?
Start pulling together your group! Who has something to say about their school experience?
Figure out your group can meet!
Check out the timeline and links on the Team Resources tab!
Reach out the Jenny Delaney with any questions!
SY23-24 Updates!
SECONDARY schools will be asked to opt into the version of YPE that best fits their students, schools goals, and capacity. Click here for an overview of each version, and in mid-September principals will be asked to select which version their school will implement. If you have questions or would like support with deciding which version is best for your school, please reach out to YPE program lead, Jenny Delaney.
ELEMENTARY schools will be shifting away from traditional YPE programming and towards the Youth Voice Advisor as the conduit for youth voice at their site. Quarterly, the Youth Voice Advisor will be asked to collect youth voice on a topic connected to school improvement planning. Click here for an overview, and reach out to Jenny Delaney with questions.
OVERALL YPE Findings
REA partnered with Gabe Spinks, the 2017 MPS Student Board Representative, to conduct a meta-analysis using each YPE team’s 2018-19 project as a data source. Three interconnected themes that span across schools and topic areas emerged, and help us better understand the student experience within MPS. These themes are described in detail, along with summarized recommendations, in their own memo (linked below):
RELATIONSHIPS: student identity, the presence or lack of trust, and a perceived belief gap all impact student-to-staff and student-to-student relationships.
SCHOOL POLICIES: students want to see changes in some school policies as they feel many are enforced inequitably and predictably by student identity.
STUDENT LEARNING: student learning is impacted by a school climate and environment that often lacks diversity, engaging and culturally relevant curricula, and positive student-teacher relationships.
