When they are involved in ways that seek to be meaningful, it is important for students and adults to examine how their involvement happens. This is a tool designed to illustrate four different positions on the spectrum towards the Student Voice Revolution. 

Each position is fluid, and in some schools all four might exist at the same time.

• ISOLATE: Schools should consider whether their activities isolate students by creating separate student involvement opportunities that are away from adults, without the context of learning, the education system, or school improvement.
• INVOLVE: Another pattern that may occur is to involve students, where they are deliberately partners with adults throughout schools in specific opportunities.
• INTEGRATE: Occasionally, schools might integrate students by deliberately partnering students with adults throughout learning, the education system, and school improvement.
• INFUSION: Perhaps the pinnacle involvement happens when the education system works to infuse students, which means that Student/Adult Partnerships are inseparably entwined with the success of education systems and cannot be extracted without causing irreparable damage.

When you’ve used this tool, let me know what you think in the comments below!

Special thanks to Wendy Lesko of the Youth Activism Project for her concept of youth infusion!

You Might Like…

• Student Voice Revolution: The Meaningful Student Involvement Handbook
• Types of Relationships between Students and Adults
• Ladder of Student Involvement