Category: Organizations

Middle and high school students in New York City participated in a student evaluator program for the Teens as School Volunteer Tutors Project.

Together with an adult evaluation facilitator, they decided to interview two groups of subjects: an adult group made up of school professionals and the tutors’ own parents and a student group made up of both tutors and their tutees.

The student evaluators devised interview forms, agreed on interview assignments, and drew up a time line for completion.

More Info

• Further info about this project is not available at this time. Please share any details you may have in the comments section below.

In 2003, high school students with a program called REAL HARD in Oakland, California, designed and collected 1,000 report card surveys evaluating teaching, counseling, school safety and facilities at three local high schools.

These students, working with Oakland’s Kids First, compiled their findings, analyzed the results, and made concrete recommendations in an exciting, comprehensive report. The introduction to the report states,

“There are 48,000 youth in Oakland’s schools that are experts—who are in class every day and who have a lot to say about how the schools are run and how to improve our education… everyone wants to hear from the teachers and parents – but what about the students? Who asks our opinion? Why do we feel shut out, like no one cares what we think?”

Related Content

• Students as Evaluators
• Tools for Communities

Elsewhere Online

• Kids First Oakland official website
• “Kids Voices Count” report

A student group in the Bronx, New York, took Meaningful Student Involvement in education planning to the next level. Sistas and Brothas United, or SBU, worked with school district officials to create a small school focused on educating students for social justice. SBU worked to improve their own schools for several years. They rallied and researched, and as one student said, “[We] got a lot of stuff fixed, that gives me a sense of power.” The students flexed their power in another direction. They worked with the district and a coalition of organizations to start a new high school called the Leadership Institute for Social Justice. Through partnerships, the school trains students to be leaders who take charge of their schools and communities. Yearly Community Action Projects give students the skills they need to take action in their communities. (What Kids Can Do, 2003)

Related Content

• Students as Planners
• Students as Advocates
• Student Organizing for Education Reform

Elsewhere Online

• Sistas and Brothas United website

The Youth Action Research Institute in Hartford, Connecticut, has coordinated student-led research projects focused on schools and education for many years.

In 2007, four school districts participated in a student action research program as part of the Education and Advocacy Project. This program is a model program that engages students in identifying and researching issues that affect the quality of education in their schools and elsewhere in the state. The program, for fifth and six graders, has nine teachers participating who are integrating student driven action research into their classrooms using cooperative learning methods into core curricular activities.

The project’s methods and goals include assessing the effects of PAR on students, educators, and the overall school communities involved. (Berg, 2007)

Related Content

• Students as Researchers
• Participatory Action Research

Elsewhere Online

• Youth Action Research Institute Education and Advocacy Project website

When they researched hundreds of their peers and suggested powerful transformation, students moved from sharing student voice towards Meaningful Student Involvement.

Students with a nonprofit program called Jovenes Unidos in Denver, Colorado, explored why many of their peers didn’t graduate. Their goal was,

“…to change statistics, and to make [our]… school of excellence where all students learn, graduate, and have the opportunity to go on to college.”

Their report outlines findings from more than 700 student surveys, national education research findings, and a proposal for school transformation. (Jovenes Unidos, 2004)

Since then, Jovenes Unidos have gone on to continue researching student perspectives, gathering middle and high school students who want to improve schools, and building powerful coalitions for education transformation across Denver Public Schools. Their most recent publication is the Colorado School Discipline Report Card, and its findings are causing serious conversations throughout the state.

Related Content

• Students as Researchers
• Students as Advocates

Elsewhere Online

• Jovenes Unidos website