The following is a directory of student voice activities across the United States. Select a state to see a listing of different activities happening there, including school boards, K-12 schools, community organizations and more!
The National Student Power Convergence was intended to draw together youth organizers across the country were in the same room together.
Dream Defenders, Moral Monday arrestees, high schoolers resisting school closings and police brutality, statewide organizers from Ohio, New York, California and beyond came together to trade tactics and experiences, elevate disenfranchised voices, link struggles from different regions to build something bigger.
This is the SoundOut Students On School Boards Toolkit by Adam Fletcher. It includes research, examples and more. SoundOut offers professional development and training! For more information contact us.
In 2009, in the United States 24 states had specific laws addressing roles for students on district school boards, while three states have no related laws at all. Eight had laws that sort of addressed the issue, while the remaining 11 states did not respond to the question.
The National School Board Association sporadically conducts a survey of their 50 member organizations across the United States to find out how students on school boards are doing. In 2009, they asked them some of the following questions.
They found that students in seven responding states could potentially vote on district school boards, while in 27 states student members of school boards could not vote at all, if they actually sat on school boards in those states. One state respondent wasn’t sure and the remaining 15 states didn’t reply to this question.
When asked whether the vote of student members would be limited to student-specific issues, five states reported that it was, while three states said it was not, if they had students on school boards. 26 states replied that this question was not applicable, probably because their student representatives cannot vote at all if they had student representatives at all. One state wasn’t sure.
Finally, 24 states replied that student members’ role was only as advisors with no real authority. 11 replied that students were treated as regular members of the board.
Following are details of how states answered each question.
KEY
State = States that responded to the survey
Law? = Are there laws affecting student representatives?
Voting? = Can students vote as full members?
Limited? = Are students’ votes limited to student-specific issues?
Age? = How old do you have to be?
Advisory? = Are students members, or are they representatives, or on Advisory Committees?
There are many places where Meaningful Student Involvement, student voice and student engagement have taken hold across the United States. The following links will take you to the information SoundOut has collected regarding each state. Share your information with us in the comments below!
SoundOut Education Consulting 