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Cultivating Excellence Through Youth Voice in Education: A School-University Course Partnership

Heather M. Voke, PhDGeorgetown University

+School/University Course Partnership: The School

Ballou Senior High School in Washington, D.C. 1203 students 99% African American 84% Eligible for Free/Reduced Lunch 21% Special Education Ballou scores on the DC CAS

2007: Reading, 57% below basicMath, 66% below basic

2008: Reading, 19% below basicMath, 32% below basic

NCLB 2009-2010 Status: 3rd Year of Restructuring

+School/University Course Partnership: The University Partner

Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. 78% White Non-Hispanic 6.9% African American Tuition: $38,616/year 50% get financial aid, but also one of the least

economically diverse national universities in U.S. (11th from bottom in Pell grants)

One of most selective colleges in U.S. : “Only Stanford and a handful of Ivy League schools are tougher to get into than Georgetown (Fiske Guide to Colleges).”

+Core Principles of Course Partnership Activities

1. Students should have a genuine voice in identifying problems and developing and implementing solutions. Teachers and others should not impose their own visions, and student voice should not be a form of tokenism.

2. The work should be authentic—the problems should be ones that matter to the students and their work should have real outcomes that affect the lives of the students and others.

3. Students should have real responsibility, with freedom to fail or succeed. The consequences should matter to them.

4. There should be a reciprocity of teaching and learning: students should have opportunities to both learn from and teach one another.

5. Individual talents should be recognized and developed in ways that advance the group’s work.

+Core Principles of Course Partnership Activities

6. The group should engage in ongoing group and self assessment.

7. Student experience is both relevant and valuable.

8. The process itself has value and can be applied in other contexts to address other problems.

9. Effective problem solving requires guided practice in seeing other perspectives.

10. Students want to and will learn when given the opportunity to engage in meaningful work. They will push themselves and others.

11. Students can be intrinsically motivated to learn academic knowledge and skills.

+General Idea of the Partnership Georgetown faculty members teaching liberal arts

courses link their courses to those of local public high school teacher.

The courses are in complementary subject areas: College: Civic Engagement & Education High School: Principles of U.S. Government

The undergrads travel to the local high school twice a week for a semester.

They meet with H.S. students during class time two periods per week.

+Course Partnership: Specific

Example

University Course

Civic Engagement and Education

With the Following High School Courses:

World History

U.S Government

African American History

Principles of U.S. Government

+The Work of the Students H.S. students work as “coaches” for teams of the high

school students.

Each team focuses on a school/community-issue of interest to the high school students.

The groups analyze the problem: What exactly is the problem? What are its causes? What is its history? Who has the power to address it? What community assets exist to address it? Etc.

+The Work of the Students

The groups: Develop an action plan and timeline. Meet with relevant people to better understand the problem

and gather other forms of data; Propose and evaluate possible solutions; Seek resources necessary to implement a solution; Implement the solution. Develop a long-term plan for how to sustain the work after

the course ends; Present the work to the community and invite participation.

+Past Student Projects: Examples Cafeteria Reform

Problems: Very long lunch lines; not enough tables/chairs; ugly, dirty courtyard

Project: Presentation to school board. Additional staff hired, more tables/chairs added. Students cleaned courtyard.

HIV/AIDS education Problem: Students and community members with

HIV/AIDS. Project: Organized a school assembly to educate peers

about the disease. Identified and worked with two community groups to provide information to students within the school.

+Past Student Projects: Examples Positive Out-of-School Activities

Problem: Not enough positive things to after school; no information about how to satisfy community service hours, get a job, or pursue a personal interest.

Project: Organized the school’s first-ever Activities Fair, held in the school library. Event was attended by more than 10 community partner groups, along with representatives of many school clubs. Each group/club left with at least 15 students interested in membership.

Student Government Problem: Young people don’t have a voice in the school’s

operation; there’s no way to communicate with the administration about issues in the school.

Project: Proposed and designed a new student government. Presented proposal and design to administration, received endorsement. Found a faculty sponsor.

+Associated Activities Day-long visit to the university campus.

Interaction through social media (texts, phone, e-mail, Facebook, etc.).

Any out-of-school or class activities needed to complete the project (example: school board presentation)

Creation of a presentation: Plan how to communicate about the work with the larger community.

Culminating event: Youth Voice Conference at university and/or school.

Follow-up Community Event: Celebration of work and relationships, building community to sustain the work in the future.

+Kinds of Outcomes

Cognitive

Affective

Intra- and Inter-personal

+Desired Learning Outcomes for Both Groups of Students Learn a social problem-solving process that can be

transferred to multiple contexts;

Create a sense of ownership of their own educational process, the learning environment within the school, and the community;

Recognize personal and community assets;

Create a sense of self-efficacy;

Learn the skills of communicating with those who have different life experiences, cultural frameworks, beliefs, interests, etc.

Develop meaningful relationships so that each group of students can learn from the other.

+Desired Learning Outcomes for Both Groups of Students Develop deep understanding of relevant subject matter:

Students come to appreciate the applicability, meaning, and value of school learning.

Develop an appreciation of the value of personal, everyday experience as a learning resource;

Begin to place personal experience within the larger social-political-economic context and learn how to analyze experience within this context.

Begin to see how the larger context influences personal experiences;

Teach self-respect: Help students recognize their individual strengths and value of them for the community.

+Examples of Student Work

+Presenting to the School Board about Food

+Meeting with the School Guidance Counselors

+Creating Surveys of Students and Teachers

Compiling and Analyzing Survey Data

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

# of votes

Questions

Survey Results

Yes 65 61 40

No 50 54 76

Question 1 Question 2 Question3

+“Was this program different in any way from your other experiences in school?”

“It’s not like my other experience.”

“I never had anything like this. . . Our people had to work hard to get what they wanted.”

“It made our class more interesting.”

“I made sure that I was more attentive.”

“My expectation was us doing something that our teacher was going to give us and we do it, but it was about something we believe in and what we knew. . . It was kind of hard…but as we got to go do research and people was spoken with, I knew it was going to work. I put a lot of hard work and speech in it.”

+“Did you learn anything about yourself through this experience? Did you change in any way?” “I am smarter than what I think I am.”

“That we can make a difference.”

“I learn[ed] how to stand up for my beliefs and [I’m] more confident now and I made new friends.”

“I’m proud of everybody that did something.”

“I learned a lot of stuff because I learned the things I have to and the right people to talk to about getting things done.”

“We worked as a team.”

+“Is there anything that you’re proud of or that you worked hard on?”

“I talk[ed] to most of the big shots in school even though I’m shy. I talked to [the principal] and I was very nervous to do that but I did and I’m proud of myself.”

“Yea, I am proud that I opened up to you guys.”

“We actually founded an organization.”

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“If we want to make a difference all we have to do is to put our mind to it and work together and we will make a change.”

+“Did your attitude about your school change?”

“Yes, because at first I didn’t care but now I want to see change.”

“Unless we do something they [won’t change].”

“It’s the most fun I ever had when doing work.”

+Other Examples or Kinds of University/School Pairings A group of university faculty teaching a Theater as Social

Change course partner with a high school teacher who is an advisor in the afterschool program. University students guide high school students as they write

and perform a play in the community about issues that concern the high school students.

A faculty member co-creates and co-teaches a course with university students; coursework consists of working with administrators and students from a local high school to identify and address a specific need. University students read relevant background material and

reflect on the integration of that material with their work with the school

University students gain real-world and academic knowledge and skills; the school receives new resources that are responsive to its particular context.

+Replication in Other Settings: Recommendations Seek out summer grant funding that brings together college faculty in the

liberal arts and local school teachers to explore ways to link courses.

Offer a stipend to support partners’ work and course-related activities such as transportation.

Provide both educators with initial training on effective community based learning pedagogy.

Educate college faculty about the accountability context, the relevant subject area standards, the school’s population and context, administrative hierarchy, etc.

Clarify roles, responsibilities, expectations in advance.

Provide undergraduates with support related to coaching during the process; knowledge of subject area not sufficient for effective coaching.

Provide structured opportunities for reflection and evaluation throughout the process for everyone involved.

+Challenges Reaching out into an unfamiliar context and without specific contacts within that

context.

Unpredictability and need for flexibility.

Students and teachers lack of prior experience with this type of teaching/learning experience.

Temptation to over-control the process. Finding balance between over- and under- control.

Those in greatest need and most likely to benefit are also least likely to be regarded as appropriate participants. Some will be skeptical and reluctant to give support.

The design and content challenges status quo; can be perceived as threatening and destructive, rather than welcoming and constructive. Possible conflict: to work, needs support of those being challenged.

Current culture of accountability can create inhospitable environment even though the project targets the demographic and kind of learning that are targets of the accountability movement.

Learning to recognize learning when it doesn’t fit conventional moulds, and communicating effectively with others the nature and value of this learning.

Time intensive for all involved.

+A Few Pointers

Emphasize that this a way for students to learn the same things more effectively—produces a much richer understanding of the subject matter.

Emphasize that students learn additional things, things not typically learned through more traditional instruction, but which are essential to school and life success (self-esteem, self-efficacy, appreciation of difference and similarity, effective communication, relevance of school knowledge to life, etc.).

Believe in the students. Given structured opportunities to demonstrate their abilities and respect, students will surpass standard expectations. The most disengaged often become the most engaged; negative school behaviors can be redirected to become assets and strengths.

The problems and distractions encountered can become the central learning experiences of the course. Structure teaching and learning around them.

Emphasize the value of reflection on the processes of teaching and learning not only to the educators, but the students as well.

+RESEARCH FOUNDATIONS FOR PROGRAM DESIGN

Design is based on research related to student motivation and the creation of deep knowledge (understanding).

See for example, Voke, Heather (2002). Student Engagement: Motivating Students to Learn. ASCD Infobrief #28.

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Students are most likely to engage and develop understanding of subject/acquire skills when the following conditions are met:

+They are provided with appropriately challenging material. Each student should have a curriculum at an

appropriate level of difficulty, and teachers must have high but achievable expectations for all students (Alderman, 1999; Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999; Learning First Alliance, 2001).

Instructional tasks should be of “intermediate difficulty”; they should be “tasks that students can complete but only with some effort, so as to engender feelings of increasing competence and pride” (Stipek, 1996, p. 89).

+They are provided with meaningful learning opportunities. Whenever possible, instruction should be tied to topics and problems that

naturally interest students (Ormrond, 1995; Stipek, 1996).

Teachers should make connections between students' prior knowledge and experiences and illustrate the connection between the curriculum and the real world (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999).

Rather than emphasizing that students learn material because it will be on the test, teachers should underscore the relevance of classroom instruction to students' personal lives and future aspirations (Ormond, 1995; Sheldon & Biddle, 1998).

Motivational researchers insist that curriculum and instruction should be culturally relevant to promote student engagement, for “when students' community voices are underrepresented or devalued in the curriculum, students may feel silenced in classroom activities” (Kordalewski, 1999, p. 2).

Knowledge is retained particularly well when it is actively employed in practical work and related to students’ interests. (Cohen, G., Conway, M. and and Stanhope, N. ,1992. “Very Long Term Retention of Knowledge.” HRLC Technical Report Number 87.)

+They have meaningful and authentic opportunities to express their voices on issues that matter to them within the school. All students must have opportunities to participate in the

decision-making processes of the school and to regulate and direct their own learning.

Schools should encourage students to take responsibility for “regulating their own learning and for being self-determined and autonomous learners,” for when choices are given to students, “the evidence is clear that student motivation, learning, and performance are enhanced” (McCombs, n.d., pp. 7–8). Choices students receive must be authentic—and not token measures intended to pacify students.

+The school culture reflects fairness, caring; common purpose, respect for individuality. Schools should organize themselves as communities that

foster caring relationships between all members of the school community and treat all members fairly. Students are motivated to learn when they believe that their teachers care about their education and about them personally; therefore, they must have opportunities to share their ideas and perspectives, and schools must demonstrate to them that their perspectives are valued (McCombs, n.d., pp. 8–9).

Schools should create a sense of community and common purpose; at the same time, they should recognize the diversity and individuality of each member of the community.

+The school provides a safe and civil environment.

Schools should provide a psychologically and physically safe environment. Classrooms and schools should not be overcrowded; the physical plant should be well-maintained and well-lit and have good ventilation. Security measures should be carefully selected to balance the need for a safe environment against the need for a comfortable and inviting learning environment (Learning First Alliance, 2001). Schools should minimize aggressive behaviors such as teasing and bullying by “creating an atmosphere in which civility, order, and decorum are the norms and antisocial behavior such as bullying, intimidation, and taunting are clearly unacceptable” (p. 14).

+Selected Resources

Janet Eyler & Dwight Giles, Jr. (1999). Where’s the Learning in Service Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Ellen Porter Honnet and Susan J. Poulson. (1989). Wingspread Principles of Good Practice for Combining Service and Learning. The Johnson Foundation.