1. Jason Salisbury Ph.D. Daniel Spikes Ph.D. Iowa State University
Centering the Voices of Youth of Color in the School Improvement Process
Jason Salisbury Ph.D.
Daniel Spikes Ph.D.
Iowa State University

2. Why include youth of color?
School staff, especially leadership, are overwhelmingly white.
There is a substantial age gap between us, as professionals, and students
It makes sense to include the people experiencing a system when thinking about improving it!!!

3. What does research tell us?
Students of color often experience a culturally incongruent education steeped in deficit notions (Payne, 2008; Noguera & Wells, 2011; Riehl, Pallas, & Natriello, 1999; Howard, 2003; Lee, 1995; Ladson-Billings, 1995; Sleeter & Grant, 2007, Gay, 2010; Finnan & Swanson, 2000)
But, students can provide valuable voice and insight in creating more equitable schools (Mansfield, Welton, & Halx; 2012; Mitra, 2008; Mitra & Goose, 2009)
More importantly, students are able to act as resisters to oppressive systems that work to maintain systemic inequality in schools (Ginwright, Noguera, Cammarota, 2006)

4. Thoughts about including youth of color in SIP
What knowledge and/or cultural wealth do youth of color bring to the school improvement process?
What are some of the reasons why you, or others, may think it is a bad idea to bring the voices of youth of color into the school improvement process?

5. What is cultural wealth?
The sum of various forms of capital within communities of color that are leveraged to fight racism and oppressive systems
Not cultural or social capital – the access to social networks, education, and language valued by the dominant group

6. Community Cultural Wealth (Yosso, 2005)
Aspirational
Capital
Familial
Social
Navigational
Resistant
Linguistic

7. How to include youth of color in SIP
Must be done in:
Safe ways
Legitimate ways
Responsive ways
Representative ways
Youth centering ways

8. What does this look like in practice
Two examples
Oakwood High School
Des Moines Public Schools

9. Example 1: Oakwood Parent Night
What:
Parent night planned by students in the ELL Program
Why:
Students had the best knowledge of how to successfully navigate the school (Navigational & Resistant)
Students could produce materials and communicate in all necessary languages (Linguistic)
Students knew how to reach out and recruit families to attend (Social & Familial)
Students wanted to ensure younger siblings and peers had a smoother transition to high school (Aspirational & Familial)

10. Example 2: DMPS & RunDSM What:
Student generated Teacher Code of Conduct
Why:
Students had first hand knowledge of current teaching practices and how students responded to those practices (Navigational & Social)
Students knew how teachers could better meet the needs of their students (Resistant & Social)
Students wanted to ensure younger siblings and peers experienced more equitable learning opportunities (Aspirational & Familial)

11. What are the results? Growth
Increased in the cultural wealth of the school because they have infused student knowledge into the improvement process
Increased in the participating students’ personal cultural wealth because they see themselves as change agents
Increased in the cultural wealth of communities of color because the school system is now more responsive to their needs
Growth

12. What are the results? In both examples:
Increase in the cultural wealth of the school because they have infused student knowledge into the improvement process
Increase in the cultural wealth of communities of color because the school system is now more responsive to their needs
Increase in the participating students’ personal cultural wealth because they see themselves as change agents

13. One caveat
This cannot be done in a way that takes advantage of youth of color
Create a class where students get academic credit for this work
Provide students financial compensation; they are acting as school improvement consultants

14. Activity:
With a people from your school or the people sitting around you:
Identify an area your school is in need of improvement
Develop a skeleton plan for how to include the community cultural wealth of youth of color in the improvement process
Note, we did not say what will youth of color say or what there suggestions for improvement will be. That does not center or legitimize youth of color in the process!!!!

15. Thank you!!!
The experiences of youth of color can expose the racism underlying deficit thinking in schools and reveal the need to restructure schools around those knowledges, skills, abilities and networks—the community cultural wealth—possessed and utilized by People of Color (Yosso, 2005)

16. Jason Salisbury
Daniel Spikes