1. Youth Participatory Evaluation in a Public School District
November 10, 2017
Maren Henderson, Evaluation Specialist
Accountability,
Innovation, and
Research

2. Context

3. Context: School Attendance

4. Context: Suspensions

5. Context: School Climate
Student perception of school climate is, on average, lower than parents and school staff
Reinforces need to ask young people about their school experience!

6. Youth Participatory Evaluation
Youth as:
-Evaluators
-Community organizers
-Decision-makers
Youth voice influences school and district policy
Social justice framework

7. Program Overview

8. Office of Civil Rights Agreement
YPE at MPS
Compliance
Model
Transformation
Office of Civil Rights Agreement
Racial disproportionality in school discipline
Student committees give input on behavior policy
School and district administrators respond to student suggestions
Each middle and high school involves 6-8 students
Schools select representative student group who have received behavior referrals or are less engaged in school than peers
Students review discipline policy and make recommendations
Youth build evaluation skills to address school issues that matter to them (REAA evaluation team as coaches)
Team collects data to represent student body voice
Student voice influences district decisions and accountability

9. Collecting & elevating authentic youth voice
YPE Theory of Change
Building shared power
Collecting & elevating authentic youth voice
Advisors
Leaders
Students
Increase student engagement by asking traditionally marginalized voices to identify root causes of disproportionality and inequity, and propose innovative solutions

10. Student Participants Underrepresented voices
Representative of student body
Race/ethnicity
Gender
FRL status
Experience with the school discipline system
Encourage returning YPE students, especially 9th graders

11. Adult Support Project Coordinator: School Advisor: REAA Coach:
Provides leadership for the project
Develops monthly agenda
Communicates with school staff
Supports coaches
School Advisor:
Often school social worker or other support staff
Meet with team twice/month during school day
Support authentic youth voice through partnership
Serve as adult ally and advocate for team among school leadership
REAA Coach:
Evaluation specialists
Technical assistance
Teach methods to legitimize data collection and use

12. Research Agenda School Distractions Student-Teacher Relationships
#knowme
Student Relationships
Increase the Peace
Curriculum
We Deserve Better #teachme
School Policies
#respectgoesbothways
School Distractions
#stayfocused
Both years
Improved teacher and student relationships
Student-centered learning
Active
Culturally relevant
Project-based or collaborative
More time to understand content and ask questions
2016
Need for both students and staff to model exemplary behavior
2017
Asked that MPS do a better job connecting with parents.
Develop more support at home for student learning and success.
Student Voice
Youth Need Voice and Choice
Resource Distribution
#wrongpriorities
Motivation for the Future
#prepareme

13. Examples of 2017-2018 Questions
Do teachers, staff and students believe that students have a bright future in life? Do student/teacher relationships impact student outcomes? Do students feel like their voice is heard? How can youth leaders develop opportunities for students to creatively share their voice? How does school policies and teacher efforts impact students’ self- worth and also feeling disenfranchised?

14. Program Identity “A leadership group that allows youth to be heard”
How do you describe YPE to a friend?
“A leadership group that allows youth to be heard”
“I explain to my friends that YPE is a group for us to point out things that we don’t like in our school but come up with ideas to solve them as well and act on it”
“I say it’s a group where we talk about issues and social injustices in school/district and how to change them to make everybody happy and for school disciplining to be more consistent”

15. Program Value “To make a change”
Why do you say you do it?
“To make a change”
“Because it is a change to get our/my voices heard and make my school a better learning environment for me and my peers that is fair”
“I do it because its somewhere your voice can be heard, somewhere where you can do something outstanding”
“Because student voice matters and is the only way school can be changed to fit needs”

16. Program Impact
I feel like our research was important for impacting my school.
I feel like I am a leader in my school.
Adults at our school are open to hearing our ideas.

17. Factors Needed for Youth Voice to Drive Institutional and System Impact

18. Overview of Factors
Shared Understanding of Purpose and Value Supportive Adults and Leadership School Culture System Accountability

19. Shared Understanding of Purpose and Value
School as a youth-serving organization
Teachers and staff as youth workers
School designed to serve youth
Youth should have a say in the design

20. Supportive Adults and Leadership
Advisor allows youth to lead
Other adult allies support team and their project
Partner with existing teacher leader groups, i.e. Positive School Wide Engagement
School leadership seeks and responds to youth voice

21. School Culture
Continuous improvement
Growth mindset
Democratic and participatory
Shared ownership

22. System Accountability
Youth voice is institutionalized
Strategic Plan
School Improvement Plans
Moved Accountability functions to REA

23. Institutionalizing Youth Voice: Strategic Plan
Key Strategy: Focus on students and families as partners to strengthen academic, social and emotional success of students Provide opportunities for students to actively lend their voices to their leadership, learning and college/career readiness. Key Strategy: Build continuous improvement capacity Develop and implement authentic feedback processes for district and schools that is inclusive of diverse student and staff voices.

24. Discussion