Students as Agents of Improvement in Increasing Equity in Schools

• In Event: 18.016 - Equity Innovation in Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Most efforts to increase equity in schools treat students as subjects of improvement efforts designed and implemented by adults. This paper provides conceptual framework, suggested protocols, and examples of how schools can and are disrupting that paradigm and systematically including students as partners with adults in equity improvement work. The paper highlights how powerful those disruptions can be-- and how hard they are to sustain -- using a mixed methods research approach with case studies in two high schools. It shares impacts this work has had: on the schools in their movement toward more equitable and integrated settings, on the students engaged in this work, and on the adults partnering with the students around equity improvement.

Authors

• Lee Teitel, Harvard University

• Circe Stumbo, West Wind Education Policy Inc.

• Jason B. Ness, Niles West High School