Empowering Middle School Students to Exercise and Demonstrate Agency in Authentic Social Contexts

• In Event: Taking Collective Responsibility for the Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) of Adolescents Through Classroom-Embedded, Collaboratively Developed SEL Measures

Abstract

Purpose:
Over two academic years, we collected data on emerging measures of “agency” in a middle school, which defined agency as ownership over learning and growth mindset. Our research team served in a “critical friend” capacity to support school staff as they developed tools that would empower students to exercise and demonstrate agency over their own learning. Participating teachers piloted two iterations of an “agency reflection tool” that defined agency as a set of student actions or indicators. In the second year, the tool was implemented in a peer dyad reflection and goal-setting activity during weekly advisory meetings. Students referred to evidence from this tool during bi-annual student-led conferences. Teachers also experimented with having student groups develop agency-related goals and incorporate them into their groupwork contracts used during project-based learning. Teachers strove to move toward a more empowering, student-centered definition of agency, recognizing that teacher-defined behavioral expectations may simply lead to measuring compliance rather than a valid and authentic measure of agency.

Theoretical Framework:
Agency is an important motivational factor for students’ engagement in the classroom (Clarke, Howley, Resnick & Rose, 2016; English & Kitsantas, 2013). Our teacher partners sought to provide practice with agency related activities, including independent goal-setting and planning to achieve desired outcomes (Bandura, 1989; Klemencic, 2015). As “critical friends”, we challenged our partners to re-assess teacher-defined notions of agency, to use our emerging design principles to inform our design work, and to think about how they might use evidence from the measure to inform how they create opportunities for student agency. We actively sought teacher involvement in contributing their collective expertise and knowledge to support long-term sustainability of the measures (Edwards, Jumper-Thurman, Plested, Oetting, & Swanson, 2000; Israel, Schulz, Parker, & Becker, 1998).

Methods/Data Sources:
Over two academic years, we conducted multiple rounds of classroom observations, adult and student focus groups, adult and student interviews, and the collection of classroom artifacts. Along the way, we used evidence from these various sources of data to drive conversation about how agency should be defined, measured, and demonstrated more validly and authentically. After each round of piloting, we debriefed and re-assessed the “OF learning” and “FOR learning” value of the tools. We triangulated qualitative data with results from a SEL pupil survey, and demographic and achievement variables. While our analysis centered on eight case students and four teachers, we also conducted focus groups and administered the SEL pupil survey school-wide.

Results/Significance:
Research evidence reinforced two of our emerging design principles for measures of SEL: “Authentic audience and purpose” and “Peer-mediated/socially constructed”. Student and teacher reports and classroom observations confirmed that reflecting on agency during a peer dyad goal-setting activity was more engaging and meaningful in a group context than when completed individually. Ultimately, this work has implications for developing measures of agency in ways that empower student choice and decision-making within both academic tasks and SEL-focused activities.

Authors

• Laura Gutmann, Stanford University

• Indrawati Liauw, Stanford University