Powerful Inquiry: Using Research to Support Students as Leaders in School Change

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Eighteen
  In Roundtable Session: Students as Leaders, Educators of Color, and School Transformation (Table 5)

Abstract

“Student-centered learning” is a ubiquitous but ill-defined term in educational practice. We argue that a coherent definition of what this looks like depends on understanding how students can serve as primary drivers of school decision-making. Through conducting a systematic review of student-centered educational literature, we identify student autonomy, student voice, and school change research as important, but currently disconnected strands of this research that tend to target adults rather than students as their audience. We propose a unified paradigm for future research, based in YPAR, that allows students to lead inquiry and communicate results to each other as a way to draw on academic expertise to empower student-driven school change.

Authors

• Anuraag Sensharma, Teachers College, Columbia University
  Presenting Author

• Ashley N. Bakker, Teachers College, Columbia University
  Presenting Author