Hear, Connect, Act: Youth Recommendations for Adult Action After School Climate Survey Administration

• In Event: Shifting Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Toward Equity: Integrating Systemic SEL, Transformative SEL, and Implementation Science

Abstract

Background: Administration of school climate surveys is common in U.S. public schools. Surveys often assess students' perceptions of teaching and learning, culture and climate, and schooling experiences (Thapa et al., 2013). Within the field of social and emotional learning (SEL), surveys are lauded as a means of soliciting, centering, and amplifying youth voice. Soliciting youth perspectives is done through data collection, but centering and amplying require additional steps. Centering is defined as creating opportunities for individuals to tell their own stories, making space for listening and sharing experiences, resisting deficit narratives, and developing a thorough understanding of individual points of view (Edwards et. al., 2016). Amplifying student voice requires changing the norms, values, and practices in educational settings and youth-adult partnerships by positioning youth as experts, building reciprocal relationships, and working collaboratively with youth (Beattie, 2012).

Objective: In order to move student surveys from a solicitation of youth to a trusting, equity-oriented, partnered practice for school improvement, guidance is needed – from youth – as to where to start. Thus, in this paper we ask: What recommendations do youth have for adult action after survey administration?

Methods: In spring 2023, we conducted four focus groups with high school (29%) and middle school (71%) students, living across seven zip codes. Students mostly identified as Hispanic or Latinx (47%), Asian (18%), and White (18%); and as girls (47%). Focus groups included connection building, co-constructing community agreements, reviewing a culture/climate survey, and inviting youth to share their recommendations for what they wanted adults to do after survey administration. Audio recordings were de-identified and transcribed by a team of university researchers who coded inductively to consensus (Hill et al., 2005) and engaged in reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022).

Results: When youth partner with adults on change initiatives through SEL, culture, and climate surveys, students want adults to (1) "hear our voice" – to understand trends and challenges students face; (2) cultivate opportunities for connection – between students and adults, and with peers; and (3) act – to follow up directly after surveys, communicate findings, and share concrete next steps and longer-term plans for change.

Scholarly significance: By hearing from youth directly, this study shares youth recommendations for follow-up after survey administration. Centering and amplifying youth voices may contribute to more equitable SEL (i.e., an approach that incorporates the cultural knowledge, experiences, and assets of diverse students and acknowledges and addresses the social injustices, inequalities, prejudices, and exclusions that students face; Ramirez et al., 2021). When these ideals are built into the routine feedback loops of systemic SEL (Mahoney et al., 2021), researchers and practitioners can more readily partner with youth for continuous improvement.

Authors

• Addison Duane, Sacramento State University

• Amia Nash, University of California - Berkeley

• Kamryn Morris, University of California - Berkeley

• Valerie Shapiro, University of California - Berkeley