Transformative Student Voice Experiences for Elementary School Students: Building a Foundation for Changemaking

• In Event: Supporting Youth Activism in Hostile Times: Case Studies in Deepening YPAR Practices

Abstract

Objectives
In Milwaukee’s community schools, students as young as third grade participate in their school’s youth council. Community school coordinators (CSCs) have worked to move the youth council space away from performative or symbolic student voice spaces, where students were only asked to be “volunteers,” or “helpers,” and towards transformative student voice (TSV) where students critically engage with a YPAR curriculum. Research engaging younger students in YPAR reveals tensions and constraints in positioning younger students as decision-makers (Kohfeldt et al., 2011). This poster highlights how despite elementary school-context constraints, engaging in a TSV space where students engage in critical conversations and collaborative projects can be a meaningful and important way for elementary school age students (grades 3-8) to build up their self-esteem, self-efficacy, and their future visioning.

Perspective
This study uses transformative student voice (TSV) as a framework to explore how participating in their community school’s youth council impacts elementary school students’ understandings of self and issues in their schools. TSV consists of sustained and systemic opportunities for students to engage in critical inquiries of issues at their schools and participate in actions to address these issues with adult allies ([Author], 2020). Research has shown that when students engage in TSV, they can develop skills for critical reflection, sociopolitical efficacy, and participation in sociopolitical action ([Author] et al., 2022). However, most TSV studies have focused on high school age students.

Methods
This poster draws on qualitative data from a research practice partnership (Coburn & Penuel, 2016) in 2 community schools (2 K-5s, 1 K-8s) during the 2023-2024 school year. Data includes 25 interviews with YC students (ages 9-13), 80 hours of participant observations in YC/CSLT meetings and events; artifact collection (ex: meeting agendas; student-produced materials). Data analysis included several rounds of inductive and deductive coding for emergent themes (Saldaña, 2015).

Results & Significance
The elementary school students that participated in their community school’s youth council spent the school year engaged in YPAR. Unlike other spaces in their elementary schools, youth council positioned students as knowledge holders. They learned how to identify important issues in their school, conduct root cause analysis, collect/analyze data and propose solutions to adults in their schools. Students engaged with numerous issues including student-teacher relationships, bullying, bathrooms, lunch quality. The data shows that equally as important to project outcomes, was the process of TSV engagement where students participated in critical conversations about their school and collaborated on projects that fostered positive self-esteem as students felt proud to be a leader at their school; stronger sense of self-efficacy as students believed their voice mattered and they could be part of change at their schools; a vision for their future that focused on helping their communities. This poster shows that when younger students have access to TSV spaces, they too can develop impactful projects that help them develop a strong critical foundation to be changemakers in the present and future.

Author

• Julissa Ventura, Marquette University