Student-empowered curricular change

Abstract

Lyn Mikel Brown and Jenny Flaumenhaft describe the use of student-centered principles to engage in curricular reform in an underresourced rural elementary school. With a specific focus on student empowerment and self-determination, and in collaboration with students and teachers, Transforming Rural Experience in Education (TREE) integrated students’ desire for more movement and time outdoors into the curriculum through project-based activities called somedays and microadventures. Making the curriculum more student-driven has been especially helpful for students who have experienced trauma and a loss of control. In the second year of the curricular redesign, students and teachers are more engaged, school climate has improved, and standardized test scores are up.