Changing Our Selves,Our Schools,and Our School System: Students Take on the New York City Quality Review Process

Abstract

This chapter focuses on student voice in the school evaluation process. The New York City Department of Education conducts annual Quality Reviews of K–12 public schools to evaluate their effectiveness. Throughout the two- or three-day school visit, reviewers meet with school leaders, teachers, students, and parents and observe classrooms. The review results in a final score and a report, which are both shared with the public. In 2012, as members of the Student Voice Collaborative (SVC), we were given the opportunity to participate in Quality Reviews as the first student shadows ever. This initiative was part of SVC's yearlong effort to answer the question, “What is student voice?” through first-hand research. In this chapter, we explain how we used the results of our research to design a student voice rubric to help guide our collaborative school improvement work. We share how our rubric informed and was informed by our shadowing experiences, and we detail the ways in which our involvement in SVC has impacted us, our schools, and the school system, particularly as we recommended changes to the Quality Review process.