The Student Voice Collaborative: An Effort to Systematize Student Participation in School and District Improvement

Abstract

Alienation from school improvement processes can lead students to disengage and disinvest in school. Through the creation of the Student Voice Collaborative (SVC) in New York City, an educational leadership program, high school students have partnered with teachers and principals as well as administrators in the New York City Department of Education to address educational issues that matter most to them. Their collective work has led to concrete changes in school and district practices, including the district-wide revision of a tool used to evaluate elementary, middle, and high schools. Students, too, have undergone personal transformation as they have strengthened their skills and realized their ability to effect meaningful change. In this chapter, the author and founder of SVC, Ari Sussman, recounts the program's first three years, noting its setbacks and accomplishments. He then describes the shared school-level governance model SVC has developed, the process it uses to launch and sustain campaigns, and nine design and implementation principles that can guide the work of others seeking to institutionalize student voice in schools and school systems.