Building Consistent and Authentic Student Voice Into School Policies in Minneapolis Public High Schools
Building Consistent and Authentic Student Voice Into School Policies in Minneapolis Public High Schools
Building Consistent and Authentic Student Voice Into School Policies in Minneapolis Public High Schools
This means being accountable to students and clearly stating how their input will be used in the decisionmaking process. For example, if students are given a survey, it should be clearly explained how results will
impact them and/or decisions being made. Authentic student voice is intentional and purposeful. It should
not be something that is included to make a policy look good nor should it be used as a sort of youthendorsed stamp of approval.
Why is student voice important to me? It is important because it demonstrates to students they are valued
and heard. It is their right as youths to be heard, to be educated. The United States signed the UNCRC, and
every UN member but two (the United States being one of them) ratified it. There is substance to the
UNCRC, a document that says our children are human beings and entitled to rights. Those of us in power
need to hold ourselves accountable to upholding those rights. School is about them: why would you not want
their voices? As Konopka alluded, and as Ive seen in my current and former work with high school students,
the prevailing view of students is one of immaturity and irresponsibility. Teachers, myself included, think
and do what we think is best for them. Nowadays, we have a variety of college and community programs at
our school to help support students: College Possible, Get Ready, Beacons Boys and Girls Club, Check and
Connect, etc. I reflect back to my days when I did not have they all these community partner programs to
guide me. I had to do everything on my own because I did not know who to go to for help or the questions I
needed to ask to be ready for post-secondary. I wonder if we have lost our student voice because they have
been crowded out by other voices.
To try and answer this question and others related to it, I decided to talk to Henry students and the
Minneapolis Youth Congress to get their perspective. I wanted to see what youth voice looks like today at
Henry and in the community.
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Meaningful student involvement is the process of engaging students as partners in every facet of school
change for the purpose of strengthening their commitment to education, community and democracy. (p. 5)
Henry is involving some degree of student voice in its school. However, we need to do more to involve
students in all spaces that affect them, particularly in school policies and rules. As a student expressed to me
in regards to the no-pass policy, Why are we being punished for what other kids do? This is not to say
there should not be a no-pass policy, but that there should be a step of student consultation and discussion
required before such a wide-reaching policy is put into place.
Currently, our high school is going through some big changes. Next year, all freshmen and sophomores will
be in the Middle Years Program. This program requires that all freshmen and sophomores do a personal
project. In addition to this new initiative, our school will also be adding advisories back to the school
schedule. All these changes are going to have major impact on students, but how are student voices being
accounted for?
What is being done to ensure we are getting authentic student voice in these processes? In the past, Henry
has generally given surveys to students as a way to gather inputthus, indirectly getting student voice. I
believe that Henry High School places value on student voice, but the reality is that there is not enough time
nor are there structures in place to solicit and make effective use of authentic student voice. Authentic
student voice is an investment that takes time for its value to be seen; it cannot happen overnight. It is not
something with immediate results that schools can report back to the public or the district. As such, student
voice has become secondary to more public-garnering priorities such as graduation rates and test
performances.
I initiated interviews and conversations with several Henry students in order to hear views about the role
and utility of student voice in their school. It is important to keep in mind that all the students I talked to
were students who either showed an interest in student voice through their involvement with student
council or other activities, or were students who knew how to seek out resources (e.g. students who often
came to the CCC). All whom I spoke with agreed that their voices and opinions were heard and respected in
most classrooms: teachers fostered discussion in classrooms and students felt that most teachers respected
them and allowed them to speak their minds. However, when asked about changes in the school policies and
rules, all but one student stated they had little to no voice about changes. An example was the no-pass
policy. When I asked one student why he thought students had no say, he said that the administration
feared their input and that students would cause disruption to the flow of school. Another student said he
believed the administration did not think youth were mature enough to make important decisions. They
dont want our voices heard because they think we will make unrealistic expectations like, Hey, lets have a
pizza day (Henry student, personal communication, April 22, 2015). Another example one student
described related to the sit-in that happened at Henry after the Michael Brown decision. Michael Brown was
an unarmed, 19-year-old African-American male who was shot and killed by a white police officer in
Ferguson, Missouri. The morning after the decision was made to not indict the police officer a handful of
students decided to not go to classes and sat outside the main office hallways as a sign of protest. This
student felt the administration was not supportive and instead wanted to quash their voice. Why is it that
teachers seem to listen more to students than the administration does? The expectations of the role of a
teacher compared with that of an administrator are vastly different.
To get a broader sense of what student voice may look like in Minneapolis, I also went to talk with the
Minneapolis Youth Congress (MYC), described on its website as
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A representative body of youth that has authentic power and influence in decisions and policies
relevant to youth. The Minneapolis Youth Congress works in collaboration with elected officials
focusing on a common understanding of the welfare of the youth in the City of Minneapolis
(Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board, 2015, No Decision about Us without Us).
Students interested in becoming members of MYC apply in the beginning of the school year and are
interviewed and selected by the committee coordinators (adults). Throughout the last school year, MYC
members met weekly to discuss policies and issues that were pertinent and important to youth in
Minneapolis. They helped effect policies they deemed important. For instance, the MYC Health Committee
helped get the Clean Air Act passed on e-cigarettes by working in partnership with the citys health
department. At one of their meetings in April, I had the opportunity to ask the group of roughly 35 MYC
members for their opinions on youth voice in Minneapolis. All were students from a Minneapolis Public
Schools (MPS) high school and/or Minneapolis residents. For the most part, many felt their voices were
heard and respected in Minneapolis. They felt empowered and had an outlet for their voice to make change.
When asked about their respective schools, it varied by school. Some felt their school was supportive, others
not as much. Students who attended school in South Minneapolis seem to have more positive experiences
with student voice compared to those in North Minneapolis. South Minneapolis students were also the
students who spoke up more at the meeting.
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and how to claim ones rights. This needs to be at the forefront of conversations at schools. Doing this work
will require a new way of thinking. It is imperative to read and use the framework of Fletcher and Konopka,
as well as the UNCRC, to understand that at its core, student voice is about human rights. We, as those in
power, are responsible for making sure students know and are accorded their rights, if we truly care about
their future.
Again, it is important to note what authentic student voice should look like. Authentic student voice
includes meaningful student involvement that makes students an integral part of the school just as the
principal is integral to running it. At South High School, there is an Equity and Diversity program
coordinator who seems to take on this role of student voice and also leads a student leadership
group. Thus, to be more equitable in obtaining student voice, the first step is to require that every school
has a staff position that is tasked with student voice, whose primary responsibility in the first year is to
gather information. Similar to what the director of the Office of BMA has been doing in his first year, the
priority of this person should be to investigate, to gather information and take an inventory of student voice
by asking some key questions:
1. Where are spaces for student voice?
2. How is student voice used within those spaces?
3. Is the school seeking out student voice? If so, where and how? If not, why not?
After answering these questions and more, it is vital to gather the whole student perspective. For instance,
those who do not usually speak up or are not successful academically in school must also be included. This
must be purposeful and executed with clear intention. It cannot be just another survey that gets lost in a pile
among the dozens given to students. The ultimate goal would be to create a student-led group with this new
staff position where student voice is regularly sought out and expected when it comes to school policies,
much like Henrys BMA group, where students are regularly consulted and respected for their expertise and
experiences. The goal would be that student voice becomes integrated in the school system seamlessly, that
no matter the change in leadership, it remains in place. Thus, it will take time and patience, trial and error.
More importantly, as a student from the MYC said, it has to be legit-- students want[ing] to do it (Personal
communication, Minneapolis Youth Congress, April 2, 2015).
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REFERENCES
Fletcher, A. (2005). Meaningful student involvement: guide to students as partners in school change.
Retrieved from http://www.soundout.org/MSIGuide.pdf
Konopka, G. (1973). Requirements for healthy development of adolescent youth. Adolescence, 8(31), 1-26.
Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board. (2015). Minneapolis Youth Congress: No Decision about Us without
Us. Retrieved from http://www.ycb.org/initiatives/youth_congress/
Minnesota Department of Education. (2015). 2014-2015 Reward School List. Retrieved from
http://education.state.mn.us/mde/justparent/esea/priorityfocusrewardsch/index.html
United Nations General Assembly. (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child. Retrieved from
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx
U.S. News and World Report. (2015). Best High Schools Ranking 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015 from
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/minnesota/districts/minneapolis-publicschool-dist/henry-senior-high-school-10909
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the following:
The young people for their willingness to share their perspectives with me; Minneapolis Youth Congress
coordinators, Tameika Williams and LaToya Balogun, for allowing me to attend one of their meetings so I
could talk with their youth; Erik Skold, Sheila Oehrlein, and Janet Madzey-Akale for their support and
encouragement throughout this process; my supervisor Arnise Roberson for her understanding in allowing
me time to participate in this fellowship; and the other NorthStar fellows for being incredible women and
teaching me so much.
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