Youth Engagement Resources

Kids and School Reform. 1997. P.A. Wasley, R.L. Hampel, & R. W. Clark
This book offers student perspective and voice about high school through vignettes and stories of six students from different backgrounds.  The five high schools studied are part of the Coalition of Essential Schools.  The study reveals that students do best in school when there is a variety balanced by routine, high expectations nurtured by personal attention, curriculum that is both rigorous and innovative, and a school community small enough to engage everyone in lively discourse.

High School Issue Papers: For Youth and Adult Groups Organizing to Transform High School Education in the United States. May 2003, Temple University Center for Public Policy, Eastern Pennsylvania Organizing Project, & Youth United for Change, with support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
A set of new publications designed to help parents, young people, teachers, and community leaders in their efforts to transform high school education. http://www.temple.edu/cpp/content/reports/hsissue/highschoolissuepapers.pdf

Student Involvement Handbook. California State PTA.
The California State PTA Handbook presents a plan of action for school officials and PTA members who are serious about youth action.  The range of information provided includes a rationale for why youth should be involved as well as numerous examples of actions PTA/PTSA participants can undertake to promote projects that benefit and excite both youth and adults. One of the notable sections of the handbook covers recruitment and retention of young people, a challenge for many groups and organizations that desire to build stronger relationships with youth. http://www.capta.org/sections/membership/student-involvement.cfm

Meaningful Student Involvement – An Idea Guide for Schools. Fletcher, A., Nishida, M., & Williamson, G. (2001). Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
This guide provides a full range of roles and responsibilities that students can take on at the classroom, school and district levels to support and maintain school change. Broken into idea sections for students, teachers, building administrators and district officials, the guide offers sketches of student participation in action, and provides an edited laundry list of “within-school” opportunities for students to affect school change. Practically written, the guide also introduces four outcomes of meaningful student involvement as identified by Alfie Kohn in his book Choices for Children, as the rationale for inclusion: positive effects on general well-being, behavior and values, academic achievement, and the effects on teachers. Available at http://www.k12.wa.us/integratedcurr/yes/pubilcations/studentinvolvement.pdf

Listening to Student Voices. Portland Oregon: Northwest Regional Education Laboratory. School Change Collaborative. (2000).
Listening to Student Voices is a toolkit for K-12 educational leaders that are interested in including students in school improvement initiatives. The materials, developed by the School Change Collaborative, have supported continuous school improvement for over 20 years. The Toolkit recognizes the importance of student voice by promoting the following principles: 1) students are important stake holders in their own education; 2) student views are distinct from adult perspectives; 3) students who become involved in improvement initiatives reap numerous benefits; 4) by enlisting students in a school’s self-study workforce, students assist a school with self-improvement; and 5) committed students help move the process along. The toolkit contains an informational brochure, an introductory booklet, an overview video, and four school stories offering the perspectives of principals, teachers, and students in diverse settings. Order and see excerpts at http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/scc/studentvoices/

What Kids Can Do. First Ask, Then Listen: How to Get Your Students to Help You Teach Them Better. A Teachers Guide. (2003, September) Providence, RI
This is an excellent tool for student engagement. This teachers' guide will help teachers’ structure dialogues with students about improving schools. It includes some possible surveys and interview questions, with lots of tips on facilitation. It's short and easy to use. Retrieved April 13, 2004, from http://www.whatkidscando.org/firesmanual.pdf.

What Kids Can Do is a great resource that provides research, inspiring stories and best practice models for engaging youth in important the work of school transformation.  http://whatkidscando.org/aboutus.html

Students as Partners in High School Redesign
The Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform, with generous support by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, hosted Students as Partners in High School Redesign in Houston, TX on April 22-24. http://www.crosscity.org/announce/hsredesign.html

Students’ Voices Chime In To Improve Schools By John Gehring
http://www.edweek.org/ew/newstory.cfm?slug=36Student.h23

Destination Future 2004: National Youth Leadership Conference Uniting The Voices of Youth
August 20-22, 2004, National 4H Youth Conference Center; Chevy Chase, Maryland.
The 2004 Destination Future National Youth Leadership Conference will take place at the National 4H Youth Conference Center in Chevy Chase, MD. Destination Future allows youth and adults from across the country and Puerto Rico to come together to discuss and address issues around national initiatives like the Child and Family services Reviews, the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program, Educational Training Vouchers, and Transitional Living Programs. Youth learn and practice leadership skills, and become advocates for themselves and others. Youth who attend this conference not only make the system better for themselves, but they also pave the way for those to follow. http://www.nrcys.ou.edu/conferences.htm