Centering Student and Educator Voice: A Regional High School’s Improvement Journey to Belonging

by Jessie Tobin and Kristen C. Wilcox

It’s conference season! NYKids is headed to Philadelphia on April 11^th for the American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) 2024 Meeting. We are thrilled for the opportunity to share our partnership work with Tech Valley High School in our presentation titled, “Centering Student and Educator Voice: A Regional High School’s Improvement Journey to Belonging.”

Introduction

This year’s theme at AERA, “Dismantling Racial Injustice and Constructing Educational Possibilities: A Call to Action,” focuses on addressing the impacts of racism in education and sharing research-based strategies for tackling educational inequities. NYKids will be presenting at an event hosted by the Improvement Science in Education Special Interest Group (SIG): Fostering Inclusive Research-Practice Partnerships: Empowering Student, Teacher, and Educator Voice. We look forward to sharing our work alongside researchers who apply Improvement Science practices to address complex problems of racial and social injustice.

Our presentation follows the improvement journey of Tech Valley High School, a regional STEM-focused, project-based learning public school in upstate New York. It offers 32 sending districts a unique option with each sending district offered a set number of openings – filled by a lottery system. Tech Valley leaders collaborated with a research-practice partnership network of researchers and other practicing professionals to address issues of equity in the context of the pandemic.

Through this Research Practice Partnership (RPP) Tech Valley leaders tapped into the firsthand perspectives of the students and staff in their school community to expand their efforts to increase student belongingness at Tech Valley.

Background and Improvement Process

The RPP formed amid disruptions to learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, which exposed longstanding educational inequities in schools. Tech Valley leaders aimed to understand what may be contributing to inequities in their school and beyond. Together with another local school district, Tech Valley school leaders teamed up with NYKids. Tech Valley and NYKids partnered with the American Institutes for Research (AIR), to work toward their student belongingness aims.

The work of the RPP occurred in three phases.

• Phase 1: Tech Valley leaders examined student demographic data and identified the problem that students do not reflect the diversity of the regional school’s sending districts.
• Phase 2: Tech Valley leaders committed to addressing recruitment processes and supports for underrepresented students and developed their near term aim: To improve the onboarding process to include more student and caretaker voice and improve understandings of the Tech Valley commitment prior to attendance.
• Phase 3: Tech Valley initiated student-led interviews to address the onboarding process and understand students’ experiences and expectations.

School leaders then met with faculty to review the interview results and collaborate to develop themes and next steps. The interview process led to a number of improvements which included:

• Amplifying the existing programs students were indicating were going well;
• Engaging staff as more active members of the recruitment process; and
• Focusing more on the freshmen year by targeting information sessions and the freshman seminar.

What are RPPs good for?

By working with the RPP network, Tech Valley had access to improvement tools, were supported in making sense of data, and had the opportunity to attend AIR-sponsored events that promoted networking and the sharing of resources across the network.

Engaging the students in student-led interviews was also crucial for Tech Valley leaders to gain a more authentic understanding of their students’ diverse experiences. This process led to a better understanding of what was already working well for supporting students and what new programs and initiatives they could try next to meet all students’ needs and improve their sense for belongingness. This process was also critical for staff: wider staff involvement in analyzing student data and collaborating to make changes was a positive and reinforcing experience.

Lastly, this presentation tells a story of how RPPs can address inequity through purposeful sharing of learning within and across organizations. Participation in the network also allowed for continuous evaluation and reflection and a better understanding of how to use data to dig deeper into problems of practice.

Thank you for your interest in our poster presentation. Please contact us if you have questions or want more information about NYKids’ research-practice partnership opportunities and follow us on  Facebook, X, Instagram, and LinkedIn.