Description
Meaningful school reform starts with your most powerful partner—your students!
Students have plenty of opinions when it comes to school, and they’re not all about free ice cream in the cafeteria. When you take time to listen, you’ll find that students’ aspirations can drive your school toward exciting new goals. And when students know they’re being heard, they develop self-worth, engage meaningfully in their own academic success, and become purposeful in their educations.
This groundbreaking book presents a blueprint for enacting a successful partnership between educators and students. You’ll discover how to
- Ask the right questions—and understand how to build from the answers you get
- Engage students in decision-making and improvement-related processes
- Implement the Aspirations Framework to guide students toward achieving their full potential
Filled with examples drawn from student surveys, focus groups, field observations, and interviews, this unique resource prepares you to lead with the sure knowledge that your students can and will want to join you.
“This book speaks to a movement that many people talk about but few act upon, Student Voice. Quaglia and Corso have lived their professional careers listening to students and acting on what they have heard. Now they share what it takes for education to truly become student-centered.”
—Raymond J. McNulty, Dean of the School of Education
Southern New Hampshire University
“Words cannot accurately capture my impression. It is simply the best education book I've ever read. I'm blown away by the quality, humility, simplicity and complexity, and call to action.”
—Robert Neu, Superintendent
Oklahoma City Public Schools
Key features
Part 1: Listening we present the Aspirations Framework that has emerged from listening to students.
In order to truly teach our students, we must be willing learn from them. Only they can tell us where they would like their journey to take them beyond school, and that is essential information if we are to do the important work of successfully inspiring and equipping them for what lies ahead. By inviting and encouraging their voices, and being open to what they have to say, educators create a community of collaborative learners.
In Part 2: Learning we share what we have come to understand about the principles and conditions that support students' aspirations, based on what students have told us about their experiences in school.
In Part 3: Leading, we discuss how, given the present circumstances in education, we can move forward in partnership with students. Whatever the past (Open Class Room, Back to Basics, Ed Reform, etc.) or future (twenty-first century skills, online learning, flipped classrooms, blended instruction, etc.), we know we will not get there in our father's Oldsmobile! We need a hybrid, one that keeps the best of what has fueled effective education until now and combines it with the energy and enthusiasm of our students' hopes and dreams.
