The Roosevelt Institution
The Challenge: increase high school student access to and participation in the education policy discussions and decision making bodies that affect their own education.
How the proposed Challenge meets the challenge criteria:
1. Students throughout the United States are being systematically left out of the critical discussions that impact the quality of their education and there is no doubt that this is an issue that impacts students nationwide.
2. Increasingly decision making bodies at all levels of government—local, state, federal—are responsible for the patch work of policies that dictate how an individual school operates. Students must be a part of the discussion and have a seat at the table at each of these levels of government.
3. Creating effective solutions to this pressing problem will require the a multi-discipline approach that considers not only analysis of the existing education power structure and decision making process but also, once greater access has been achieved for students, consideration of the best methods for optimizing student involvement in these channels.
Vision or background behind the proposed Challenge:
While many interests groups (teachers, parents, administrators) have a say in education policy in this country, the group that is most directly affected by these policies—students—are not represented in these discussions as they should. This is true despite the wealth of first-hand in formation that students possess on the day to day workings of our school system. A 2001 survey by the National School Boards Association discovered that 85% of school districts do not offer students any form of representation on local boards of education—and no students were consulted by the US Congress before passing the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act. With students so disengaged from the discussions surrounding their schools and so removed from the process of determining what is best for students in this country, is it any wonder that some 30% of high school students never graduate? The more students are engaged in their own educations, the more likely they are to feel ownership for their schools and their education.
Why Roosevelt should take on this Challenge over others:
An educated citizenry is the cornerstone of any democracy and so our schools must be among our top priorities as a nation. That the nation’s graduation rate continues to decline and that our nation’s children finished 23rd when compared to students from 29 other countries in math, should not only give us pause but spur us to action. We maintain that without consulting the first-hand experiences and priorities of the youth who they aim to serve, politicians, educators, and reformers will continue to struggle to deliver first-rate schools to all our children. There is so much potential for progress on this issue and benefits reaped from this success could make the difference in the lives of thousands of children. It simply does not make sense that in a great democracy such as ours our schools remain terribly undemocratic institutions, offering few if any opportunities for students to make their voices heard on the issue closest to their lives.
Who says students have anything useful to say about how they are governed? ;)