Student Voice

Form Follows Function
Students from Truman High School wrote essays reflecting on the architectural impact of their new facility. Four of these essays can be read by clicking on the students’ names below.
Jose Flores
Casandra Johnson-Jackson
Priscilla Basher
Vicky Bracewell


What Kids Can Do
Based in Providence, Rhode Island, this non-profit organization captures the extraordinary work and voices of ordinary students from around the country. The organization is at the intersection of the education reform and youth development fields, documenting and analyzing the best work from both fields
as examples of “powerful learning with public purpose.” Student Learning in Small Schools: An Online Portfolio captures student learning in four small schools—Minnesota New Country School, the Met, Urban Academy, and High Tech High—including an overview of each school, a day in the life, student and mentor interviews, student work samples, and school forms and reports.
http://www.whatkidscando.org


Fires in the Bathroom: Advice to Teachers from High School Students, by Kathleen Cushman and the Students of What Kids Can Do

The New Press, April 2003
Forty students from three American cities, working with author Kathleen Cushman, provide advice to teachers on a variety of subjects including the creation of positive classroom environments, engaging and motivating students, and teaching academically challenging curriculum. A paperback version of the book is available online at Amazon.com and at Barnes and Noble Booksellers.
Fires (pdf)


First Ask, Then Listen: How Your Students Can Help You Teach Them Better, What Kids Can Do, Sept. 2003
This short manual describes the Process and questions behind Fires in the Bathroom and offers prompts for teachers wanting to start a dialogue with their own students.
Fires manual (pdf)


Areas of Service | Real-world Examples
Smalls Schools Thinking | Small Schools Resources

All learning begins when our comfortable
ideas turn out to be inadequate. — John Dewey

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