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Adam Fletcher
| October 30, 2009 | 3:10 AM |
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Evidence Supporting Meaningful Student Involvement
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Radical. Revolutionary. Inconceivable. Unnecessary. These words hang like trophies on the mantle of student-inclusive school change, not because they are particularly honorable or grandiose, but because these accusations have been proven untrue. Today, in schools around the world, Meaningful Student Involvement engages students as active and empowered partners in inclusive, interdependent school change. This means more than simply listening to students: it means engaging students as concerned partners, coherent contributors, and equal agents of change in schools.
This idea is not new. As early as 1938, progressive education pioneer John Dewey recognized that the habits of democratic citizenship necessarily develop in civic roles for students in schools ( Dewey 1938). In 1970, ground-breaking educator Paulo Freire wrote, “Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.” Throughout the 1980s and 1990s a growing number of writers have advocated critical departures from traditional roles for students in school, calling for adults to partner with students in classroom
The pool of examples, evidence, and critical reflection that explores students as partners in school change has grown over the past ten years, and is currently reaching a critical juncture. That juncture is located in the heart of the growing number of classrooms and schools where students and educators are working together to re-imagine one another’s roles and responsibilities. These pioneers are placing themselves as partners in learning, teaching and leading schools. Everyday they are challenging their peers – both students and teachers – to re-examine the long-held view that students should be passive recipients of teaching. This new reality insists that young people are the central co-creators of knowledge, virtually demanding their vital participation in the improvement and ongoing operation of schools.
Meaningful Student Involvement synthesizes this tidal wave of energy by promoting the infusion of ideas, knowledge, opinions and experiences of students through education reform efforts (Fletcher 2003b). In conducting school change efforts, many educators face the necessity of proving their pedagogy is research-proven. One of the central goals of the SoundOut website has been to examine student-inclusive school change by identifying activities, outcomes, and barriers to Meaningful Student Involvement.
With the evidence at hand, students themselves, educators, administrators and other adult allies can rally for Meaningful Student Involvement throughout the education system with the knowledge that there is evidence to support them. This is a first step; next are the tools for action.
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| October 29, 2009 | 9:10 AM |
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"An Ephebiphoic and Pediaphobic Society"
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Today I came across an article from a prevention-focused website in the U.K. The article discusses whether the British are a culture that is afraid of children and youth, and cites the Freechild Project website as the source for a politician's usage of the words ephebiphobia and pediaphobia.
In some strange turn of events Freechild is suddenly reputable enough to be cited for it's application of language many other sources are afraid to touch. It is only after 10 years of being involved in in the Youth Voice movement that I'm actually seeing widespread acceptance of the term adultism, which Jenny Sazama and Karen Young from Youth On Board continually promoted as a word defining discrimination against youth. Now, with my exploration and continual usage of the terms ephebiphobia ( fear of youth) and pediaphobia ( fear of children) we're beginning to see a new wave of awareness about their implications and effects throughout society.
It was actually the librarians who put me onto the term ephebiphobia about five years ago. They used this term to describe why libraries were suffering so much neglect from the youth population, and essentially said that librarians en masse suffered an unreasonable fear of youth. I drew that application out and began challenging the fields of human services and education to pay attention to the effects of such prejudice, and have seen some results.
Pediaphobia actually has been long in usage, originally describing both the fear of children and dolls. Grouping those two definitions together for one word is just wrong. Alas, I alienated the dolls- let them eat cake- and applied the term to living, animated young young humans, only. I think its important to differentiate between the fear of children and the fear of youth, if only because I think there is such a massively wide difference about where the sources of these fears come from. For the fear of both I would suggest that adults are hindered by adultism and the fear of alienation and discrimination. For the fear of children though, I think it comes down to a very base, animalistic sense of protectionism- paternalism- that strikes the hearts and minds of a lot of well-meaning adults when they encounter young people out of their element. At the same time, I think that ephebiphobia is simply another sub- to completely-conscious control device thrust upon youth in order to keep them subservient and placid in the face of adult oppression; it is only when they become recalcitrant or withdrawn.
All that's to say that it is exciting to see this language progress so steadily toward the future. It's only through action do words really matter. Let's see that at work- now!
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| October 26, 2009 | 11:10 AM |
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4 Myths About Youth Voice
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It is great to sit in a room of allies and people who “get it”, but most people work in high pressure environments where Youth Voice seems quaint or non-essential. Following are some myths and realities for people who want to think “outside the box”. MYTH #1: Youth Voice sounds good on paper, but my school/program/ organization/community/region/ agency/situation is different.
REALITY: While it is true that each community is different, Youth Voice is always present, whether or not it is utilized. It is important to remember that what works immediately and effectively in one may not have the same results in another; however, that is why every community needs to make its own space for Youth Voice. By recognizing the desperate necessity of engaging young people, all kinds of communities can benefit. Community groups, organizations, schools, and neighborhoods across Washington are relying on Youth Voice because young people are relying on them. Start by engaging young people in small and doable tasks, and work your way into larger projects over time. Eventually your community will have a successfully customized strategy for Youth Voice. MYTH #2: Youth Voice is all about youth.
REALITY: Youth Voice cannot ever be “all about youth.” Without recognizing a larger community around them, young people and adult allies cannot call for Youth Voice. By specifically engaging young people, communities recognize Youth Voice as being about more than young people. Youth Voice is about children, youth, and adults working in common - together. Youth Voice is about communities and democracy, and other people. MYTH #3: We only need to focus on Youth Voice when there are problems to deal with.
REALITY: Anyone who works with communities needs Youth Voice everyday to keep them honest, connected, effective, and realistic. And let’s face it – our communities have never existed without challenges – perhaps that is because we keep waiting to engage young people. Young people can contribute to everyday projects as well as crisis intervention. MYTH #4: It is too hard to engage young people when I can just do the work myself.
REALITY: Any seasoned Youth Voice practitioner will tell you that it is an everyday challenge to engage young people. However, there are everyday rewards as well: adults feel more satisfaction about their jobs, that organizations become more successful meeting their missions, and that youth feel more connected to the world around them. Young people are also resources in and of themselves: our communities cannot afford to deny the abilities they possess any longer, and with their seemingly boundless capacity to contribute, children and youth may be our state’s most sustainable, renewable energy source!
Originally published in the Freechild Project Youth Voice Toolbox copyright 2009 Adam Fletcher. All rights reserved.
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| October 26, 2009 | 9:10 AM |
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Engaging Students as Education System Decision-Makers
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The following continues my week-long expose on different types of Meaningful Student Involvement in school improvement."Schools are compulsory for about ten years of a person's life. They are, perhaps, the only compulsory institutions for all citizens, although those with full membership in schools are not yet treated as full citizens of our society..." - Marie Brennan (1996)
Perhaps the irony to the above quote is that students recognize the situation immediately and consequently offer reluctance to Meaningful Student Involvement. When presented with opportunities to make significant decisions in their schools, students have been known to parrot educators, saying only what they think adults want to hear; students test educators by offering the most outlandish possibilities; and in the most dramatic cases, they simply refuse to make decisions that they have been taught to believe should be made for them (Kohn, 1993).
The challenges students pose in decision-making are coupled with oft-cited barriers in the form of systemic roadblocks in schools and the patronizing attitudes of adult educators. However, research has proven that when young people are able to make decisions about education and their experience, knowledge, ideas and opinions are empowered, motivation, reasoning skills, and confidence flourish (Zeldin, et al, 2000).
Meaningful Student Involvement engages students as decision-makers who partner with educators to make decisions throughout schools, in areas that affect their individual learning as well as the entire school community. It is the later of these areas that this section focuses on, including students as decision-makers in curricula selection, calendar year planning, school building design, and many broader school-focused issues. In addition to being involved on boards of education at the local, district, and state levels, students are engaged in education decision-making, such as grant-making, school assessment, and more. Students are also learning by establishing and enforcing codes of conduct, and making decisions about teacher and administrator hiring and firing.
John Dewey, the father of modern progressive education, delineated a course of learning that is easily adaptable for student involvement in education decision-making (1916). The following points are modified from Dewey’s original course. - All students should have validating, sustainable, opportunities that they are interested in to make decisions about their own learning and education as a whole.
- Decision-making opportunities should engage students in solving genuine problems and making substantial decisions that will promote critical thinking skills.
- Students should possess the knowledge and ability needed to make informed decisions.
- Students and educators should be responsible and accountable for developing responsible, creative action plans to implement decisions.
- Students should apply these plans, reflect on the decisions and outcomes, and be charged with continually examining, applying, and challenging this learning.
The evidence that education systems across the United States are devoid of student involvement in decision-making is obvious to any young person or adult who considers themselves an ally of youth. As displayed above, the belief that students cannot make decisions for themselves is as much a hindrance as the belief that students cannot make decisions for schools at large.
There is evidence that the historic tide of adultism in schools may be receding. One of the respondents in the above series validated Meaningful Student Involvement, saying, "The student board member should be elected by the whole student body, with no interference from administrators, teachers, or others. This is the only way the board can really find out what is really happening in the schools and what students really want" (Joiner, 2003).
Coupled with the following quote from Wisconsin State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster, there may be new interest for Meaningful Student Involvement in education decision-making. "Including students as representatives on boards and committees takes classroom learning into the community and opens the door for many more students to become involved in the policies and practices that shape their schools.… Student board representatives play a valuable role in helping locally elected school boards understand how their decisions affect the [students] they serve and provide our young people with an opportunity to learn about the important debate and compromise that shape school policy."
Given the necessity of Meaningful Student Involvement in creating a positive future for schools, as well as the growing call from both students and educators for students to be included as decision-makers, schools must change. This change should begin in the earliest grades with the youngest students, evolving and changing as students grow in their ability, and as educators grow in their capacity to engage young people.
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| October 22, 2009 | 10:10 AM |
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Seeking Passionate Young Activists!
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Forwarded by request:
If you are a high school senior committed to activism and defending civil liberties in your community, then we have an opportunity for you: the ACLU is now accepting applications for the 2010 ACLU Youth Activist Scholarship Program. For those of you who don’t know the ACLU, they are our nation's guardian of liberty, working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee to everyone in this country. Now more than ever, young people around the country are taking a stand for their rights, as well as the rights of their peers. Despite the adversity they face in their efforts, these passionate young leaders refuse to back down! Every year, the ACLU honors and celebrates these civil libertarians through an opportunity to participate in the Youth Activist Scholarship Program.
In this year’s program, 15 high school seniors will win a $7,000 scholarship towards their first year in college. Scholarship recipients will also attend the "Youth Activist Institute" at the ACLU National office in New York City, where they will hone their activism and leadership skills and learn about civil liberties directly from the ACLU staff. The program is a great opportunity for young leaders to meet other activists from around the country and be recognized for their accomplishments! Check out the ACLU National website, where you can find more scholarship information and read about last year’s scholarship winners and their remarkable achievements towards civil liberties, tolerance, free speech, and equality.
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| October 22, 2009 | 9:10 AM |
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Students as Evaluators
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In the third installment of this five-part series I continue to explore roles that promote Meaningful Student Involvement throughout education. Today's topic is engaging students as evaluators.
On one level, teachers are always listening to students opinions, checking for comprehension, and whether they have accomplished a task. Another level is reflected in the barrage of student surveys conducted, and the myriad education books that tokenize students opinions with quotes from students on their covers.
Meaningful Student Involvement calls for something more, something that is deliberate, empowering, far-reaching and sustainable. Engaging students as evaluators calls for educators to develop practical, applicable feedback opportunities where students are encouraged to be honest, open and solution-oriented. Students find particular investment in evaluation when they can see tangible outcomes, and have some measure of accountability from the systems, educators, or situations they are evaluating. Over the course of a school year, teachers might want a variety of evaluations from students, including: - An occasional large-scale forum where the opinions of students in one or all grade levels are canvassed;
- Creating a regular pattern of evaluative feedback in lessons;
- Facilitating a series of one-to-one or small group discussions, how members of a particular sub-group of students (the disengaged, the high-achievers, young women, young men, Hispanics, African Americans, for example) are feeling about their learning experiences; or,
- Shaping a new initiative in the classroom or school.
By involving students as evaluators, schools can develop purposeful, impacting, and authentic assessments of classes, schools, teachers, and enact accountability and ownership for all participants in the learning process. Effective evaluations may include student evaluations of classes and schools; student evaluations of teachers; student evaluations of self, and; student-led parent-teacher conferences, where students present their learning as partners with teachers and parents, instead of as passive recipients of teaching done to them.
When this kind of evaluation is new to a school, teachers may feel apprehensive about talking with students in a way that changes traditional power relationships within the school (MacBeath, 2003). Teachers may feel challenged by empowering students for many reasons, including feeling disempowered to make decisions in their own classrooms (Kohn, 1993). In response to what is perceived as some schools inadequate understanding of the experiences and opinions of students, community groups and education organizations across the nation are engaging students as evaluators. Adults work with students in these programs to design evaluations, conduct surveys, analyze data and create reports to share with fellow students and educators.
Meaningful Student Involvement is tantamount to putting mutual respect and communication in motion between students and educators in schools. Meaningful Student Involvement also requires the investment from educators and students. Many student voice programs have simply thrown the job of sounding out at students, without showing students the degrees of possibility for the input and action of young people. Some neglect the necessity of two-way dialogue, of collaborative student/teacher problem solving, and of truly student inclusive, interdependent school change.
Meaningful Student Involvement in education evaluation gives students and educators the impetus to establish constructive, critical dialogues that place common purpose and interdependence at the center of the discussion. When dissent is encountered, appropriate avenues for resolution are identified. When inconsistencies and prejudice are revealed, intentional exposure and practical understanding is sought. When educators strive to engage the hope students have for schools, they can foster students growth as effective evaluators who actually impact the processes of learning, teaching and leading. In turn, students will offer vital lessons for educators and the education system as a whole.
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| October 21, 2009 | 10:10 AM |
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Students as Teachers
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The following continues my week-long exposure of different forms of Meaningful Student Involvement. Learn more at www.soundout.org
Engaging students as teachers may be the high road to improving learning for every student. When students teach students at least three assumptions are at work: 1) Students are valuable creators and transmitters of knowledge; 2) Students learn effectively from other students, and; 3) Students have something valuable to contribute to the education of others. That is why engaging students as teachers is an example of Meaningful Student Involvement.
Several out-of-school youth-serving programs have engaged young people as teachers for more than 100 years. Organizations including 4-H, the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts have long relied on the merits of youth-led classes to teach young women and men of all ages significant life lessons and invaluable skills.
This approach has been valued for generations, witnessed by the many indigenous communities who have entrusted young people with teaching their peers for thousands of years. American colonists' first schools employed very young teachers, who in turn gave the responsibility of teaching to their younger charges simply for lack of having other adults to assist them. Famed pioneer teacher Laura Ingalls Wilder was 15 when she began teaching. While young people teaching generally ceased in schools with the advent of advanced teacher education in the early 1900s, pockets of activity continued. The 1960s “ free school” movement recognized the value of students teaching students, and many instituted the practice as everyday experiences for young people. Throughout the past 30 years the concept of students as teachers has gained momentum as more professional educators are beginning to see its effects.
Meaningful Student Involvement recognizes the importance of acknowledging the knowledge of students, and charges them with the responsibility of educating their peers, younger students or adults. Students teaching students is not meant to undermine the influence or ability of adult educators: instead, it uplifts the role of educators by making their knowledge and abilities accessible to more students. A growing body of practice and research from the education arena reinforces the seemingly radical belief that students can teach students effectively, given appropriate support from their adult teachers. There are many examples that show students serving as teaching assistants, partnering with teachers or peers to deliver curriculum, teaching peers or students on their own, or teaching adults in a variety of settings.
While a growing number of educators recognize the validity of students’ thoughts about schools, few see students actually being players in addressing those concerns. Engaging students in teaching fills a three-fold gap in student learning: it develops empathy between students and teachers, making students more understanding of teachers’ jobs while making teachers more aware of students learning needs; it makes learning more tangible and relevant for students, particularly for students without the ability to access other “real-world” learning opportunities; and finally, it empowers students to approach the problems they identify in their classrooms through critical analysis and applicable solutions. Engaging students as teachers is more than simply teaching new tricks to an old dog; it challenges the old dog to teach others, and to allow the younger pups to teach themselves.
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| October 20, 2009 | 9:10 AM |
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Student-Driven Individual Education Planning
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Meaningful Student Involvement takes many forms in many different ways. Over the next week I'm going to explore some of those different ways that Meaningful Student Involvement happens throughout the education system today. Here are some of my thoughts on students as individual education planners, meaning that they're planning their own learning in some way, shape or form.
Imagine if you will, before the beginning of the school year, every educator receives a file. The student, their previous teachers, and their parents all participated equally in creating this file. In it is a description of the child, learning goals and objectives for the year, particular learning needs and focus areas, and past evaluations of the students learning, completed by the student, their previous teacher, and their parents. This student-driven Individual Education Plan (IEP) is developed with every student, regardless of age, grade, ability, or achievement, focusing on the student as a partner in his or her own education.
While there are currently few schools developing student-driven IEPs for every student, the effectiveness of this approach to education planning has been echoed for many years. Students with disabilities have been using these tools successfully in many schools, with large increases in students focus and motivation, more support for students in mainstream classrooms, and more (Wehmeyer, 1998). The responsibility of a students progress is not just on the shoulders of the adults, but shared with the student. The student becomes eager to track his progress in specific IEP objectives, such as reading speed and accuracy, sentence writing and paragraph skills, math fact fluency, self-control behaviors and self-advocacy (Koegel & Kern-Koegel, 1995).
The student-driven IEP is a written document that has been historically used with developmentally disabled students. However, according to Michael Wehmeyer's 1998 Making It Happen: Student Involvement in Education, Planning, Decision-making and Instruction, these activities shouldn't only happen for them. IEPs are written documents that outline a student's education. The plan is individualized, meaning that it is tailored to each student's needs and wants in their own learning. What works for one student doesn't work for the next. The assumption behind standardized education and the one-size-fits-all approach of schools today is that by learning in tandem with everyone around them students will better "fit in" in the world around them. IEPs shake of that ignorance by acknowledging each learner's individual abilities and challenges - because every learner has them! Creating IEPs with all students would allow every student recognize what they need to grow and learn during a school year, in terms of supports and abilities, challenges and strengths.
Each IEP should outline: - the student's goals are for themselves during the year,
- the supports students identify they need for themselves to succeed throughout the year,
- a plan for how students can meet those goals using the supports they've identified,
- and a way for students to self-evaluate how they are progressing throughout the year
The student's goals shouldn't just be a collection of ideas on how schools can educate students; instead they should be concrete learning goals that meet basic standards while pushing every student to new horizons within their own conceptions of success.
Every student should have an opportunity to create their own IEP. They can engage their parents, their teachers, nonprofit community-based youth workers, and other adult allies from throughout their lives. They can also engage their peers or siblings as they see fit.
The student-driven IEP should be driven by each student from the time they're new to school and beyond. In this way, engaging students as individual education planners can provide an opportunity for every student to experience Meaningful Student Involvement. Read the rest of this section and find more examples at www.SoundOut.org.
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| October 19, 2009 | 11:10 AM |
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Aims of Meaningful Student Involvement
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It can seem kinda obvious to think about what the purpose of school is. It was for me when I started digging into the question. But when I started to dig I found that the purpose wasn't as obvious as I thought it would be. Well, when I sat down to frame out my definition of Meaningful Student Involvement five years ago, I decided that I needed to say plainly what the goals of this effort are. Here are those goals.
MEANINGFUL STUDENT INVOLVEMENT AIMS TO
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...Engage students at all grade levels and in all subjects as contributing stakeholders in teaching, learning, and leading in schools. There are no across-the-board limitations, such as race, gender, socio-economic status, school size, or subject matter, or developmental roadblocks, like age, academic performance or physical disabilities that prohibit Meaningful Student Involvement. Educators in all grade levels are equally charged with the responsibility of infusing hope into learning. Meaningful Student Involvement also extends across and integrates within all curricula, challenging the social studies teacher equally with the physical education teacher. ...Expand the expectation of every student in every school to become an active and equal partner in school improvement. Traditional roles for student participation in schools can be perceived as limiting in many ways. Meaningful Student Involvement acknowledges the central role students have in educational reform by building the capacity of schools for meaningful involvement. ...Instill a core commitment within all members of the school community - including teachers, administrators, school staff, parents, community supporters and others - to meaningfully involve students as learners, teachers and leaders throughout schools. This happens in collaborative, community-building classrooms, kindergarten through twelfth grade, where student/teacher partnerships are valued as primary tools for teaching, learning and leading. From the earliest grades all students are taught critical thinking and active leadership, and are engaged as purposeful learners who embrace multiple, diverse perspectives. ...Provide students and educators with sustainable, responsive, and systemic approaches to engaging all students in school improvement. As our society constantly changes, so must schools. Meaningful Student Involvement transforms schools into places where students can make significant contributions alongside educators and administrators. This activity takes place within an educational context where adults and young people are equal contributors to a continuous learning process focusing on school change. ...Validate the experience, perspectives and knowledge of all students through sustainable, powerful and purposeful school-oriented roles. Instead of creating special, one-time opportunities where student voice can misrepresent the multiple perspectives of diverse student populations, Meaningful Student Involvement charges educators with the responsibility of engaging all students in dynamic roles with the on-going task of creating and fostering success in schools. ...Engage educators as allies and partners to students. School improvement programs can treat students as passive recipients of education, encouraging the perception of students as empty vessels that need to be filled with teachers knowledge. The same efforts that engage teachers as classroom experts and parents as community partners can also include students as meaningful contributors. ...Avoid filtering student perspectives, experiences or knowledge with adult interpretations. When considering students as allies to educators, adults maybe tempted to act as translators for the often misunderstood student voice. However, young people of all ages have the capacity, and, to varying extents, the ability, to speak for themselves. Often this capacity may be undermined by the disbelief of otherwise good-hearted adults who honestly believe they know what students think. Meaningful Student Involvement creates platforms for students experience, ideas and knowledge of schools, without filtering those words through adult lenses. Students can learn about the schools they attend, the topics they should learn, the methods being tested on them, the roles of educators and administrators, and much more.
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| October 18, 2009 | 10:10 AM |
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