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Youth and staff at Urban Underground reminding us to really think about how we SEE youth. Do you actually like working with youth?

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DPI and UW-Madison want to go after a grant for using local (district and community-based orgs), state, and federal data to understand a dynamic in Wisconsin schools (e.g. patterns in high school attendance). A team of youth researchers embedded at DPI are involved in the crafting of the initial problem statement, research questions and are part of the writing of the grant itself. When funded, the youth team are in co-leadership of the grant activities.

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DPI and student organizations experiencing closer and more personal connections to staff, teams and group at DPI. Breaking down myths and perception of DPI as large organization.

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This past year was very difficult to engage students. In my role I am expected to have direct on going contact with students but it was difficult and almost felt like the students simply were not interested/engaged. However, in applying a different scope we know that they were engaged just not in what we traditionally define as being engaged. The goal should be to find non-traditional or modern forms of engagement. 

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This past year was very difficult to engage students. In my role I am expected to have direct on going contact with students but it was difficult and almost felt like the students simply were not interested/engaged. However, in applying a different scope we know that they were engaged just not in what we traditionally define as being engaged. The goal should be to find non-traditional or modern forms of engagement. 

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What is the purpose of this group? And, who gets to decide or how is the process designed to integrate youth into this work?

When will youth be brought into this work as co-designers?

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The book The Self-Driven Child by Ned Johnson and William Stixrud should be read by every parent and educator. It explains the paradox of our educational system, though that is not it's intent. Very powerful lessons to be learned.

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Even though opportunities exist for students they may not use them or even know of them.

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How can we unsettle the taken for granted ways we view youth? How can we upend paternalistic views of youth and marginalized communities? What does equitable partnership with youth look like (especially when we as older folks feel like we know what's best for younger folks)?

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How do we carry forward lessons from the pandemic

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How do we carry forward lessons from the pandemic

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Are standardized tests necessary? how can we measure learning and college readiness in other more representative ways? Can we finally listen to students in terms of the stress they have endured by traditional scheduling? In the pandemic, some schools switched to quarterly HS schedules with 3-4 classes at a time, which worked better for many students (as opposed to 7-8 classes at a time), and is more consistent with college -type scheduling

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In our breakout group we discussed the chance to reconsider whether college admissions tests should ever be mandatory again.

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Agreed on what is the process in which these ideas will be considered and implemented at DPI?

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As a way to include and unleash the stories of students.

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Ensuring our policies and decisions are student focused and equitable within the agency.

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For children (or adults, for that matter) to be responsible, they must have power; otherwise we are negotiating with them to comply or act. It's not enough to involve youth. They must be given true power over the things that affect them. This can't be just "voice and choice" where they get to express an opinion and choose from a menu of options. We must also be patient when offering this power to youth because they have rarely had actual power and have often learned not to trust adults when told they are being given power.

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View youth as people--fellow human beings but just with fewer life experiences (though, in some cases, certain young people will have more life experiences than certain adults). By viewing and treating everyone as a fellow human being--a partner in our community, whatever that community happens to be--we avoid creating a power dynamic and we demonstrate authentic respect. This allows us to honor each person as an individual while opening the door for them to become a valued and integral part of the team, family, community, etc.

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Youth should play a role in reviewing grants for awards.

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Youth could host a educational summit for youth and adults, or involve youth in conference planning and presentations.

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How would students design school monitoring that positions students to hold the system accountable to what they imagine learning to look like? What might be possible if youth were asked what learning looks like/sounds like to them.  What do they wish it looked like/sound like?

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Youth Leadership Summit, Workshops and Opportunities

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Youth Leadership Summit, Workshops and Opportunities

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As previous posts have mentioned, we need to go beyond voice and choice, and move towards empowerment. In doing so, it is important to consider how we structurally provide opportunities to learn about, practice, and participate in  youth-adult partnerships. If we can bring together youth and adults to learn about authentic partnership, especially if there is a tangible next step/project with funding available,  then the chance for success for all involved is much greater.

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Youth should contribute to and review our state plan.

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Engaging with Youth in Continuous Improvement, in Pockets and Systematically (both/and/all)

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Engaging with Youth in Continuous Improvement, in Pockets and Systematically (both/and/all)

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Engaging youth in root cause analysis and continuous improvement process

SPED - administrating grants - move towards how we know what the effects of the projects are - engaging youth as conceptualizing what those projects might be - what are the needs, and how are we going to know if it's effective....we don't give youth enough credit - inviting them in the continuous improvement process

CSI schools - inviting students to share the story of their school as we begin to engage with CSI schools - what is going well? What creates belonging? what are barriers? What would you like to change...? And inviting youth to share about their root cause analysis and EBIS - does it resonate? What else?...And encouraging also our CSI schools to engage with youth as they go through the continuous improvement process - to be main stakeholders in the process. (This feels like it could be done across many workgroups and teams)

CTE, SSPW, Teaching and Learning - have had conversations of coming up with statewide portrait of a graduate - inviting students to be a part of creating a portrait (see example from Portland - https://www.pps.net/cms/lib/OR01913224/Centricity/Domain/219/PPS_Vision_Final.pdf)

It seems the barrier of youth engagement is the logistics - but really it seems the way we can engage with youth can be streamlined across all teams, workgroups and the agency - if we come up with a process for engaging youth, which seems it could be very simple - we can do this throughout all of our work -

Youth as the setting of the DNA of all we are doing (portrait of a learner, aiming for the right things, inviting students to share what works, framing initial questions, framing the criteria when evaluating what is working, having youth define what it means to learn, and what is wellness....before measuring what is "working" ...)

The idea of working strategically with partners that are already engaged with youth, in building the trust...to really engage deeply (e.g. urban Underground)

It seems that we could engage youth in both pockets of our work AND systematically across our agency

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We have to meet youth where they are (schools and communities) to remove inequities. We also need to compensate them for providing their time and expertise to our work on their behalf. That, and the fact that all DPI employees would benefit from spending time in schools and school communities makes this a win-win. We can draft job description language based on accessing the most authentic voice of youth and begin making that part of the way we do our work here. Our paid volunteer days could also be a resource for this.

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Should coordinate with community agencies to lift the whole child, whole community approach to youth engagement.

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Finding ways to compensate and train youth to participate in input and feedback acknowledges the importance of their voice and show we do appreciate their authentic input. Using funds to pay for their time to meet, provide feedback or input, help present, etc. and to provide learning opportunities to train students in public speaking, policy, etc. that can help them in their role and in their future.

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Using student voice in developing new standards.

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Hearing more student voice when it comes to the perceptions of their teachers and its impact on their education.

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-> Benchmarks for shared decision making in an organization 

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-> Benchmarks for shared decision making in an organization 

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-> How possible is shared decision making at DPI? 

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-> How possible is shared decision making at DPI? 