A movement to give students a voice in their education.

1. The Student Voice Initiative
A movement to give students a voice in their education

2. Executive Summary
Who we advocate for
• High school student leaders across Canada
What we want
• Greater student voice in education policymaking through:
• A student trustee or student representative on each school board
• District councils where students can discuss issues and share solutions
• Democratically-elected student councils in all middle and high schools
How we'll get there
• Support from student leaders, administrators, and
policymakers at the school, school board, and provincial
levels
• Policy and legislative approval

3. What are the issues?
1. Student engagement is lacking
2. Students have important input on their own education but are
not given a voice in the boardroom decisions that directly affect
them
3. Decisions made in the boardroom are rarely effectively
communicated with students
4. There is a lack of outlets through which students can have their
voices heard
1. Issues regarding youth are often discussed without youth’s
input themselves

4. What are the issues? (2/2)
6. Civic engagement and voter turnout rates among youth are at an all-
time low
7. Youth are not empowered in a way that encourages them to be
civically active and makes them feel like they can make a difference
8. Civically active youth who are already involved in their communities
do not have a platform through which they can share ideas and best
practices and are therefore unable to set a precedence for other
young people to get involved
9. The traditional civics curriculum does not teach students enough
about how government functions through experiential learning
opportunities
10.Students face issues (such as work-to-rule and union situations) that
they don’t always have the opportunity to voice their opinion on

5. What do we know?
1. Student input can improve education policy decision making and can
lead to youth having a better understanding of how public policies are
crafted
2. Ontario’s student leadership model (which consists of student
councils, student senates, and student trustees) has bettered public
education for the past 13 years
3. Ontario (since 1998) and New Brunswick (since 2009) are the only
two provinces in Canada that have mandated student
representatives in all school boards
4. Civic engagement is the heart of a healthy democracy, but fostering a
culture of civic engagement must begin at an early age, and civic
education must be practical and experiential
5. Students are conscious of their own needs and can improve

6. What do we know? (2/2)
6. Student leadership allows youth to develop soft skills such as
decision-making, critical thinking, and public speaking that they
cannot learn from a textbook
7. Involving students in their own education can improve student
satisfaction
8. Many young people believe they are leaders, but far fewer
actually show it at school
9. Celebrating youth who make an impact will encourage more
young people to do the same
10.Student leadership is becoming an increasingly important area
of education research

7. What is the solution?
Give high school students a voice in their education
Locally… through democratically-elected student councils in all high schools

8. What is the solution?
Give high school students a voice in their education
Regionally… through district student councils that bring students together

9. What is the solution?
Give high school students a voice in their education
Provincially… through a student trustee on every school board

10. Why is this important?
• Student input can help
improve boardroom decisions
• Student leadership allows for
learning beyond the textbook
• Civic engagement is the heart
of a healthy democracy

11. What is a student trustee?
Students who are elected by their
fellow peers to represent the
voices of the student body on
their local school board.
See Appendix A for full responsibilities and privileges

12. What is a student trustee?
For nearly twenty years, Student
Trustees in Ontario have:
• Authored a mental health policy
• Urged schools to act on cyber bullying
• Eliminated bottled water in all schools in
a school board
• Assisted policy makers in developing
classroom curriculum
• Made the collection of student activity
fees more transparent
• Produced province-wide student
surveys See Appendix B for more accomplishments

13. SVI is supported by prominent names in
Advisors the education policy making, civic
activism, and grassroots engagement
sphere.
Ben Levin
Canada Research Chair in Education Leadership and Policy
Dr. Levin is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Education Leadership and
Policy. He has just completed two and a half years as Deputy Minister of
Education for the Province of Ontario. He is a native of the City of Winnipeg who
holds a B.A. (Honours) from the University of Manitoba, an Ed. M. from Harvard
University and a Ph.D. from OISE. From 1999 until September, 2002, he was
deputy Minister of Advanced Education and Deputy Minister of Education,
Training and Youth for Manitoba, with responsibility for public policy in all areas
of education and training. Dr. Levin is widely known for his work in educational
reform, educational change, educational policy and politics.
David Ager
Lecturer of Sociology, Harvard University
David Ager holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior, a joint degree granted by
Harvard Business School and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard
University. He is also a faculty member in Harvard Business School executive
education program, Families in Business: From Generation to Generation and he
teaches in the Harvard Kennedy School of Government executive education program,
Leadership for a Networked World. Dr. Ager also serves as a faculty member in the
Rockefeller Leadership Fellows Program at Dartmouth College.

14. SVI is supported by prominent names in
Advisors the education policy making, civic
activism, and grassroots engagement
sphere.
Gerard Kennedy
Former Member of Parliament and Ontario Minister of Education
Mr. Kennedy served as Member of Parliament from 2008-2011. Prior to federal
politics, Mr. Kennedy served as the Minister of Education for Ontario and as a
member of the Planning and Priorities Board of Cabinet. As Minister, he led a
widely acknowledged province-wide turnaround in the $19 billion, 2 million
student publicly-funded education system. He dramatically improved public
confidence, increased reading and math scores and lowered high school drop-
out rates following a decade of conflict, cutbacks and turmoil. Mr. Kennedy is
also credited with innovative advances in labour peace, collaboration within the
sector, teacher training, francophone education, healthy schools, school repairs,
and special education among others.
Hon. Jean Augustine
Fairness Commissioner of Ontario
Hon. Jean Augustine was appointed as the first Fairness Commissioner for Ontario in
March 2007. After university, she became an elementary school principal with the
Metropolitan Separate School Board in Toronto, and was chair of the Metro Toronto
Housing Authority. Ms. Augustine was the first African-Canadian woman to be elected
to the House of Commons. She was elected in the riding of Etobicoke-Lakeshore in
1993 and sat in Parliament until 2006. During this time, she served as minister of state
for multiculturalism and the status of women, sat on several standing committees, and
was a deputy Speaker. She also played a major role as parliamentary secretary to the
prime minister.

15. SVI is supported by prominent names in
Supporters the education policy making, civic
activism, and grassroots engagement
sphere.
Laurel Broten
Former Ontario Minister of Education
Laurel Broten was first elected to the Ontario legislature in 2003 and was re-
elected in 2007 and 2011. She was appointed Minister of Intergovernmental
Affairs in February 2013. Broten is also the Minister Responsible for Women’s
Issues. As Minister of Education, Broten introduced the Accepting Schools Act,
which is helping ensure Ontario students feel welcome, accepted and connected
to their school, making them more likely to succeed academically. She was also
responsible for introducing the Putting Students First Act to protect the gains
made in education, including smaller class sizes, increased test scores, more
students graduating and the continued implementation of full-day kindergarten.
Kathleen Wynne
Premier of Ontario and Former Minister of Education
Kathleen Wynne is Ontario’s 25th Premier. She was first elected to the Ontario
legislature in 2003 as the MPP for Don Valley West, and she became the leader of the
Ontario Liberal Party in January, 2013. As Minister of Education, Kathleen led the
government’s efforts to reduce class sizes, implement full-day kindergarten and
provide more opportunities for high school students to reach their full potential.
Kathleen has served as a Public School Trustee in Toronto. She has led citizens’
groups in a number of grassroots community projects, and has played a major role as
an organizer and facilitator. This experience has contributed to her results-based
approach to life, government and community.

16. Endorsements number thethought leaders also
A
believe in
of
student voice.
Catherine Fife
Former Vice-President, Canadian School Boards’ Association; Former
President, Ontario Public School Boards’ Association; MPP Kitchener-
Waterloo for NDP
“Isupport The Student Voice Initiative because those student
voices at the local table and provincially lend credibility to the
debates that we are having. And they lend credibility because
they bring the facts and the real life experiences of students in
our schools. We get feedback from parents; we get feedback from
community partners; ultimately, student voice is the most
important voice we should be listening to.”.
Shaun Chen
Vice Chair, Toronto District School Board
“I support The Student Voice Initiative because I think this is the
structure we have to create, which is to have student trustees at every
school board in Canada. I’ve seen the benefits here at the TDSB
where we have had amazing student leaders come to the table, bring
their own initiatives forward, provide valuable input on board policies
and procedures that we as adults sometimes forget about.”

17. Bring the student voice to your board!
1. Learn all there is to learn about
the Student Trustee position
• What is it all about?
• Why is it important?
• What does having a Student Trustee
mean for my school board?
• How can I adapt the Student Trustee idea
to my own school board?

18. Bring the student voice to your board!
2. Understand your community
• What are some of the largest youth
groups and who are their main contacts?
• What are the key media outlets and who
are their main contacts?

19. Bring the student voice to your board!
3. Understand your school board
• What is your school board’s structure?
• Who are the main decision maker and
how many degrees of separation are
there between you and them?
• Who is the most supportive of students
and how many degrees of separation are
there between you and them?
• How does an idea of proposal get
implemented at your school board?

20. Bring the student voice to your board!
4. Understand your province
• Who is your Minister of Education?
• What is your Ministry of Education’s
structure?
• Who are the key decision makers and
how many degrees of separation are
there between you and them?
• Who is the most supportive of students
and how many degrees of separation are
there between you and them?
• How does an idea or proposal get
implemented at the provincial level?

21. Bring the student voice to your board!
5. Start talking to other students
• Send emails to other students and youth-
led organizations and ask them to
endorse your campaign
• Ask the students you know to connect you
with other student leaders from other
school boards who might be interested in
spreading the campaign
• Post on Facebook, Twitter, and other
social networks and invite them to
www.studentvoicei.org to learn more

22. Bring the student voice to your board!
6. Connect with an administrator at
your school board
• Connect with individuals you already
know (i.e. ask your principal to connect
with a school board superintendent)
• Set up an in-person meeting to share your
cause

23. Bring the student voice to your board!
7. Ask an official at your school
board for their support
• Have the official (superintendent, etc.) to
advise you on some next steps you need
to take to bring your student
representative proposal to your Board of
Trustees

24. Bring the student voice to your board!
8. Seek your Board of Trustees'
formal approval
• Seek a formal board motion and recorded
vote at a committee and/or board meeting

25. Bring the student voice to your board!
9. Promote your student
representative pilot project
publicly
• Reach out to media contacts and ask for
them to cover the pilot project, whether it
is on the radio, newspaper, blogs, social
media, magazines, or television
• Reach out to your youth group contacts
and ask them to publicize the pilot project
to other students

26. Bring the student voice to your board!
10. Send an email to an administrator
at your Ministry of Education to
set up an in-person meeting
• Ask for the adoption of the student trustee
at the provincial level so that you can
bring the student voice to students
throughout your province

27. Appendix A
Student representative responsibilities and privileges
1. Recognized as being the representative and voice of the school board’s student body at the school board
2. A current, full-time student in satisfactory academic standing
3. Mandated in every school board through the province’s Education Act
4. Supported by local school board-specific policies and procedures
5. At a minimum, permitted to attend and speak at all public committee and board meetings (with full in-camera participation
privileges being the preferred option)
6. At a minimum, permitted to exercise a non-binding recorded vote on all public matters (with full binding vote participation
privileges being the preferred option)
7. Permitted to submit reports and motions to the board to consider at its committee and board meetings
8. Given access and privileges that other school board trustees have to board staff, training, and resources
9. Democratically elected by students across the school board to serve for one academic year
10. Supported and advised by a democratically elected committee of students representing school districts across the school
board
11. Responsible for directly reporting to the school board committee of students, and, in turn, the student body as a whole
12. Granted a modest but adequate budget to use towards professional development, program development, and the
satisfactory completion of their normal tasks and responsibilities
13. Compensated for their time and efforts at the end of their term
14. Allocated at least one adult advisor at the school board

28. Appendix B
Student trustee accomplishments (1/4)
1. Authored a mental health policy [1]
2. Urged schools to act on cyber bullying [2]
3. Eliminated bottled water in all schools in a school board [3]
4. Assisted policy makers in developing classroom curriculum [4]
5. Made the collection of student activity fees more transparent [5]
[1] http://www.insidehalton.com/print/817786
[2] http://digitaljournal.com/article/313201
[3] http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/local/article/998205--catholic-schools-to-phase-out-bottled-water
[4] http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2011/05/20110518-203544.html
[5] http://www.thestar.com/parentcentral/education/article/889279--toronto-school-board-tightens-rules-on-student-fees

29. Appendix B
Student trustee accomplishments (2/4)
6. Produced province-wide student surveys [6]
7. Supported the Haiti earthquake redevelopment effort [7]
8. Collected socks for the homeless in Toronto [8]
9. Spoke against frivolous spending by school boards [9]
10. Influenced standardized religion test development in Catholic
Schools [10]
[6] http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/sexual-diversity-belongs-in-classroom-cellphones-dont-student-
survey/article570605/
[7] http://www.communitypress.ca/2010/04/17/students-sell-t-shirts-to-help-haitians
[8] http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/2011/12/15/students-collect-socks-for-homeless-in-toronto
[9] http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2268770&archive=true
[10] http://www.insidehalton.com/insidehalton/article/650172

30. Appendix B
Student trustee accomplishments (3/4)
11. Raised funds for needy families [11]
12. Influenced school board meeting procedures [12]
13. Advised the Minister of Education on Civics curriculum
development [13]
14. Published recommendations on how to revamp the Civics
and Careers curriculum [14]
15. Sought more student representation in school councils [15]
[11] http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2218707&archive=true
[12] http://www.insidehalton.com/print/829064
[13] http://www.insidehalton.com/community/oakvillebeaver/article/626654
[14] http://www.zuza.com/community-story/47132-education-canadian-flags-to-be-treated-with-respect-again/
[15] http://www.durhamregion.com/DurhamRegion/Article/1119998

31. Appendix B
Student trustee accomplishments (4/4)
16. Influenced nutritional standards in school cafeterias [16]
17. Influenced uniform requirement policies in schools [17]
18. Promoted non-profit organizational fundraisers [18]
19. Support cost-cutting efforts [19]
20. Stopped a vending machine ban; fixed all water fountains [20]
21. Led fundraising efforts for nutritional programs in schools [21]
22. Advocated for healthier options in school cafeterias [22]
[16] http://www.durhamregion.com/print/1114403
[17] http://www.insidehalton.com/insidehalton/article/650172
[18] http://www.northernlife.ca/news/localNews/2009/oct/photo131009.aspx
[19] http://www.thestar.com/parentcentral/education/schools%20and%20resources/article/778191--teacher-s-day-at-
acc-gets-major-downsizing
[20] http://www.thestar.com/parentcentral/education/article/648999--school-board-vending-machine-ban-looms
[21] http://www.zuza.com/community-story/43808-program-aims-to-feed-hungry-students/
[22] http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2009/10/14/11392596-sun.html

32. The Student Voice Initiative
A movement to give students a voice in their education

33. Questions