1. STUDENT VOICE
AND
SCHOOL CULTURE
Improving school culture by utilizing the leadership of students, specifically
our middle school students, through a Student Leadership Council (SLC).
- Focus areas attendance and parental involvement

2. EMPOWERING STUDENTS
TO MAKE POSITIVE SHIFTS
• How this project came to be…
• WHY is it essential to our school and should be to all schools?
• In education, student voice refers to the values, opinions, beliefs, perspectives,
and cultural backgrounds of individual students and groups of students in a
school, and to instructional approaches and techniques that are based on
student choices, interests, passions, and ambitions.
• Hidden curriculum (2014, August 26). In S. Abbott (Ed.), The glossary of education
reform. Retrieved from http://edglossary.org/hidden-curriculum
• As an educator and now an administrator, student voice has always been a
driving force when it comes to implementing lasting change in what matters
most, student $ucce$$.

3. EMPOWERING STUDENTS
TO MAKE POSITIVE SHIFTS
• Student Leadership Council Mission Statement
• Student Leadership Council will be effective leaders who give
students a voice and help improve school culture.
• Student Leadership Council Vision Statement
• We want to be effective leaders who are respected by our peers,
through running Monday Morning Meeting, setting a good
example, and creating programs and activities that inspire
students to enjoy coming to school and encourage the want to
learn.

4. EMPOWERING STUDENTS
TO MAKE POSITIVE SHIFTS
• A look at our school
• Riverside School – CMSD
• 14601 Montrose Ave., Cleveland, OH 44111-1322
• Enrollment (State Provided): 497
• Student & Teacher Attendance Rates - 2014-2015
• Student Attendance Rate: 95.1%
• Teacher Attendance Rate: 87.1%
• Special Program(s): MD/Autism(4), Gifted & Talented(4), LEP/ELLs

5. EMPOWERING STUDENTS
TO MAKE POSITIVE SHIFTS

6. EMPOWERING STUDENTS
TO MAKE POSITIVE SHIFTS
• So the question became,
•What can I do, to
make positive shifts in
our school?

7. EMPOWERING STUDENTS
TO MAKE POSITIVE SHIFTS
• The answer became, implementing a…
Student Leadership Council
• President - Greg George
• Secretary Ambassador - Hayden Kissoon
• Treasurer - Kierra Zimmerman
• Director of Media Relations - Chan Thatch
• Vice President - Jessica Rivera
• Secretary Ambassador - Nadia Evans

8. EMPOWERING STUDENTS
TO MAKE POSITIVE SHIFTS
• Improving School
Culture and Climate
Student
Achievement
& Attendance
Teacher/Student
Retention &
Mindset
Parental
Involvement
+
Continuous
School
Improvement
=

9. EMPOWERING STUDENTS
TO MAKE POSITIVE SHIFTS
• Focus Goal One – Parental Involvement
• Focus on getting more parents involved during school day
• Focus Goal Two – Attendance & Tardies
• Focus on students with more than 20 absences or tardies
• August – 95%
• September – 95%
• October – 96%
• November – 97%
• December – 95%
• January – 94%
• February – 94%
• March – 95%
• April – 94%
• May – 95%

10. EMPOWERING STUDENTS
TO MAKE POSITIVE SHIFTS
• Student Leadership Council – Top 3 Focus Questions/Responses
• Parents
1. Approximately how often has your child been absent this year?
2. Do you feel welcomed when you come to Riverside Elementary School?
3. What sources do you get most of your information about Riverside Elementary School from?
• Students
1. What are you usually absent from school?
2. Why do you think you or your peers are tardy to class?
3. What suggestions do you have to improve attendance and reduce tardies at Riverside?
• Teachers
• What three things do you feel affect student attendance/tardies most?
1. Transportation issues
2. Students lack of responsibility
3. Student behavior or poor choices

11. EMPOWERING STUDENTS
TO MAKE POSITIVE SHIFTS
• Middle School Student Survey Results
1. How important do you feel good attendance and promptness
are to your education and future success?
__ very important __somewhat important
__not very important ___not important
2. Why are you usually absent from school? Check all that apply.
__illness
__family emergency
__doctors’ appointments
__I cut school
__I need to help out at home, because
[most responses were about family]
__I don’t like to come to school, because
[1-some teachers are sexist 2 – afraid of talking to people]

12. EMPOWERING STUDENTS
TO MAKE POSITIVE SHIFTS
• Middle School Student Survey Results
5. What suggestions do you have to improve
attendance and reduce tardies at Riverside?
__more extra-curricular activities
__rewards for improved attendance or reduced
tardies
__consequences for frequent tardies
__other: Explain_________________________________
a. Add 5 minutes in between class change bell
b. More transition time and less things to carry
c. Give us time between periods
d. Have specific times to go to bathroom as a class

13. EMPOWERING STUDENTS
TO MAKE POSITIVE SHIFTS
• Student Leadership Council Ideas and Steps
• Parental Involvement
• Earth Day Project
• Every two week inviting parents
• Working with School PTC
• Family Fun Night
• Movie Night / Sports Tournament
• Attendance
• Monthly Incentives
• Recognition at MMM
• Attendance Award Field Trips

14. EMPOWERING STUDENTS
TO MAKE POSITIVE SHIFTS• Spring Timeline
• February 2015 - Group Planning of Curriculum
• March 2015 - Elections for Exec Board and Representatives
• Present idea at MMM - March 7
• Flyers for election posted - March 8
• Surveys out to public - March 9
• Student exec board sign up deadline - March 10
• Survey Return deadline – March 11
• Meet with students who signed up after MMM - March 14
• Analyze survey data (set updated goals if needed) - March 17
• Candidate speeches at MMM - March 21
• Voting for exec board - March 22
• Announcement of exec board - March 23
• April/May 2015 - Retreat and Prep with new Exec Board, etc.
• May - Review of year goals and plan for next school year
• May - Exec Board Retreat
• June – Planning with SLC for 2016-2017 school year
• Long Term Goals
• Riverside Student Leadership Council;
• 1 – Attendance/Tardies (meeting and surpassing AAP / Cleveland Plan
goals)
• 2 - Parental Involvement (parent surveys, student created activities,
etc.)
• 3- Overall improvement of school climate and culture
• Fall 2016 initiatives;
• Smaller focus areas that will be incorporated
• Student achievement (NWEA) updates (Fall, Winter, Spring)
• Discipline (will give suggestions on how to lower discipline referrals
based on updated discipline plan)
• Parental involvement (every 2 month initiative)
• Monthly attendance reward initiative program
• *** above information subject to change once exec board
selected and initially meetings held

15. EMPOWERING STUDENTS
TO MAKE POSITIVE SHIFTS
What challenges
do you
anticipate?
Teacher “buy-in” with releasing
some of their control of the
classroom
Scheduling with implementing
Student Leadership Council
meetings during the day so there
are no before or after school
concerns (contract, parents,
etc.)
Understanding the bigger
picture…the WHY?
How will you address
each challenge?
Use of research that shows the power
of student voice in school (articles,
book studies, etc.)
- Example / Recommendation R.
Quaglia
Work with principal on scheduling for
the upcoming school year. Cohort
group has already worked on different
ideas for how to implement this into the
school schedule and not interrupt
instruction time
At assemblies, meetings (especially in
the beginning part of the
implementation process) vocalizing the
importance of WHY student voice is
important and how it can push this
school forward in multiple areas.
Bi-monthly surveys to report progress.

16. EMPOWERING STUDENTS
TO MAKE POSITIVE SHIFTS
• Distributive Leadership
• Teacher Leader Weber
• SLC Staff Liaison
• Designer of SLC Guidelines Packet
• Teacher Leader Haning
• Designer of SLC Notebook
• Works with students on documentation and processes
• Teacher Leader Kazcmarek
• Designer of SLC Parent, Teacher, Student surveys
• SLC Members meet 3-4 times a week
• Tuesday with Teacher Leader Weber
• Thursday with Teacher Leader Haning
• Other days in Assistant Principal Office (current meeting space)

17. EMPOWERING STUDENTS
TO MAKE POSITIVE SHIFTS
• Community Engagement Tools
• Student surveys
• Teacher surveys
• Parent surveys
• Parent Letters
• Community Connections
• School Social Media Page (Instagram)
• This area is still a work in progress as the SLC members are reflecting on what
is working and what needs to improve

18. EMPOWERING STUDENTS
TO MAKE POSITIVE SHIFTS
• “Historically, student councils and other forms of student-led government
were the most common channels for students to share their opinions and
viewpoints, but many of these opportunities did not allow students to make
authentic contributions to the leadership of a school.”
• The Glossary of Education Reform by Great Schools Partnership
• With the Student Leadership Council, these students will be an active part of
our school Building Leadership Team and report directly to our Assistant
Principal.
• Their voices will not just be heard, it will help lead to change in culture!

19. EMPOWERING STUDENTS
TO MAKE POSITIVE SHIFTS
• Why is Student Voice Important?
• A Project-Based Case Study: Sammamish High School
• “Including Student Voice – March 2013 – Edutopia”
• One of the principles guiding the transformation work at Sammamish is that
student achievement and engagement will increase when students have
more ownership of their school community. The Student Voice key element
reinforces that:
• What students have to say matters in how learning happens.
• Students have untapped expertise and knowledge that can bring renewed
relevance and authenticity to classrooms and school reform efforts.
• Students benefit from opportunities to practice the problem solving, leadership
and creative thinking required to participate in a decision-making school
community.

20. EMPOWERING STUDENTS
TO MAKE POSITIVE SHIFTS
• Research shows…adult voice is not all that matters
• A more student-centered approach would be to ascertain what motivates
individual students to achieve in a particular class and then enlist the students’
help in identifying other factors that might elevate their motivation, factors that
may include changes to the context or changes to the individual’s beliefs and
behaviors.
• Motivation, engagement, and voice are the trifecta of student-centered
learning. Without motivation, there is no push to learn; without engagement
there is no way to learn; and without voice, there is no authenticity in the
learning.
• MOTIVATION, ENGAGEMENT, AND VOICE - APRIL 2012
• Authors - Eric Toshalis, Ed.D and Michael J. Nakkula, Ed.D
• http://www.studentsatthecenter.org/sites/scl.dl-
dev.com/files/Motivation%20Engagement%20Student%20Voice_0.pdf