Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
7-2018
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0574-8101
Document Type
Dissertation
Department
Organizational Leadership
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Linnea Rademaker
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Sam Stewart
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Karen Maxwell
Abstract
For educators to improve instruction, they should listen to and learn from students, who are the central focus of education. While there is a growing body of research demonstrating the value of educators partnering with students to improve learning, there is little research on how to implement, diffuse, and sustain the use of student voice at the district level. There was a need for a model of district-wide implementation of student voice that educational leaders could model to implement a student voice initiative in their schools. The purpose of this qualitative study was to provide a historical narrative of the initial 3 years of the Student Voice Initiative in a major suburban Texas school district. The data collected included individual and focus group interviews with secondary educators, observations, and archival data collected over a 3-year period. The results of the study indicate that partnering with students to improve instruction has positive outcomes for both students, educators, and the culture of the learning organization. The analysis suggested that educators and students should have a knowledge base of the “why” and “how” of student voice, intentionally communicate the initiative, devote time to the initiative, and develop a culture supportive of student voice.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Barker, Suzanne K., "Student Voice to Improve Instruction: Leading Transformation of a School System" (2018). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 112.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/112