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A Review of
"Critical Voices in School
Reform: Students Living Through Change"
Originally
published in
Meaningful Student Involvement Research Review by Adam Fletcher.
Critical
Voices addresses student inclusive school change by examining a
series of activities thought to do just that: engage students as
agents in educational transformation. The authors examine a
variety of activities, analyzing both challenges and successes in many
areas of social justice in school reform, including race, class, and
gender equity.
This collection of studies is
presented in two sections that include details on research conducted
in a variety of settings. In the first, the editors attempt to
“illustrate the richly nuanced view of school reform that emerges
through student-centered research.”
Overall, the researchers
contend that engaging students in the work of education reform is
rare, and when it does happen students are presented in “fixed and
uncomplicated” language that misrepresents them. In the second
section, the authors detail five studies of reform projects that “take
into account, build upon, and address the specific needs and concerns
of those students at the bottom of the achievement gap.” According to
the students involved, Meaningful Student Involvement helped them
navigate learning environments that are discouraging and even hostile
towards them.
The chapters in
Critical Voices
scan a variety
of activities and environments where student inclusive school change
is happening. From the introductory chapter through the conclusion,
the reader is presented with research that supports meaningful dtudent
involvement in school decision-making and research, students’
perceptions of detracking, gender, school support, and learning
environments, students’ experiences of identity-based curricular
reform and school governance. Researchers offer critical analyses of
the experience, reflecting on their own thinking and offering
suggestions for improvements.
Important findings include:
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Adults must consider the
complexities of inviting students to participate in democratic
processes that have never been modeled for them (p29).
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Students must have
realistic space and time to become part of the process of school
change, particularly if they do not experience schools as inclusive
environments (p29).
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Circumstances for engaging
students in education reform work cannot be standardized or
identically duplicated across diverse communities (p149).
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School reformers should
silence their own voices in order to create school structures that
meaningfully engage culturally marginalized students (p149).
Critical Voices advocates for social
and educational justice as the purposes of meaningful student
involvement. The research successfully proves that adults can
look to students for more than answers – that we must look to students
to become central players in the ongoing process of school change.
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