Meaningful Student Involvement in Education Research

Education research can actively engage students as researchers who explore the schools, practices, and systems that they are participants in.  Students become critical thinkers and engaged participants in learning.  Students can be engaged in research design, execution, analysis, and writing about schools, environments, the teaching and learning process, and more.

Students Searching for Success – (Bear Valley, California) A high school principal here wanted to explore students’ views of learning, so she started a student-research program.  The group focused on the questions, “Do our school restructuring activities really make fundamental changes in the learning process?  Does all of our work have an impact in the classroom?”  As part of the yearlong study, the student researchers participated in a twice-weekly course that focused on their work, and consequently, the students became the driving force in the data collection and analyses.  Students conceived the methods used and led the data collection work.  In their study, the student researchers collected data from 200 of the school’s 1,600 students.  Ultimately, the students presented their findings to professional researchers from across the country.  Findings showed that students define success in school many different ways, with a strong theme focusing on students’ diligence and balance.  Students recognized the importance of motivation, good study habits, a balance between school and work, involvement in school life, being organized, and simply putting forth the effort to succeed.  The student researchers also explored learning outside of school, how students learn best, and the school’s impacts on students learning.  The project coordinators state that “the lessons of this project occurred on two levels: what the students, staff, and parents learned from the data, and what we all (adults) learned about engaging students as researchers in a topic that is relevant to them” (Shaunessey, 1998). 

Infusing Research into Class – (Hartford, Connecticut) Four school districts are participating in a student action research program as part of the Education and Advocacy Project, coordinated by the Youth Action Research Institute.  This program is a model program that engages students in identifying and researching issues that affect the quality of education in their schools and elsewhere in the state.  The program, for fifth and six graders, has nine teachers participating who are integrating student driven action research into their classrooms using cooperative learning methods into core curricular activities. The project’s methods and goals include assessing the effects of PAR on students, educators, and the overall school communities involved (Institute for Community Research, 2003).

Financial Futures – (Poughkeepsie, New York) In one particularly compelling example, students conducted research on their district’s budget crisis as part of a government class.  After designing a 57-question survey that solicited opinions from fellow students on what should be included in next year’s school district budget, the students hand-tabulated and analyzed data from 596 completed surveys - over half the student body.  When district board members came to their regular budget meeting, a surprise was waiting: student-created data from that survey highlighted exactly what students thought should be included in next year’s school district budget.  Board members gave their approval in one of the report’s final comments: “Student input should be solicited and gathered periodically so that students can always be a part of the process.  Students want to be involved!”  In late May, when the Poughkeepsie Board of Education passed its budget for the coming school year, they introduced an unprecedented line item: $25,000 for “student initiatives” (What Kids Can Do, 2003b).

Who Runs Schools? (Oakland, California) - Students with the Youth Strategy Project have written a research report that explores the dilemma of school leadership and its relationships to academic achievement and social justice, as exemplified by the Oakland schools.  The report identifies the national education trend of incapacitating public schools and the systemic disenfranchisement of poor people and communities of color.  Download the report from http://www.datacenter.org/research/oaklandtakeover.pdf.