A few conditions must be in place for your partnership effort to be successful:

• Adults need to be willing to listen to student ideas and feedback.

• Students need to be willing to take on responsibility and gain authority.

• Both student and adults need the skills to work successfully together.

Main Points for Adults

• Treat students as individuals; don't expect one student to represent all students. Students often believe that adults carry negative images of students and often generalize from the behavior of a few. Assure your students that you are interested in their individual opinions, and don't expect them to embody an entire population, whether a gender, grade level, school, or community.

• Speak by listening. For the partnership to work, students must feel that they are valued and respected. In many student-adult relationships, that respect is lacking. When interrupted by an adult, students usually stop talking. Both parties need to respect each other's right to voice opinions without criticism or censure. Don’t interpret for students what they can explain for themselves.

• Don't expect more from students than you would from adults. If a student shows up for a meeting 15 minutes late, an adult might think, “Here’s a slacker.” When a fellow adult shows up 15 minutes late, the same person might think, “That's understandable. They've got deadlines and pressures.” So do students.

Main Points for Students

• Criticism isn’t always an insult. Sometimes when adults offer criticism to a student, they are treating the student the same way they would someone their own age. Remember that adults are used to critiquing each others' ideas. Just because they disagree doesn't mean they are dismissing you.

• Adults may not be aware of how capable you are. Maybe they don't teach students in your grade, so they aren’t sure what to expect. You can teach them about student voice by showing them you can handle mature situations.

• Adults are ultimately responsible for the success or failure of improving your school. That is why it is hard for adults to share power and authority. They need reassurance that you are willing to share in the successes and failures.

• It's okay to ask for help when you don't know how to do something. Nobody expects you to have all the “right” answers, or even the best ones. Be yourself, be creative, and get excited about changing YOUR school!

Adapted by SoundOut from "Creating Youth/Adult Partnerships" by Vermont School Boards Association, 2005.

TOOLS

Principles of Student-Adult Partnerships