Presented by: Paula Adair, Tulare City School District Rebeca Cerna, REL West at WestEd Tricia Leslie, Tulare City School District

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Strengthening School Climate and Culture by
Fostering Youth Voice
Paula Adair, Tulare City School District
Tricia Leslie, Tulare City School District
Rebeca Cerna, REL West at WestEd
October 26, 2018
Insert Logo Tulare
Why are we here?
Connecting the dots: How are school climate, voice, and
learning connected?
Student voice: Why does it matter?
Learning from the field: What are the possibilities?

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What is School Climate and Culture?
Observable
Behaviors
Policies,
Programs,
Interventions,
Services &
Curricula
Beliefs,
norms, &
values
expressed in
day-to-day
experiences
Thoughts,
feelings, needs,
past history,
stress, trauma
What is School Climate and Culture?
Internal Conditions:
Brain, Development, Behavior,
Stress, ACES, and Trauma
External Conditions:
School Climate and Culture
The learning conditions and quality
of the school environment that
affect attitudes, behaviors, and
performance of both students and
staff.

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Value to Students
When students report feeling like they go to a school with a positive, healthy climate, they also report
Reduce school
exclusion/
suspensions
and
explusions
Reduce
drop out
Higher school
connectedness
Reduce school
exclusion/
suspensions and
expulsions
Increase
academic
achievement,
especially in
vulnerable
groups
Value for Teachers
Teachers who perceive that they work in positive climates, also report
Job
satisfaction
Commitment
to the
teaching
profession
Willingness to
implement social-
emotional interventions

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Partnership Strengthens Learning & School Climate
Studies have shown that
youth participation...
Increases positive & respectful
relationships with peers &
teachers
Greater acceptance of cultural differences
Increases classroom participation
Fewer behavioral challenges
Shifting Our Lens
From: “What’s wrong with you?”
To: “What happened to you and how
can I help?”
Cultural Inflection Point – students
(and families) as equal partners

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What is Student Voice?
Many Names, Many Forms…
• Youth leadership
• Youth participation
• Youth [civic] engagement
• Youth decision-making
• Youth empowerment
• Many others
Working Definitions

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Why Student Voice?
Student
Voice
Students more connected and engaged
at school
Barber, Eccles, & Stone, 2001; Conway, Amel, & Gerwien, 2009
Improved relationships among students
and between students and adults
Fielding, 2001; Mitra, 2003; Soo Hoo, 1993
School improvement strategies that
reflect students’ ideas
and priorities
Shah & Mediratta, 2008; Warren, Mira, & Nikundiwe, 2008
SCHOOL CLIMATE & CULTURE
OUTCOMES
Why Student Voice?
• What is at the center of it
all?
• How does it provide a sense
of agency for youth?

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• How do we make decisions?
• How do we make decisions for
youth?
• How do we make decisions with
youth?
• How do we live with or stand by
youth’s decisions?
• How can we use and integrate
student voice to self-assess and
evaluate our work?
Internal Inquiry
Lessons from the Field

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Student Listening Circle
Why Student Listening Circles?

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Student Voices - Student Listening Circle Process
A. Before the SLC: Pre-Work
A. The Student Listening Circle
•Orientation
•Student Practice
•Listening Circle
•Planning Dialogue
C. After the SLC: Collaborative Follow-Through
Getting Started
● Be mindful of the staff you choose to participant. For your first SLC I would
encourage you to think about staff members that are good listeners that
maintain a positive listening stance.
● Pick students that will speak their truth with an audience of adults around them.
Also think about about getting students from different social groups in order to
get multiple viewpoints.
● Be well planned and review the process before the day of your SLC.

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Depth and Authentic Voice
Insert Logo Tulare
Community Buy-in (Ownership of Change)
Admin, Teachers, Staff, and Students + Parents

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What we learned….
Tiger Days at Los Tules

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Looking Ahead
Questions ?

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“We will not find the solution to problems of violence, alienation,
ignorance, and unhappiness in increasing our security, imposing more
tests, punishing schools for their failure to produce 100 percent
proficiency, or demanding that teachers be knowledgeable in the
subjects they teach. Instead, we must allow teachers and students to
interact as whole persons, and we must develop policies that treat the
school as a whole community.”
Nel Noddings
Contact Information
• Rebeca Cerna, rcerna@wested.org
• Tricia Leslie, tleslie@tcsdk8.org
• Paula Adair, padair@tcsdk8.org

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This presentation was prepared for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) under Contract ED-IES-17-C-0012 by Regional Educational Laboratory
(REL) West at WestEd. The content of the presentation does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of IES or the U.S. Department of Education,
nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
The Regional Educational Laboratory West (REL West) at WestEd provides scientifically valid research findings that help meet the education needs in
Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah.
Our staff draw from existing high-quality research, as well as conduct research and development projects and experimental studies. We also help
stakeholders interpret evidence and build their own research capacity.

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