Developing Student “Voice” in a Pennsylvania Elementary School

From the Marshall Memo #446

In this American Educational Research Journal article, Dana Mitra and Stephanie Serrier of Penn State University say the ABCs that all young people need to succeed in school are agency, belonging, and competence – and also discourse and (civic) efficacy. Here are their definitions:

• Agency – Acting or exerting influence and power in a given situation, which includes a sense that one has the right to question authority and be heard and respected;
• Belonging – Developing meaningful relationships with other students and adults and having a role at the school;
• Competence – Developing new abilities and being appreciated for one’s talents;
• Discourse – Exchanging ideas and opinions to work toward a common goal;
• (Civic) Efficacy – The belief that one can make a difference in the world and that one has the responsibility to do so.

Mitra and Serrier contend that the best way to develop the ABCDEs is giving students more voice in addressing and solving real problems. Their two-year study of fifth graders in a diverse K-5 school shows this can happen in elementary as well as secondary grades. 

The article gives a detailed account of how a group of fifth-grade girls protested to their teacher about the cafeteria’s salad offerings; one girl was lactose intolerant and couldn’t eat what she had been served. The teacher said she was proud of them and encouraged the Salad Girls (as they came to be known) to bring their complaint to the principal. She discouraged their initial idea – to stage a protest outside the cafeteria – and encouraged them to gather data around the school. The girls then spoke at an all-school assembly, canvassed all classrooms for students’ opinions on salad options, reported their data in a PowerPoint presentation to the principal and the district’s somewhat resistant food services manager, and persuaded her to pilot an alternative salad offering in the school. The new approach was eventually adopted in all the district’s schools and the girls were praised by the superintendent and a nearby university president and interviewed on local television. 

Mitra and Serrier describe how each of the ABCDEs were developed in the girls’ crusade for better salad choices:

• Agency – The girls articulated their opinions and felt “heard”; they learned to question authority respectfully, and they developed leadership and an increasing sense of responsibility to help other students with similar concerns;
• Belonging – The Salad Girls made connections to caring adults and their peers and bonded as a group;
• Competence – The girls learned how to communicate their message to those in power, collect, analyze, and present data, manage their time, and speak in public.
• Discourse – They worked as a team, created a synergy of needs and talents, valued their connections with others, and learned how to communicate with those in power.
• (Civic) Efficacy – The girls developed a sense of social consciousness – an awareness of the needs of the broader school, a belief that they had the ability and need to address those needs, and experienced individual “a-ha moments” when civic efficacy became a conscious process.

This was all possible because teachers and school leaders scaffolded and supported the effort, encouraging the Salad Girls to use inquiry and reach out to their peers, and orchestrated meetings with district leaders. Mitra and Serrier conclude by urging all schools to give students the chance to have experiences like the Salad Girls – by addressing real school problems or simulated issues in social studies and other subjects.

“Student Voice in Elementary School Reform: Examining Youth Development in Fifth Graders” by Dana Mitra and Stephanie Serrier in American Educational Research Journal, August 2012 (Vol. 49, #4, p. 743-774), http://bit.ly/RcaXu0; Mitra can be reached at dana@psu.edu.