We sat down with Alison Hramiec, BDEA Head of School, to talk about authentic ways that school design teams can incorporate student voice into their design process. She discussed the why, what, and how behind this important practice. Read on for an inside look at how her school design team practices the student-centered mantra they were founded upon.
How does Boston Day and Evening Academy involve students in the design process?
From the start, we have structured teaching and learning around our student-centered philosophy. Students choose to come to Boston Day and Evening Academy (BDEA) because they want a different type of learning experience. They want in a respectful school community that appreciates individuality, pushes them to reach their full potential, and empowers them to succeed. As we have refined the school model over the past 20 years, it has always been in response to the needs of our students.
When we began our most recent round of design work this summer as part of the Barr Foundation Engage New England initiative, our design team’s first step was to look at data to identify who was not being served. Once we did so, staff were adamant that students from this group be represented in our design work. We reached out to students, asking them to fill out surveys, conducting 1:1 meetings, facilitating focus groups, and more. While this rich qualitative data set was invaluable, we found that we needed more, consistent student voice to help shape the direction of our school design work. Our talented educators quickly realized the answer: invite students to join our design team.
How did you select students for the design team and how did you orient them to the ongoing nature of this work?
Once we decided to engage the students whose need were not being met, teachers elected students from this group who might be interested in joining the design team. In order to ensure a broad representation, we have about eight students who are invited to design team meetings. We often have three or four students attend. Sometimes six students come, which is the magic number for us, and we continue to find ways to increase representation at each meeting.
We frame the workaround constant iteration and a strong set of norms (that were established by the group) that drive this work and make it inclusive, fruitful, and exciting. Our students are all brilliant and they really care about their education and our shared learning community. As capable young adults, they learn right alongside staff and their voices are deeply valued; we are all growing and designing together. It is exciting to see students deeply engaged—some have even have brought our staff meeting practices to their classes.
What are some exciting/interesting practices or designs that student designers have surfaced?
Our students have incredible ideas and insight. As adults, we sometimes have competing knowledge that clogs our design thinking. Students speak from experience and they do so with clarity and insight. For example, our new redesign mission statement was originally developed by a small group that did not have students sitting at the table. As a result, it was very adult centered—it primarily talked about what adults would do to and for students. Students read it and had a lot of important feedback. They were adamant that the new mission statement should reflect the design team’s student-led values—the “we” must include both staff and students. This was an important revelation for all of us; even our other foundational documents—like instructional vision and core values—did not use “we” language that was inclusive of both students and adults. This subtle change in the language was incredibly powerful for our design team. Historically at BDEA, we used to talk about helping students succeed but we now talk about empowering students to succeed. Staff have always had this belief but we had not named it before. Naming it weaves equity into our school model more explicitly.
The voices of our student designers have been a game changer in the way the staff makes decisions. At first, the team was hypersensitive about making decisions based solely on data. It seemed like they were worried that the data was not telling the full story. Once student joined the conversations and became resident experts, staff could ask questions and discuss ideas with them. This not only helped make our designs better, it also continues to make our team more focused and confident in making collective decisions.
What are some best practices for effectively managing a design team that includes people with different perspectives (student, teacher, leader, support staff, etc.)?
Managing many voices and perspectives has been time-consuming but our whole team knows it is essential. We are fortunate to have so many thoughtful, intelligent folks with years of experience sitting around the table—each and every one of them is indispensable in this process.
To manage the group, we have a set of norms, developed by the team. Some of the key norms include equity in airtime, open-mindedness, and creating space for people to fully explain themselves. We also spend many of our design team meetings working in small groups and then coming back to share and give feedback. Our meeting norms and small group to big group discussions keep us aligned in our thinking, however, there are still instances of misalignment, which is to be expected. Students often come up with incredibly creative ways to address some of our impasses, creating connections and compromises that are rich and inclusive.
What is some advice for fellow designers? How can they know that they are authentically engaging students in the design process and not just checking a box?
Have students present in all design team meetings and group breakouts. If you do small group work like we do, be mindful of the ratios. We usually have three groups that include two students and three or four staff.
Ask students for their thoughts. Some students wait to be asked; they need an invitation. The team norm about air time helps us facilitate conversations so all students have a fair shot at the mic. As one of the facilitators, I constantly watch for student engagement and ensure all staff and students contribute to the conversation.
Make sure students understand their value. We make sure that students understand that their voice is essential to the development of our school model and what that means for themselves, their peers, and future BDEA students. We also pay our students, which one staff member felt would demonstrate just how much we value student voice. Since design team meetings are held after school hours, staff also get a small stipend for participation. It’s important to value everyone’s time and their unique experience.
Actually listen to students. Students need to see that their voice matters. But even more importantly, they need to see the results of their contributions. When students have great design ideas, be sure to both incorporate them and highlight to students where their contributions have shaped the school designs.