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Student Research for Action:Restoring Hope Where It’s All But Gone”Here’s the hard truth,” high school junior Ronaldbegins. “Indianapolis schools [have] the fifth worstgraduation rate in the country. Only 25 percent ofblack males who enter high school here get a diploma.We have more black males in prison than in college.”

Monica, his classmate at Indianapolis’s BroadRipple High School, joins in: “We have too manystudents who don’t care, too many teachers whohave given up, too many low expectations filling thehallways.”

“We aren’t saying there is nothing good going on,”says Che, another student. “But there’s so muchthat’s wrong.”

Their views may sound dismal, but these studentsare describing a difficult situation they know well—one that is based both on their own feelings and ona lengthy process of survey research. Che, Monica,and Ronald are part of a team of students who spentthe past year surveying classmates and teachers attheir high school as part of a larger initiative.

Two years ago, Indianapolis Public Schools won agrant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundationto break its five large high schools into smallschools. The nearby Harmony Education Centerand its staff of VISTA volunteers introduced a novelidea: involve students in the redesign process. Bypooling their data with student research teams fromthe city’s four other large high schools, they wouldbe able to get an important read on the process. Thestudents learned research and facilitation skills inafter-school meetings and in training sessions thatbrought the five research teams together from acrossthe city.

“Many people think it’s incredible that we’re includ-ing students as partners in improving their schools,”notes Megan Howey, the program’s VISTA coordi-nator. “What I find incredible is the notion ofredesigning high schools without student input.” Farfrom being rubber stamps, the project’s fifty studentresearchers, freshmen through seniors, have askedtough questions. What evidence do we have fromother cities that breaking large high schools intosmall schools really works? Are small schools theonly way to personalize learning? How can a schoolchange when many of its teachers do not?

Collecting Data and Pushing Debate

The signs of school failure in Indianapolis seemoverwhelming. From low scores on standardizedtests to a high dropout rate, they mirror troubledurban districts around the country. The studentresearchers began their work by studying these sta-tistics in detail, taking the full measure of howIndianapolis schools stacked up nationally. Theyfound themselves ranked near the bottom on almostevery count. Working with staff at the Center forExcellence in Leadership of Learning (CELL) andthe Harmony Education Center, they developed aplan for gathering data in each of their schools thatwould explain these failures. “We started off sur-veying as many students and teachers as we could inour schools, using surveys from the GatesFoundation,” Manual High School junior Brittanyexplains. “The questions were about almost everyaspect of school—expectations, relationships, cours-es, attitudes. We put a lot of effort into getting every-one to understand why they should fill out thesurvey. We wanted our data to be valid.” Almost 60percent (4,149) of the district’s high school studentscompleted the survey.

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© 2006 Wi ley Per iodicals , Inc .Publ ished onl ine in Wi ley InterScience (www.interscience.wi ley.com)

Nat ional Civ ic Review • DOI : 10.1002/ncr.127 • Spr ing 2006

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After students tallied and analyzed the surveydata, they took the results back to their individualschools. An important aspect of the project wasfostering schoolwide dialogue. Teams developedtheir own strategies for creating discussionaround their findings. At Manual, student re-searchers led homeroom discussion on five ques-tions of their choosing. At Arsenal Tech, studentsposted survey results on the school cafeteriawalls, along with blank poster boards where stu-dents and teachers could register their reactions.They hosted an open forum after school andmade classroom presentations.

“These are serious issues that need to be taken seri-ously,” says Arsenal Tech student Bernard. “We didn’twant them hidden.” The students also createdstrategies for testing their classmates’ knowledge ofsmall schools, and their confidence in their power asan antidote to the failing educational system. Theyled peers in “chalk talks”—silent conversation inwhich participants write their answers to a questionon a large sheet of paper and then respond to eachother’s messages, adding new questions and oftensuggestions.

At Arlington High School, student researchersplaced poll boxes around the school, asking suchquestions as, “What do you or don’t you understandabout small schools?” Manual students created dis-plays for four “model” small schools and askedclassmates to vote on which they preferred. The stu-dents at Arsenal Tech also created a huge quilt fromindividual fabric squares dedicated to a student theyknew who had dropped out. “Patricia, you had a lotof potential and I wanted you to become the bestyou could be,” writes one. “School is the gatewaydrug,” states another.

Being Heard

“Getting honest conversations going in individualschools, about what needs attention and the rolesmall schools can play, was half the battle,”explains coordinator Howey. Bringing the studentresearchers’ findings to the attention of school dis-trict leaders and planners who could actually imple-ment changes on the institutional level was theother half.

In December 2004, the five student research teamspresented their survey results to a meeting of districtleaders and members of a newly established “net-work learning community.” They felt well received,but as Northwest student Toya notes, “It’s not whatthey say—‘Oh, how nice that students did this!’—but what they do that matters.” Other districtwideforums have noted the students’ findings.

Still, the students worry that their voices do notcount. The principal at one of the five schoolsremoved the survey results students had posted onthe cafeteria walls, explaining that they disturbedthe faculty. The student researchers have gained akeen sense of what makes a teacher worth listeningto. They can identify and describe the teachers whoinspire them in an instant, just as they can pick outthe teachers (perhaps demoralized themselves) whoregularly demoralize students. But identifying goodand bad teachers by name, so that they can be heldaccountable or get the support they need, “gets youinto trouble real fast,” observes Toya.

Giving School Redesign the Benefit of the Doubt

The most difficult issue of all for the student teamshas been coming to terms with the plan to breaktheir large high schools into small schools. They arequick to point out that it is a “done deal,” an enor-mous decision made before their input was invited.After a year of research and discussion, the studentteam at Manual is the only one coming downsquarely in favor of small schools. The first phase,dividing into small learning communities withoutthe autonomy and full distinctiveness of a small

National Civ ic Review DOI : 10.1002/ncr Spr ing 2006

“What I find incredible is the notion of redesigninghigh schools without student input.”

— M E G A N H O W E Y, V I S TA C O O R D I N AT O R

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school, has gone well at Manual, supporting theirpositive view. But the other student teams are skep-tical. Feedback from classmates underscores how lit-tle students understand small schools; on the surveystudents at Northwest completed, half did not knowwhich small learning community they belonged to.Students worry especially about the impact smallschools will have on existing friendships and courseofferings.

Several of the student researchers question thecapacity of their school to carry out the transforma-tion, regardless of its merits. “I began the year notknowing a lot about small schools and figuring theywere good,” explains one Northwest student. “The

more I’ve learned, the more I worried. I don’t ques-tion the idea, I question the ability of a school likeours, with all of its troubles, to pull off small schoolsin a way that doesn’t make matters worse. What’s tosay that we won’t go from being one large brokenschool to ten small and even more broken schools?”

Despite these misgivings, Indianapolis’s studentresearchers are giving high school redesign inIndianapolis the benefit of a doubt. They want it towork, they say, and pledge to help make it work,including pushing the need for ongoing discussion.One tool in their campaign is a documentary videothey are producing from video footage of classroomconversations they led over the year. They hope it willeducate peers about small schools, covering theirvirtues as well as liabilities. True to their age, thesestudents are at once critical and idealistic.“Transformation and redesign, that’s lofty language,”says Northwest junior Isaiah. “But I’m all for it.”

Barbara Cervone is founder and president of What Kids CanDo, a national not-for-profit organization founded in 2001for the purpose of making public the voices and views ofadolescents.

For bulk reprints of this article, please call (201) 748-8789.

National Civ ic Review DOI : 10.1002/ncr Spr ing 2006

“The more I’ve learned, the more I worried. I don’tquestion the idea, I question the ability of a schoollike ours, with all of its troubles, to pull off smallschools in a way that doesn’t make matters worse.What’s to say that we won’t go from being onelarge broken school to ten small and even morebroken schools?”— S T U D E N T AT N O R T H W E S T H I G H S C H O O L , I N D I A N A P O L I S