This organization was founded in Vermont to increase student voice in decision-making and engagement in learning. Youth and adults participate together in action research to identify areas for growth, share data, and take actions. Teams focus on four areas: rigor, relevance, relationships, and responsibility. The two overview videos provide an excellent introduction to the approach.
The website also includes many detailed resources such as a media kit with a sample press release and op-ed, a Youth Voice Advocate Toolkit with activities to help make the case for youth adult partnerships for change, and the full curriculum used by teacher and student teams working with YATST for over a year. While these resources are designed specifically for YATST schools, there are many portions that may be useful to any school. The curriculum section on action research features activities to introduce best practices and a helpful teacher and student sample survey which could be adapted to use in any school to identify areas for change. In particular, the portions of the toolkit titled “Why Schools Need to Change” and ” Why Student Involvement in School Transformation Matters” may be used to draw in stakeholders.
Check out Building Support for Student-Centered Learning: A Toolkit, for more communication tools to support student-centered approaches to learning and student action research.
Source Organization: Youth and Adults Transforming Schools Together