Date of Graduation

12-2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education in Adult and Lifelong Learning (EdD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders

Advisor/Mentor

Kacirek, Kit

Committee Member

Grover, Kenda S.

Second Committee Member

Stiefer, Theres

Keywords

School culture; student and teacher collaboration; student and teacher relationships; student focused learning; student involvement; student voice

Abstract

Student voice is the process of allowing students to work collaboratively with adults to produce a learning culture that is conducive for optimum growth in every student. In a traditional setting, the adults make the decisions and the students are passive observers in the learning process. Data has shown that this traditional culture is not advantageous to student learning for all students. Research has shown that students are seven times more academically motivated when they have the opportunity to have a voice in their personal learning process (Quaglia, 2016). This case study centered on the Northeast Arkansas Regional Student Voice Initiative. The focus of this study was to determine what factors, elements, or components need to be in place for student voice to flourish as well as how student voice creates a positive impact in school culture. The coding revealed the emergence of nine themes: 1) leadership support, 2) time for implementation, 3) buy-in from teachers, 4) teacher training, 5) school procedural impact, 6) student / teacher relationships, 7) student leadership, 8) student-teacher collaboration, and 9) student learning.

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