Many students have expressed the importance to them of having school staff who share, or at least understand, their backgrounds. This allows for learning opportunities to be aligned to their own experiences and for staff to be more relatable to them.
Many students have expressed the importance to them of having school staff who share, or at least understand, their backgrounds. This allows for learning opportunities to be aligned to their own experiences and for staff to be more relatable to them.
Students want their schools to teach inclusively about gender and sexuality so they truly educate all students and make sure queer students feel more safe and supported at school.
“When we don’t get a voice, it shuts down our sexuality and shuts down who we are. Queer students deserve to be celebrated in the same way we celebrate students from other minority groups.” — Careliz
“Inclusiveness matters to me, especially as an LGBTQ+ student, because I know that that school will keep me safe. It’s important to feel safe in a place that you learn; to know that you are protected. And by having an inclusive space, students open up to the idea of having someone to come and talk to if they don’t have anybody else.” — Adam
“As a trans youth, I have had hard experiences in school. One day during remote learning, I had my preferred name and pronouns listed on my Zoom screen. During class, my teacher told me in the chat to change my preferred name and pronouns, saying that what I listed on the zoom screen was not appropriate and that I was being disruptive. In that moment, I felt really disrespected and became so frustrated that I had to leave the Zoom session to calm down.” — Theresa
“Being able to come out at school has changed my experience for the better. It allows me to be more like myself in the classroom and I know that I will be accepted and supported.” — Adam
“Basically, I was not comfortable because the teachers and staff didn’t appear to be open minded to those of us who are LGBT+ as well as those who think differently than others.” — Chloe
“The F slur was thrown around quite a lot by some. Because of this, students who were part of the LGBTQ+ community would separate themselves and actively stay away from all the rest. They would kind of huddle around together in the back of the cafeteria. … Some of the teachers even contributed to this.” — Ethan
“I believe a safe space means LGBTQ+ students won’t be judged and will be provided with equal opportunity.” — Lonelypilot
“Most of the discrimination I’ve experienced was because people didn’t understand what it means to be transgender and why the things they were saying were so damaging.” — Kellin
Students have noted the need for a balanced and tempered approach to discipline policies and procedures and have also observed harsher punishments for students of color compared to White students.
“In fact, locking the bathrooms did nothing to prevent students from smoking and vaping. By locking the bathrooms, the school is only preventing students like myself from using the bathrooms.” — Maryan
“It’s always about age and control, but not much space for accepting humanity” — Dieunie
“There can be a lot of reasons why students run a few minutes late to class and instead of assuming that we are breaking rules, I wish that adults would be more understanding and take the time to ask us.” — Neishaly
“While it is true that the issue of vaping in the bathrooms is a serious one, punishing all students by closing the bathrooms is not a viable solution. Instead, the school should provide resources and support to help students struggling with nicotine addiction.” — Alex
“Our school had an attendance policy called the “E” policy that would replace your grade with an “E” as a result of three unexcused absences. We thought it was really unfair, because even if you tried hard, you would be punished for things that were sometimes out of your control. Students decided to try and protest to fix the “E” policy, and some teachers came with students to fix it because they saw that it was really unfair. It was cool to see students and teachers decide to come together, because bad policies affect teachers, too. We were like a team. It was just nice to see that we can all come together.” — Heba
Students also expressed a strong desire for a curriculum that is more representative of their backgrounds and experiences and that is more relevant to the skills and knowledge they will need to be successful in adult life.
“I have hundreds of years of rich history in my family and culture, and this is only briefly covered within the content of my history classes…In our current system, many of my peers will never have their history shown in a classroom for the time they are in public schools. But we have the power to change that.” — Emmalyn
“The second issue I wish to discuss is the lack of student input into curriculum design. There are many fields of academic study, many of which never appear in most high schools. I have a passion for geography, for example. I can name every single country in the world, every capital, every flag, and know quite a bit about the history of different countries.” — Jyn
“Structures for ensuring students feel listened to can help in these situations. Instead of putting business on social media that has to do with their schools, students should have a chance to share their concerns in person and adults should hear what students have to say and find helpful ways to act on things that matter to students. When these systems are in place, this is the beginning of bringing trust and relationships to create safe and supportive schools.” — Oreoluwa
“A sex education curriculum that’s more inclusive of gender and sexuality topics will educate all students, and make sure queer kids feel more safe. It’s also important that teachers and staff at schools are trained and know how to help LGBTQ kids.” — Kellin
“If kids were taught about LGBTQ topics it wouldn’t feel so taboo and uncomfortable to talk about, and people would be better informed about the issues that the LGBTQ community faces.” — Kellin
“I want my teachers to encourage me and other students of color to succeed academically and to challenge ourselves. I want them to encourage me to take advanced classes because I know that I can do it and I know that I can succeed. I want them to believe that as well.” — Anonymous-2
“I was going to say Black ownership…. Black people don’t really own anything. When they get out of school they don’t really get to know how to run things, how to do things ourselves. Classes about that is where we missed it.” — Focus Group Report
“One other thing I feel like the school systems could add, especially with the [Black] communities, is an Afro studies class.” — Focus Group Report
“We really don’t have too many classes that teach to our lives. I think last year at the beginning of ninth grade, we did like two days of learning about taxes and interest and then we haven’t learned about anything like that since. One of the things that I feel like they can change doing things more that we can connect to and that we’re going through. It’s like in 10th grade we’re 10th graders looking to get a job, looking for their permit and do other things like that.” — Focus Group Report
In school and districts where academic tracking is prominent, students have expressed frustration with this practice. On one hand, students in higher tracks have shared that it can be difficult to get additional support to meet their teachers’ high academic expectations. On the other hand, students in lower tracks have shared they feel as if they have been held back by low expectations.
“I notice that if you don’t fit this stereotype [high achieving] for our school then your experience in our school and even your learning is going to be different.” — Lauren
“It’s true that we don’t all learn in the same way…. But the situation we have right now … fosters an attitude that it is entirely your own fault if you’re in a lower level, or if you’re not learning as much. That’s not true. Those things are actually related to the culture of the school–when adults claim that students can’t achieve, this discourages them from even trying.” — Chinyere
“They give you easy work.… I don’t really feel like it’s a school school. I’m not learning to my potential.” — Focus Group Report
“It’s not really the students. It’s teachers. They look at you like you are dumb. They just expect less of you. They don’t push you up. They don’t communicate with the kids…” — Focus Group Report
“I feel for the [lowest track] classes with the teachers, it’s like they see what they want to see. You want to see something bad, then you see something bad. That reflects on the students, in the students’ grades and in the classes. Of course they’re going to fail because the teacher wants to see them fail.”
— Focus Group Report
“When you drop down one level, to a CP class, you enter this world where there are almost no educational conversations or expectations of you. This creates an inequitable learning environment and students suffer.” — Lauren
“My school does not promote or ensure that options like [my music class] are widely available to students who may benefit from a low stakes activity that they’re passionate about. Instead, there is a lot of pressure to overachieve and participate in activities that make you a “better college applicant,” and there is not a lot of encouragement to pursue things you enjoy.” — Lauren
This website is dedicated to the valuable lessons we can learn from students’ own experiences about how to create better schools. Decisions about schooling are often made without listening deeply to students themselves. But students are in the best position to understand what they need in order to do well in school.
A collaboration of the Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative (TLPI), Harvard Law School and Massachusetts Advocates for Children (MAC). LEARN MORE
Addison – Equity: Understanding Race, Ethnicity and Culture
“The teacher takes time to get to know you. They ask about sports, your life, and you can tell that they care.” — Addison
Emmalyn – Equity: Understanding Race, Ethnicity and Culture
“…it is important to note that we shouldn’t be only educating students. Teachers should be taught how to recognize and de-escalate race-related confrontations and attacks in hopes of working even further toward eliminating racism in schools.” — Emmalyn
Rahama – Equity: Understanding Race, Ethnicity, and Culture
“I wish schools had a more diverse curriculum that educated students about diverse religions and backgrounds so that they truly understand what is respectful and what is not.” — Rahama
Jaliyah: It’s important for me to learn in an environment that prioritizes cultural diversity and inclusion
“It’s important for me to learn in an environment that prioritizes cultural diversity and inclusion. During Hispanic Heritage month, my school put up flags from different Spanish-speaking countries to show that they were prioritizing diversity, but in reality, the kids get picked on for being different and the school doesn’t do much about it.” — Jaliyah
Alexis: I know my teachers are well intentioned
“I know my teachers are well intentioned when listening to my concerns, but when they don’t understand or know my experiences, student voice – my voice – becomes endangered. The effects of this failure to genuinely understand students falls particularly hard onto marginalized students–Black, Indigenous, and people of color (or BIPOC) and LGBTQ students—at my school.” — Alexis
Chris: It would help if teachers understood the needs of students of color
“It would go a long way to help if there were teachers from the community who could understand the needs of students of color.… I feel like if more teachers understood our backgrounds, things would go better because teachers would know how to talk to students and have relationships with them.” — Chris
Chelsea: Supportive adults share our experiences, treat us as equals
“They [supportive adults] often share our experiences, treat us as equals, prioritize our well-being, and know how to gain our trust so that we can access the learning we so badly want. Those who can connect with us understand the unique challenges of our diverse and often disadvantaged student body.”
— Chelsea
Focus Group: Racial makeup of staff should be representative of student body
“I think that issue of [relatability] and the area that people come from, the areas they grew up in, the demographics or the racial makeup of the [staff] should in some ways be representative of the student body.”
— Focus Group Report