Students have shared that they learn best in comfortable and calm classroom environments. These environments can be fun and also foster genuine learning and respectful peer and teacher relationships.
Students have stated that their learning improves when a sense of safety and support extends beyond the walls of their classrooms and characterizes the feeling of the whole school.
“We need staff to sit down and ask what’s going on in their life. If they’re having trouble with a certain topic the staff might be able to help them.” — Maundy
“I wish there was a nook, a place where we can rest, be alone, cope with our feelings, and reassemble ourselves.” — Adelyn
“When I pulled my hamstring a couple weeks ago, a part of me felt relieved—this forced me to stay at home and rest.” — Avari
“It is also not uncommon for schools to criminalize their students when “probable cause” and “suspicion” are rightful reasons to pull students out of class, stop them from using the toilet, or stop them from getting to class to search and interrogate them.” — Jisella
“And, because the school puts a lot of pressure on us to apply to college immediately, many students take days off to focus on college applications, which are hard to balance with homework, projects, tests, and jobs.” — Amelia
“…but to have the face of your school’s staff want that? To be ostracized by your principal and her homeroom because they had the headstart?”— Adam
Students have identified a crucial link between their learning and having access to classroom and school environments where they feel listened to by adults, where they feel that their voices matter.
“I understand the influence a student’s voice can have, but also how it can be easily ignored.” — Calista
“To fully examine the true injustices seen in many schools within the state of Massachusetts, reaching out to students is very important, and provides state legislators with the opportunities to get to know schools from students’ perspectives and not just administrators.” — Calista
“I am a Japanese-American student, and during my freshman year, a peer of mine used a commonly known Japanese slur in my presence. Upon confrontation, the student claimed they were unaware of the word’s connotation and had never been educated on it. Unfortunately, this is true, and it is a situation not only I, but many other students have experienced tens, if not hundreds of times. Changing the school’s history classes to show…all cultures that aren’t taught to students in the current curriculum can help us avoid these situations that are far too common.” — Emmalyn
“In these times, I wish that my teachers were more understanding and empathetic towards the responsibilities I, and other students, have.” — Avari
“I was thinking about labor unions’ history and how they worked together to fight for what’s right in the workplace and organize and create agency. As a student, school is my workplace. What if students had a union?” — Jisella
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 – Learning Environment: Classroom Environment
“When the class ends, the teacher does not say goodbye or have a nice day. In that class, there is no greeting, no learning, and no relationship. It feels like the are treating us like robots, and no one really cares about the class because students don’t feel like the teacher cares about them.” — Addison
Ethan – Learning Environment: Classroom Environment
“Being aggressive against bullying is a good thing. But when you’re aggressive without discretion, it becomes harmful to all parties involved.” — Ethan
Jyn – Learning Environment: Classroom Environment
“I suffer from insomnia and ADHD which both made a typical school schedule immensely challenging. My difficulty sleeping made succeeding in my morning classes, particular my 7:25 AM class, impossible… Attending Tecca, I am largely able to control my schedule and now only have class beginning at 11:00 AM. This has dramatically improved the quality of my education and my ability to learn. I am now receiving mainly A’s in my classes, a far cry from my experience at Haverhill.” — Jyn
Jose – Learning Environment: Classroom Environment
“The world has changed a lot, but classrooms haven’t changed at all.” — Jose
Jaliyah: Kids found out a student was from a certain town and stopped talking to him
“One of my friends [at my vocational school] was a freshman who went to his exploratory for the shop he had been wanting to attend since before he came to the school. After he participated in an ice breaker in the shop, the kids found out he was from a certain town and stopped talking to him because they were all from other places. Immediately he felt like he didn’t belong. It made him not want to do the shop anymore and made him uncomfortable even though he had a passion for this trade of plumbing.” — Jaliyah
Kaitlyn: When I am stressed and cannot focus in class
“When I am stressed and cannot focus in class, it impacts my learning.” — Kaitlyn