Why is it so hard to reform our K-12 systems?  For one, virtually everyone has an opinion on the schools (and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing).  We’ve all attended schools.  We know what we liked and what we didn’t.  And we have thoughts on what would have made it better.

More so, education reform is an emotional process.  We all know someone affected by it.  Teachers, principals, support staff.  But most definitely students.  And if we don’t know a student affected today, we sure know one impacted yesterday or tomorrow.

Eduflack is usually up on the soapbox, advocating for inclusion when it comes to stakeholders.  If we are improving the schools, we need all the help we can get.  That’s why so many reform efforts include parents, community leaders, business leaders, the clergy, and just about anyone else walking through that educational village.

The good folks out at LAUSD seem to understand part of that, but skipped an entire chapter of the book.  As part of his proposal to close a number of campuses out in Los Angeles, Mayor Villaraigosa and his team reached out to teachers.  They reached out to parents.  They sought buy-in and support for the Mayor’s plan.  They even allowed these stakeholders to vote on the plan.  The LA Times has the story — http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-students2jan02,1,1342026.story?track=rss&ctrack=1&cset=true.

Forgotten in this otherwise strong public engagement strategy was the student.  The students even actively sought a voice in the process.  They have distinct views that impacted the plan.  But at the end of the day, according to the LA Times, they were brushed aside so the “adults” could make these important decisions.

And that, my friends, is a huge communications blunder.  Too often, we write off students in the reform process, believing that they don’t care, don’t know, or don’t matter.  In actuality, students know far more than we give them credit for.  They know how important a high school diploma is.  They know they need postsecondary education.  And they know a good education today results in a good job tomorrow.  They get it.  And they feel it more deeply than many of the other stakeholders engaged in the process.  I am consistently surprised by what I hear from the average middle or high schooler in a focus group or at a public event.  They get it (and sometimes understand it far better than their teachers or parents do).

Of course we don’t want to let a group of middle schoolers be the deciding vote on whether their school is to be closed next year.  But they should have a seat at the table.  They should be part of the process. 

If we want today’s students to be the leaders of tomorrow, we need to push them and engage them and give them the opportunities to lead and to understand what public stewardship really is.  They don’t get that from a pat on the head or a squeeze of a shoulder.  They get it from being treated as equals and given the impressions their voice, opinions, and experiences matter.