Student Voice Drives Change Across Simon Youth Academies
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San Francisco – Research shows that just under 1 in 5 students still will not graduate from public high school. This Friday, on Nov 2, the San Francisco-based nonprofit YouthTruth will release an up-close look at how Simon Youth Foundation (SYF) builds innovative Simon Youth Academies that help students at risk of dropping out to graduate in partnership with public school districts. SYF has developed a regular practice of gathering student feedback to inform strategy and programmatic changes at both the network and school level as it supports students who struggle in traditional classrooms, and maintains a 90 percent cumulative graduation rate. The foundation uses student feedback as a guiding pillar in both day-to-day operations and long-term planning as it works with its network of non-traditional high schools located primarily in Simon Malls to help students at risk of dropping out to graduate. The foundation hopes to inspire other organizations to engage with student voice to inform improvements.
The nonprofit YouthTruth works with the foundation to gather and analyze student feedback to inform improvements. Recent network-wide changes guided by data and analysis from the YouthTruth survey include implementing trauma-informed instruction, launching gender inclusiveness training, and increasing the emphasis on emotional and mental health.
“The student is the reason we exist and what our purpose defines us to. If we can’t hear their voice or know what they want, we become a bunch of well-meaning people who are trying to do something to students and not for students,” says Dr. J. Michael Durnil, President and CEO of the Simon Youth Foundation.
While the foundation is able to use data to inform broad impact nationally, each Academy is also able to engage with a local set of student feedback data. Upon receiving feedback back from students on campus, Rose Tree Media Simon Youth Academy in Pennsylvania has been able to focus on strengthening academic rigor and peer relationships. Similarly, the Simon Youth Academy at Circle Centre Mall in Indiana is using feedback to inform the creation of enhanced advisory programs to grow relationships between teachers and students.
“The students attend our academies for a variety of reasons and I feel that their voices are important to hear as leaders striving to meet students’ wide-ranging needs,” comments principal of Rose Tree Media Simon Youth Academy Sarah Graham. “I meet with staff weekly to discuss items of the week and specific student needs, but the survey helped me hone in on specific areas of need and guide discussions with my staff.”
Both the foundation and leaders at individual Academies find feedback a useful tool in creating common language to bolster collaborative improvement and gain support from stakeholders like local advisory councils. The foundation regularly shares student feedback with districts, schools staff, and even students. The foundation’s many partners are then able to engage with the rich information gleaned from the survey as they collectively work to help at-risk students graduate from high school.
Insights gleaned from asking students about their experiences at the Academies, and gaining a deeper understanding student reality beyond the classroom, has been instrumental in the foundation’s ability to create network-wide change. Reflecting on the foundations use of feedback, Dr. Durnil notes, “With this student insight, I become equipped with an immediate strategy or agenda. With the student input, I can go out and find additional resources and bring them to bear to our academies, to our districts, to our communities. With this data, we’re able to better provide support to the most marginalized groups of students.”
Explore and Download the Case Study.
About Simon Youth Foundation
In partnership with local public school districts, SYF builds high schools called Simon Youth Academies, through which students at risk of dropping out receive the personalized support needed to earn their diplomas. Primarily located in Simon Malls, Simon Youth Academies make learning accessible to students who struggle to connect with material in a traditional classroom or school because of homelessness, bullying, serious illness, parenthood, supporting their families, or other challenging personal circumstances. Since its inception, SYF has maintained a 90% graduation rate at its 35 Simon Youth Academies in 15 states, helping more than 17,000 students graduate.
About YouthTruth
YouthTruth partners with districts and charter management organizations across the country to gather and use student, family, and school staff feedback on the themes that matter most to creating healthy climate and culture. Utilizing sophisticated technology to analyze perception feedback against a large library of aggregate data, YouthTruth also offers professional development and coaching on how to use student and stakeholder feedback to drive change.
YouthTruth is a national nonprofit that harnesses student and stakeholder feedback to help educators accelerate improvements. Through validated survey instruments and tailored advisory services, YouthTruth partners with schools and districts to enhance learning for all students. Founded in 2008 in collaboration with the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP), YouthTruth has surveyed over 840,000 students across 38 states and four countries, including Russia, Thailand, and Singapore. For more information, visit www.youthtruthsurvey.org.
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CONTACT
Kelson Goldfine
Kelsong@youthtruthsurvey.org
415-704-8657
