The League of Innovative Students (LOIS) was created by Digital Promise to identify, understand, and address challenges in the educational system through elevating student perspectives. In this program, students across the country who are passionate about shaping educational research and development—like ourselves—use their experiences and voices to advocate for the changes they believe in during a six-month design sprint.
Through the Challenge Map project, we had the opportunity to select an area to focus on and conduct research projects on the challenges prevalent in our communities. This hands-on experience not only grew our leadership skills and problem-solving abilities, but also empowered us to make a positive impact. With this deeper understanding of the leading causes of education-related challenges in our communities and other districts, we have continued sharing the learnings through webinars, articles, presentations, and now, this blog!
In the Challenge Map project, we each investigated a challenge experienced by us or our peers in our everyday lives. As students, we have easier access to the student body and see issues that adults can’t. Before sending surveys out to our peers, we worked closely with the Center for Inclusive Innovation team to ensure our questions were relevant and specific.
Throughout the process, we welcomed new insights and perspectives, always keeping an open mind to ensure we were making progress on behalf of our districts. Some examples of recommendations that arose from our research are:
When students are able to interact with the learning curriculum, they tend to excel more. Students shared a reason they may not do their work is because they don’t understand the content and it’s too difficult, or because the content is not interesting to them and they have no motivation to do the assignments. Some students expressed their appreciation for creative projects such as poster presentations, podcasts, skits, games, and debates.
Students shared that more one-on-one time with their teacher helps them learn better because teachers have more time to concentrate on what the student is struggling with instead of having to focus on an entire classroom.
Many surveyed students requested an education resource to help with classwork or homework anytime during the day. Students appreciate it when schools offer resources such as teacher office hours or in-person after school tutoring. It’s even better if schools can offer a program such as Paper.co that allows students to get help with their work at any time of the day, whether it’s late at night or early in the morning.
When students are able to interact with the learning curriculum, they tend to excel more. Students shared a reason they may not do their work is because they don’t understand the content and it’s too difficult, or because the content is not interesting to them and they have no motivation to do the assignments. Some students expressed their appreciation for creative projects such as poster presentations, podcasts, skits, games, and debates.
Students shared that more one-on-one time with their teacher helps them learn better because teachers have more time to concentrate on what the student is struggling with instead of having to focus on an entire classroom.
Many surveyed students requested an education resource to help with classwork or homework anytime during the day. Students appreciate it when schools offer resources such as teacher office hours or in-person after school tutoring. It’s even better if schools can offer a program such as Paper.co that allows students to get help with their work at any time of the day, whether it’s late at night or early in the morning.
Many new ideas were created to improve the challenges we chose to study through the research we conducted in LOIS. For example, one student suggested starting class later and giving students a lighter workload would help students’ mental health and well-being. From researching the advantages students gain from engaging in extracurricular activities, another student wanted to create a school newspaper to get students involved in the world outside of academics. Many schools struggle with the same issues—by giving students a platform to be heard, schools everywhere might benefit.
Through LOIS, we learned how to advocate for change, solve complex problems, conduct meaningful research, and—most importantly—become leaders.
For many of us students, being part of LOIS has been transformative and some have even chosen to come back to participate in another year. Through LOIS, we have had the chance to present at national convenings, participate in workshops, and play key roles in shaping education within our communities and beyond.
Joining LOIS means becoming part of a nationwide cohort of high school students working alongside educators at regional, state, and national levels to tackle issues like education inequities, lack of access to resources, and systemic bias and racism in schools. Anyone, regardless of whether they are a student, parent, teacher, or district leader, has the power to make a meaningful difference.
Read more about the League of Innovative Students 2024 Design Sprint and how more than 40 young peoople advanced research, provided feedback on edtech tools, and advocated for their peers.
