Student Agency – Digital Promise

Student Agency

A graphic of a young student in a green T-shirt and a dialogue bubble to their left.

About the Priority Challenge

Districts seek innovative approaches to promote student engagement and agency that feel authentic and meaningful to students, connect the classroom with the real-world, and prepare students for college and careers.

However, creating student-driven learning environments, where students can exercise their agency and make more decisions about what they learn and how they learn, require additional planning time, resources, and training for educators. Incorporating opportunities for students to take ownership of their academic journey through course offerings, feedback loops, and varied learning resources require an additional infrastructure.

Challenge Statistics

I feel that teachers should ask students more [about] what they want to learn about that subject, or what they think is interesting.

—Student

To ensure educational excellence we need to continually redefine our educational systems. We need to find ways to get students more engaged in their own learning and give them ample opportunities to develop their own learning pathways. We need to ensure that there are pathways that give every student access to their own version of success.

—Educator

We feel that preparation for owning your own educational experience is important, and is done through offering rigorous curriculum materials and helping students explore the variety of options they can have after compulsory education.

—Community Member

What School Communities Say They Need

When reflecting on how students can have more agency over their learning, educators and students described the following needs.

Learning experiences that excite and motivate students

Opportunities for student voice and choice related to school improvement

Digital Promise Projects and Resources

Explore the tiles below to learn more about projects and resources that aim to strengthen student agency.

Resource
Description

League districts tackle common challenges through learning collaboratives focused on student agency, high school redesign, and leveraging technology.

Three districts within Digital Promise’s League of Innovative Schools share a roadmap for how other districts can center student voice and engage learners in empowering ways.

Educators and community stakeholders from Socorro ISD examined context-specific challenges in secondary writing and developed and designed student-led prototype solutions.

Educators and community stakeholders from Sunnyside USD examined context-specific challenges in secondary writing and developed and designed student-led prototype solutions.

The YouthMADE Festival is a global, two-week celebration of creativity and innovation that showcases youth-led projects in STEM, advocacy, activism and community service, performing and fine arts, media, and more.

The Learning Studios Project Library offers resources to help students design solutions to local challenges while developing skills in design thinking, engineering, and digital communication.

This resource library provides students and teachers with activities to support their participation in the Ciena Solutions Challenge.

Educators share ways to engage students in Challenge Based Learning experiences where students design thoughtful solutions to local challenges.

This research-practice partnership engages students through content, problem-solving, computational thinking and heritage connections.

Description

League districts tackle common challenges through learning collaboratives focused on student agency, high school redesign, and leveraging technology.

Description

Three districts within Digital Promise’s League of Innovative Schools share a roadmap for how other districts can center student voice and engage learners in empowering ways.

Description

Educators and community stakeholders from Socorro ISD examined context-specific challenges in secondary writing and developed and designed student-led prototype solutions.

Description

Educators and community stakeholders from Sunnyside USD examined context-specific challenges in secondary writing and developed and designed student-led prototype solutions.

Description

The YouthMADE Festival is a global, two-week celebration of creativity and innovation that showcases youth-led projects in STEM, advocacy, activism and community service, performing and fine arts, media, and more.

Description

The Learning Studios Project Library offers resources to help students design solutions to local challenges while developing skills in design thinking, engineering, and digital communication.

Description

This resource library provides students and teachers with activities to support their participation in the Ciena Solutions Challenge.

Description

Educators share ways to engage students in Challenge Based Learning experiences where students design thoughtful solutions to local challenges.

Description

This research-practice partnership engages students through content, problem-solving, computational thinking and heritage connections.

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