How do we improve public schools? Ask the customers! Who better understands school policy, procedures, operational efficiencies, and pedagogical practices than the "true" customer—the student? Madison Elementary School, a K–6 school of 335 students in Marshfield, Wisconsin, recognizes the value of student feedback and strives to learn more through monthly student meetings, whole-class sit-downs, and student exit interviews.
Monthly Student Meetings
As the principal of Madison Elementary School, I meet with a group of students for half an hour during lunch on the first Friday of each month to talk about ways Madison can improve. We call these sessions ROARS (Representing Outstanding and Responsible Students) meetings to coincide with the school's tiger mascot.
To give lots of students a chance to participate, each classroom sends two different representatives to ROARS each month; these students are chosen by the teacher or voted on by the class. We share minutes from these meetings with the parent-teacher organization, the student body, and staff. Student comments at the meetings have led to changes in lunchroom rules and procedures, student discipline policies, and pedagogical practices.
In the lunchroom, we reduced congestion by moving the salad, condiments, and bread away from the main serving area. We started labeling condiment containers so students would know whether they contained ketchup, barbeque sauce, or French dressing. Students were no longer mistakenly putting ketchup on their salads and French dressing on their hamburgers.
Like most school cafeterias, Madison's lunchroom can get loud and unpleasant. In ROARS meetings, we came up with the idea of ringing a bell two minutes before dismissal to indicate that it's time for students to stop talking and focus on finishing their meals.
The issue of student discipline became a talking point at many ROARS meetings. Surprisingly, the recurring topic was bathroom misbehavior. As much as I tried to steer the conversation toward bullying, teasing, swearing, rough playing, and name calling, students kept coming back to problems with students not flushing, peeking through the cracks of the stall, locking stall doors from the inside, and engaging in general bathroom horseplay. I agreed to start reminding students during morning announcements to use appropriate behavior, and we placed "Please Flush" signs in strategic locations in all school restrooms.
We also discussed teachers' pedagogical practices. Students said they would like to see more project-based learning, hands-on science labs, technology in the classroom, and more real-world or relevant learning opportunities. The upper elementary students in particular said they learn more when they have to research, create, and present materials.
Students were disappointed to learn that field trips might be cut for financial reasons and made a strong point that field trips provide real-life learning that they will remember longer than anything they learn through classroom activities. The parent-teacher organization, after hearing about the possibility of eliminating field trips, offered to pay for them.
Teachers using interactive whiteboards were highly regarded, partly because students, especially those who sat in the back of the class, found them easier to read than regular whiteboards. Students also mentioned that they would like to see more technology, such as laptops, iPads, digital cameras, and clickers, used at school. When hiring new teachers, we now look for teachers with the ability to regularly use technology in the classroom.
Students also commented on plans for playground equipment, school spirit day activities, parent-teacher organization events, and philanthropic causes, and we considered their input when making our decisions.
Whole-Class Sit-Downs
The school guidance counselor and I visit classrooms regularly to talk with students about such topics as bullying, test preparation, school rules, recess guidelines, and school safety. These discussions, which usually last 20–30 minutes, are called sit-downs to emphasize that the role of the principal and counselor is to sit down and listen. Classroom teachers are in the room during these sit-downs and usually contribute to the discussions. The sit-downs have given us many good ideas for improving the school and positive feedback on what is going right.
At the suggestion of a teacher, we held a sit-down meeting on test preparation to see how we could best prepare students for high-stakes assessments. As one would expect, students were not overjoyed about the tests and felt there was too much pressure on them to do well. They also expressed concern about the tests being timed, a practice that goes against what they have been taught about taking their time, reading everything thoroughly, and rereading if necessary.
One suggestion was that students be grouped according to test-taking styles. Students who tended to finish quickly would make up one group. Students who were easily distracted by extraneous noises (shuffling of papers, pencil erasing, page turning, hallway noise, coughing) would be housed in an especially quiet location. Students who preferred dim lighting would be placed in a dimly lit room, and students who preferred more light would go to a brightly lit room. A surprising suggestion was to have friends separated during testing so that they couldn't goof around together.
We also talked with students about creating a test-friendly environment. Students suggested that their desks be separated further so they would not be easily distracted. Another popular suggestion was to have healthy snacks available before testing and bottles of water available during testing. A couple of students heard that eating peppermint helps with thinking, so peppermint candy was on hand during testing week. Even though announcements were made every day for students to be extra quiet during testing week, students suggested placing signs that read "Quiet Testing" all through the building. This was done.
In the past, students received a pizza and movie party on the last day of testing. Students told us that because they knew that they were going to get a pizza party whether they tried hard or not, the party was not a meaningful incentive. Instead, they suggested rewarding specific students, grade levels, or classes that performed well on the tests. Taking this advice, I came up with an incentive program. If an entire grade level performed higher than they did the previous year, the students in that grade would receive extra recess time. If their performance level was tops in the district for their grade level, they would also receive an ice cream party. This incentive did not single out students, yet all students had to try their best.
Thanks to the test-prep sit-downs, students felt they had more ownership of test preparation and teachers felt they had a better gauge on how best to prepare students.
Student Exit Interviews
One of the most effective methods of obtaining student ideas, knowledge, and perceptions of school is through exit interviewing. At the end of the school year, I conduct one-on-one exit interviews in my office with graduating 6th grade students. These 20-minute interviews are centered on three guiding questions:
- What did you like about your Madison experience?
- What did you not like about your Madison experience?
- How can Madison better serve students in the future?
When we started the interviews, some educators questioned their value. They believed that we were just giving students an opportunity to vent and that 6th graders are not mature enough to give meaningful suggestions. But who can assess school services better than the recipients of the services? Many of the students had been attending Madison for seven years, and these exiting students had nothing to lose by being totally honest. Rarely will a school receive such frank feedback.
Exit interviews have given us a wealth of ideas on how best to serve our students. These are just a few:
- Have more activities for indoor recess. In the past, if the weather kept students inside during recess, they had few things to do, which caused them to resort to roughhousing, yelling, and marking up desks and chalkboards. The parent-teacher organization purchased age-appropriate board games for every classroom, and indoor recess is now more manageable. Students also recommended having an adult come in to teach line dancing to interested students. A parent volunteer and a teacher took the students up on the request, and the dances were a great success. Indoor recess is now less chaotic and more enjoyable for students.
- Make Madison more environmentally friendly. Madison is currently in the process of creating a student "green team" consisting of one student per classroom. The team will meet at least once a month to discuss ways to make the lunchroom, recess, and classrooms more environmentally friendly.
- Create a more student-friendly playground. Students used to have the entire playground available to play on, with no restrictions on how or where to play. Older and younger students would run into each other, and students (usually the younger ones) were getting injured. Now students play in grade-specific areas, and recess is safer, more orderly, and more enjoyable.
- Make school parking and traffic flow safer, more efficient, and customer-friendly. We've added signs and better blacktop markings to help traffic flow through the parking lot and drop-off lane.
- Improve lunchroom seating. In the past, students sat anywhere they wanted at lunch, making it difficult to find specific students when needed. Students were also saving spots or excluding others. Now students have assigned tables according to grade level. There is still an element of choice, but it is within stricter parameters.
- Ready the 6th grade students for middle school. To help with the transition to the middle school, beginning in the last three months of school, 6th grade students store their books and school supplies in lockers instead of their desks. When it is time to switch subject areas, students go to their lockers to retrieve their books. Because lockers at Madison have no locks, the school guidance counselor added a lesson in opening locks to her 6th grade curriculum to prevent students from struggling with them when starting middle school.
In five years of exit interviews, there has not been one incident of students' insulting staff members. All interviews have been respectful and sincere. Students prone to visiting the principal's office with disciplinary problems often had some of the best suggestions. For example, one of the office's "frequent flyers" suggested that the school's recess assistants monitor certain hidden locations in the playground where trouble tends to happen. When you think about it, who knows the flaws of a system better than the ones who challenged it?
The Real Experts
Students appreciate the opportunity to share their thoughts. They've told us that such opportunities make them feel respected, flattered, honored, and listened to. One student said it perfectly: "They are finally asking the experts about school."
When it comes to school improvement, students have a great deal to offer. Principals, teachers, and staff would be unwise to ignore this source of knowledge, insight, and talent that fills the school building every day. Knowing how, when, and what to ask and offer students can mean the difference between a successful and unsuccessful school.
