Penn Coalition for Equity

The University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education Coalition for Equity sought to infuse student voice into schools across three states to foster racial equity, inclusion, and justice throughout K-12 education.

Focused on providing “innovative resources, research-based training, and technical assistance and consultation to school district leaders throughout the Mid-Atlantic region in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York,” Adam provided more than 50 hours of professional development and consultation to more than 100 K-12 districts to support their transformation efforts focused on equity through student voice.

In 2021-22, Adam facilitated more than 20 hours of professional development for 250 individuals through this contract. The partners in this series included:

38 school districts in the Delaware Valley Consortium for Excellence & Equity (DVCEE), along with three county intermediate units and the Pennsylvania State Education Association
42 districts in the New Jersey Consortia for Excellence through Equity (NJCEE) in partnership with the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, and
32 districts in the Long Island Consortium for Excellence & Equity (LICEE), including the Nassau and Eastern Suffolk Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES)

In several five hour sessions focused on co-learning to build practical knowledge and skills, these schools, districts and organizations focused on Finding Purpose for Student Voice through Meaningful Student Involvement. Participants included classroom teachers, teacher leaders and instructional coaches, school building leaders, counselors, support staff, district administration, community leaders/elected officials, and students themselves.

In these highly engaging workshops, Adam facilitated learning activities focused on engaging students as partners throughout K-12 schools. Using his dynamic, research-based Frameworks for Meaningful Student Involvement, Adam guided participants in hands-on, interactive exercises that reveal multiple possibilities to foster student/adult partnerships for all learners in every school, all of the time.

Whether they were students or adults, participants left with tools to critically examine their current school challenges and climate, and the ability to identify new roles for students within a variety of spaces in the learning environment and beyond.

Immediate post-session evaluations showed that participants’ knowledge and skills increased across areas related to student voice.

Long-term surveys showed that areas of impact included:

Classroom learning in each grade level;
Building-level and district-level leadership effectiveness;
Teacher preparation and practice, and more

Adam is available to support your district, state, university or organization projects, programs and activities focused on student voice, Meaningful Student Involvement, and student engagement. To learn more, contact him »