Students Are More Than Tokens: How to Authentically Consider Student Voice and Take Them Along for the Ride
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Too many schools hand students a token: an invitation to a student panel or survey, spaces to offer their perspectives on school-based or district-wide decisions. Yet students rarely receive authentic agency. It's like being given a ticket to the ride but then left standing in line. This symbolic gesture doesn't honor student voice; it limits it. Instead, less tokenistic and more authentic engagement invites students into the driver's seat, empowering them to co-design their learning and school experience.
From Token to Co-Designer: A Practical Shift
Drawing on Dana Mitra's student voice framework, authentic engagement moves beyond "being heard" toward genuine collaboration and leadership (2006). Too often, schools and districts solicit student feedback after decisions are made, neglecting valuable sources of insight and innovation. To combat this tokenistic practice, educators must invite students into co-design processes from the beginning.
Start with student priorities, not adult-designed pilot projects:
Ask: What matters most to you? What's working well? What needs improvement?
Listen without judgment, predetermined solutions, or constraints
Then co-create solutions collaboratively:
Map curriculum revisions, school policies, and learning experiences together
Ensure student perspectives inform every stage of development
Build in multiple feedback loops throughout implementation
Research consistently demonstrates that authentic student voice drives motivation and engagement. Toshalis and Nakkula (2012) found that when students are trusted with real influence—when they can express themselves, shape decisions, and co-construct learning—they demonstrate greater motivation, confidence, and academic ownership. The Spectrum of Student Voice framework illustrates this progression from being tokens, merely counted and moved around by others while waiting for permission to participate, to becoming drivers steering their own course.
Unfortunately, most school-based student voice initiatives remain on the left side of this spectrum, symbolic rather than substantive. This concentration at the "expression" and "consultation" levels isn't accidental. Educational systems historically prioritize control and compliance, creating structural barriers that make authentic partnership feel risky or impractical. Time constraints, accountability pressures, and hierarchical decision-making processes often push educators toward safer, more predictable forms of student engagement. Additionally, many adults lack training in the facilitation skills needed to share power effectively with young people, making tokenistic approaches seem more manageable.
Moving beyond tokenism requires a deliberate shift toward the right side, where students become leaders of change rather than passive participants. In our metaphor, authentic engagement doesn't hand students a token to board the ride; it provides them with a map, a seat at the controls, and the power to change direction when necessary.
Real-World Implementation: Moving from Theory to Practice
In my role as a leader of student engagement in my district, set in an urban metropolis, I've witnessed how this shift transforms both the school climate and student identity. Traditional student councils often epitomize tokenism: students plan dances, organize spirit weeks, and serve as ceremonial representatives without genuine influence over policies that affect their daily educational experience. Our Student Advisory Council (SAC) deliberately breaks this mold by functioning as a leadership engine rather than a symbolic forum.
What makes our approach fundamentally different? First, SAC members don't identify predetermined issues or concerns; they identify problems they want to solve, and we build structures around their priorities. Second, these students serve as policy researchers with access to real data, budget information, and decision-making timelines. They analyze attendance patterns, survey their peers about mental health needs, and present evidence-based recommendations directly to our Board of Education. Third, students don't simply advise; they co-lead implementation alongside district leadership, taking shared responsibility for outcomes.
Their influence manifests in tangible, system-wide changes. When SAC identified gaps in our school nutrition program, they didn't just suggest menu improvements. They researched food service contracts, interviewed cafeteria staff, surveyed students across multiple schools, and co-presented recommendations to the school board. The result: an investment in healthier options and extended meal programs. When students flagged inadequate mental health support, they partnered with our counseling department to understand the referral processes and partnered with student support professionals to implement mental health services that are more accessible.
The key difference lies in our commitment to shared power. When they speak, we listen with the same attention we give adult stakeholders. When they lead initiatives, we follow their direction while providing necessary support and resources. This isn't student government; it's student governance.
This commitment is exemplified through the co-creation and pilot of a district-wide Student Bill of Rights, a student-led policy designed to strengthen school culture, elevate advocacy, expand equitable access, and deepen learning across all APS schools. To ensure authentic representation, students were recruited through a district-wide nomination process involving principals, SGA advisors, teachers, and student leaders. Student feedback on this initiative reflected a range of voices across grade levels (3-12) and school types. Students didn't just provide feedback; they led empathy interviews, facilitated peer focus groups, and co-authored the language of the Student Bill of Rights itself. Currently in its pilot phase, this initiative marks a clear shift from tokenism to shared power, positioning students not only at the table but as architects of systemic change.
One of our most significant developments in expanding student voice districtwide has been the creation of the Middle School Leadership Alliance (MSLA)—a student-led council designed to engage younger students in meaningful leadership well before high school. The goal of MSLA is to empower middle schoolers to explore their identities, develop leadership skills, and advocate for change in their schools and communities. Grounded in a mission to foster leadership, amplify student perspectives, and strengthen collaboration with district leaders, the MSLA reflects our commitment to treating students not as future leaders, but as leaders now.
By building this middle grades pipeline, we’re not only strengthening the student leadership bench, we’re cultivating confident, civic-minded change agents who are already shaping the culture of their schools. MSLA is what it looks like to move beyond tokenism and give younger students a genuine seat and voice at the table of districtwide decision-making.
While much of the current work around student voice focuses on middle and high school students, it’s essential that we don’t overlook our youngest learners. Elementary students are not only capable of contributing to decision-making, but they also thrive when invited to do so. In my district, specific schools have taken intentional steps to develop student ambassador programs and leadership councils, allowing students as early as 3rd grade to begin practicing advocacy, public speaking, and peer representation.
By starting early, these schools are planting the seeds of agency, belonging, and leadership that MSLA and SAC build upon in later years. This continuum of voice ensures that students don’t have to wait in line for middle school to be heard or join the ride. It honors the truth that every student, regardless of age, has insights worth listening to.
Even as we celebrate these structures and successes, transparency demands we acknowledge the work still ahead. While these initiatives represent significant movement along the Spectrum of Student Voice, we continue to grapple with consistently positioning students as partners, activists, and leaders rather than occasionally presenting them with a token while they wait in line indefinitely. The institutional habits of adultism run deep. There are still meetings where students are consulted rather than granted the trust to co-lead, still decisions made without their input, still moments where we adults default to holding the map instead of navigating together. Building the structures is the essential first step; sustaining the culture of shared authority, especially when it feels uncomfortable or inconvenient, remains our ongoing challenge.
Getting Started: Scaffolded Partnership
Authentic student voice doesn't require a massive overhaul to begin. Educators and leaders can start right where they are. Whether you're a classroom teacher, a school administrator, or a district leader, these practical steps can help shift your school or system toward more meaningful student agency. This work can unfold within a single classroom or school; through student-led discussions, classroom design input, or co-created learning experiences, or it can scale to district-wide initiatives like student advisory councils, leadership symposiums, or policy co-creation. No matter the size, these steps create the conditions for any educational community to move beyond tokenism and toward true partnership with students.
Initial Engagement:
Conduct "Empathy Interviews," "Design Dialogues," or "Think Tanks" with diverse student groups before launching any new initiative
Ensure representation across demographics, achievement levels, and perspectives
Document and share findings transparently and consistently
Capacity Building:
Provide peer leadership coaching for student partners
Focus on essential skills: asking powerful questions, advocating for ideas, and co-facilitating meetings
Create mentorship opportunities between experienced student leaders and newcomers
Structural Changes:
Reserve permanent seats for students on leadership committees, including school improvement and policy development
Rotate student representation to ensure fresh perspectives while intentionally including marginalized students who may not typically volunteer for leadership roles
Seek out quieter voices, students from underrepresented backgrounds, those experiencing academic or social challenges, and individuals whose perspectives are often overlooked in traditional leadership selection processes
Establish clear protocols for student input on major decisions
Recognition and Support:
Honor student contributions through stipends, public acknowledgment, or student-preferred incentives
Create pathways for students to build leadership portfolios
Connect student leadership to college and career opportunities
These steps move beyond token panels toward genuine adult-student partnerships where adults guide processes and students shape outcomes. As argued by Mitra (2006), "When students have a voice in school decision-making, they gain a sense of ownership and responsibility, which can increase their engagement in school and their commitment to learning."
Confronting Adultism: The Invisible Barrier
Lewis D. Ferebee, Ed.D., Chancellor of DCPS, argues that students are often untapped experts in their educational journeys. This insight challenges a fundamental assumption in education: that adults inherently know best. In reality, no one spends more time navigating the complexities of school life than students themselves.
Underlying many instances of student tokenism is a deeper systemic issue: adultism. As defined by Bell (1995), the bias is that adults inherently possess superior knowledge and should maintain control. Often, adultism permeates educational settings, where student perspectives are frequently dismissed as "naïve" or "unrealistic." When we override their ideas without genuine consideration, or when we invite them to the table but speak over them, we reduce them to tokens.
Adultism is the often-unseen force that sustains hierarchical decision-making in schools, one that subtly positions adults as the sole holders of authority and control, reducing students to tokens; counted when convenient, consulted when required, but kept waiting on the platform while adults alone decide which ride to board, where it will go, and who gets to steer. It shows up when student perspectives are dismissed as immature, when their input is invited only after decisions are made, or when adult comfort is prioritized over students’ lived experiences. Addressing adultism requires more than surface-level inclusion; it calls for a deep interrogation of our assumptions about expertise, control, and whose voice counts.
While adultism remains a widespread barrier, we must also recognize that there is a long-standing lineage of schools and educators who have actively resisted it. A rich tradition of schools and educators has actively challenged these hierarchies for over a century. The democratic school movement offers powerful counter-examples: Summerhill School, founded in 1921 in the UK, pioneered a model granting students equal voting rights in school governance and autonomy over their time. Sudbury Valley School, established in 1968 in Massachusetts, operates on the conviction that young people are fully capable of directing their own learning and participating as equals in democratic decision-making.
More recently, modern networks like Big Picture Learning, EL Education, and High Tech High have carried forward this ethos, designing schools where student voice, choice, and leadership are woven into every aspect of learning. These models demonstrate that when students are treated as collaborators rather than subjects, their learning becomes deeper, more relevant, and more equitable—while simultaneously preparing them for civic engagement, college, and career success.
A new wave of education centers is now taking this further by connecting student interests directly to local industry and community needs. The Emil & Grace Shihadeh Innovation Center, featured prominently in Ted Dintersmith's 2025 documentary Multiple Choice, exemplifies this approach. These schools integrate career-based learning, practical skills, and academic rigor, allowing students to explore pathways aligned with industries represented in their own communities. By grounding education in curiosity, autonomy, and agency, they prepare young people not merely for standardized tests, but for meaningful participation in civic life and the modern workforce. The film makes a compelling case that when schools offer multiple learning pathways and foster genuine community involvement, students develop both the competencies and confidence necessary for post-graduation success.
If we're serious about dismantling adultism, we don't have to start from scratch; we can look to the aforementioned models as both inspiration and blueprint. By learning from their practices and applying them in ways that make sense for our own communities, we can begin to build cultures where students are no longer mere tokens; pushed around the board of institutional decision-making, displayed when convenient, counted but not heard. Instead, we can create spaces of shared leadership, mutual respect, and true student agency, where young people are propelled forward with intention and power of their own—one classroom, one committee, one district at a time.
Returning to our central metaphor, this is where students stop waiting in line to hand over tokens; they help redesign the ride itself. It means honoring them not merely as passengers but as individuals who understand where the sharp turns, slow climbs, and thrilling drops occur—because they've been navigating the ride all along.
Moving Forward: Drivers, Not Passengers
Tokenism casts students as passengers on their educational journey. Authentic engagement positions them as drivers who shape narratives and steer adventures.
Genuine school innovation doesn't happen to students. It happens with them. This transformation begins when we move students from the margins of decision-making to the heart of design processes. Simply allowing them to be mere passengers or offer post-decision feedback falls short. If we're truly committed to reimagining education, we must invite students into the driver's seat to help navigate, accelerate, and even rebuild the road ahead.
This commitment means abandoning performative gestures and symbolic roles in favor of structures that value student input, honor their agency, and support their leadership development. Let's stop distributing tokens that limit their participation. Instead, let's hand them the steering wheel and trust that they know where education needs to go.
Dr. Kyra Monèt Caldwell Templeton is an educator and leader with nearly two decades of experience dedicated to elevating student voice and engagement. A proud Spelman College alumna, she earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Mercer University. She currently serves as the Program Director of Student Engagement for an urban school district, leading initiatives that empower students to influence policy and shape their educational experience.