Welcome to our special series about shifting to a more student-lead ecosystem! Usually we take the month of July off, but this year we’re going to re-examine episodes with the theme of empowering students and communities to determine their own needs and successes.

Sometimes we get caught up in the idea that the purpose of education is to create a future workforce. Heather Van Bethuysen joins the show to remind us that the purpose of education is a strong democracy. We want to educate young people to be powerful in the world in which they live. The goal is to develop them to be powerful to enact change, be powerful to advocate, be powerful to know.

If we look at education through that lens, student empowerment becomes a more natural and necessary part of our systems. Heather gives us a specific example of how they are doing this in Chicago Public Schools: Not only do they collect student surveys, but they then give that data back to students to co-collaborate on what changes need to be made.

Join us for a fascinating conversation about power, uncomfortable conversations, and continuous learning.

To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.org

We unbox:

• The goal of education is to build a strong democracy
• What “democratizing data” means
• The importance of developing the skills needed to have difficult conversations

Resources:

• Connect with Heather on LinkedIn
• Learn more about the Civic Engagement Research Group at University of California, Riverside
• Find out more about the McCormick Foundation 
• Explore StartSOLE 
• Learn more about the Cultivate Survey and Framework
• Check out PERTS’ Elevate Program
• Take a look at the Inner Core graph on the Chicago Public Schools Department of Student Voice and Engagement page

Produced by NOVA Media