Ensuring students have an opportunity to share their insights and voice is important in the TDSB. The Research and Development department helps to provide students with an opportunity to share their views on how to improve student engagement, academic achievement, mental health and well-being, and inclusive schools - with the goal of shaping their learning environment while building skills at the same time.
This page showcases student voice activities supported by the Research and Development department.
Power of Youth Participatory Action Research: Student Voice and Black Excellence
The Black Student Leadership Program (BSLP) was established to support self-identified Black students through a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) framework to develop their competencies as leaders in community-based research projects and become agents of social change. The youth-centered research model amplified and honoured student voices in conversations about their experiences navigating the school system and their community. To expand the goals of developing scholarly activism and student researchers, and target school-based policy design for meaningful change, Graduation Coaches for Black Students, along with researchers from TDSB Research and Development and York University facilitated leadership sessions during the 2020-2021 school year. This supported students in applying the YPAR framework to identify/conceive, design and implement research projects that target and drive school-based policy change with respect to issues of anti-Black racism, alongside exploring Black identity, culture, history, and solidarity. Attached are student comments of their experiences with this initiative.
Check out this video, which captures student experiences with this year-long youth action research initiative, alongside sharing examples of students’ research projects.
Students' Voices - Comments and Quotes from the Winter Check-in Surveys
In late January 2021, students in Grades 6 to 12 were invited to complete an online survey about their mental health and well-being, supports and relationships, and learning experiences during the current school year. Approximately 35,000 students responded.