Turn up the Volume: The Students Speak Toolkit

How can we make our schools comfortable, safe and welcoming environments when we don't have a clear understanding of how our students view the schools?

The Students Speak Toolkit guides educators, school board members, parents and others in planning and carrying out strategies for listening to students in order to improve their school experiences, including academic performance, school climate, and school safety.

Based on pioneering work in several central Kentucky school districts, beginning with Jessamine County Schools in the fall of 1998, this toolkit is designed to help you engage students as responsible partners in their own learning.

How to begin: Start with the Read This First section for an introduction to what the Toolkit offers and how it can help you increase the student voice in school improvement. You may then proceed through the Toolkit sequentially by following the links at the bottom of each page, or choose sections that interest you from the Table of Contents. Supplemental materials include a sample facilitators' guide and a tips booklet for facilitators. You may download the Toolkit in PDF format if you would prefer to print out the entire document.

If you'd like to speak with people who have already conducted student focus group efforts like the ones described in this Toolkit, contact us.

• Table of Contents
• Supplemental Materials
• Download the Toolkit

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments and Access

1. Getting Ready
   1. Read This First
   2. Introduction to Focus Groups
   3. Background: Behind the Toolkit
   4. Reasons Real People and Real Schools Produce Student Focus Groups
   5. Preview of the Focus Group Blueprint
      1. Sequence of the "Focus Group Blueprint"
      2. Timetable and time estimates
   6. The Nuts & Bolts of this Toolkit

2. The Focus Group Blueprint

   1. Design
      1. Identify your research topic.
      2. Form a work team.
      3. Designate a project manager.
      4. Draft a rough timetable. Schedule work team meetings and draft agendas.
      5. Clarify the aims of the research and draft research questions.
      6. Make decisions about focus group structure.
      7. Identify the types of students to recruit for each group.
      8. Make decisions about the logistics of the recruitment.
      9. Draft and revise interview questions.
      10. Make decisions about focus group facilitation.
      11. Plan facilitator training.
      12. Make decisions about facilitator logistics.
      13. Make decisions about site management.
      14. Make decisions about focus group recording and analysis.
      15. Plan your next steps.

   2. Act
      1. Form a logistics team.
      2. Clarify the responsibilities for each logistics team member.
      3. Draw a random sample.
      4. Recruit student participants.
      5. Train, prepare, and manage facilitators.
      6. Run your pilot group(s).
      7. Collect permission forms and confirm student participation.
      8. Complete logistics planning.
      9. Conduct your focus groups.

   3. Analyze and Report
      1. Form an analysis team.
      2. Produce a record of the focus groups and draft notes.
      3. Hold a facilitator debriefing session.
      4. Analyze the focus groups.
      5. Prepare a report.
      6. Reconvene the entire original work team.
      7. Release the report!
      8. Hold a final work team meeting.
      9. Put the results to work.

3. Appendices

   • Appendix A: Other Ways to Turn Up the Volume on the Student Voice
     • Option 1: A simple, informal conversation
     • Option 2: A series of semi-structured conversations with different groups of students

   • Appendix B: More Information About Focus Groups
     1. How are focus groups different from surveys?
     2. What are the pros and cons of focus groups?

   • Appendix C: Focus Group Topics Considered By Kentucky Students

   • Appendix D: More Information About Good Interview Questions
     1. How do you put interview questions in good order?
     2. How can you turn good interview questions into great interview questions?
     3. What are some good alternatives to simple verbal-response interview questions?

   • Appendix E: Random Number Table

   • Appendix F: Facilitator Training Materials
     • Sample agendas for facilitator training
     • The basics of focus group facilitation
     • An essential repertoire of facilitator behavior
     • Special tips for counselors
     • Ground rules
     • Example of an effective opening

Annotated Bibliography

Supplemental Materials

Faciitator training materials:

Template for making a facilitators' guide (29 kb, pdf) created for the Partnership for Kentucky Schools, Roberts & Kay, Inc.

Facilitators' Guide (46 kb, pdf) for Henry Clay High School/Partnership for Kentucky Schools Student Focus Groups, Roberts & Kay, Inc. (Spring 2002).

Note: Beginning on page 11, each odd-numbered page of the Henry Clay facilitators' guide shows the "Hints for spontaneous follow-up questions." The guide was designed to be printed on both sides of the paper, so that when the students are actually asking interview questions, the left side of their page always presents the prompts for spontaneous follow-ups.

Facilitators' Guide (40 kb, pdf) for Noe Middle School Student Focus Groups, Roberts & Kay, Inc. (Fall 2001).

You may print and photocopy these facilitator materials or use them as models for your own guides and booklets, provided you credit the Partnership for Kentucky Schools and Roberts & Kay, Inc. as the sources of the materials.

Focus group reports:

Students Speak About Parent Involvement at Noe Middle School (71 kb, pdf), a report on focus groups conducted in the fall of 2001, by Holly Holland (2001).

Students Speak About School Climate and School Safety in Jessamine County, a report on focus groups conducted in 1998 for the Partnership for Kentucky Schools and Jessamine County Schools, Roberts & Kay, Inc. (1998). Copies available upon request; email admin@pfks.org.

Students Speak: How Kentucky Middle and High School Students View School (87 kb, pdf), a report on focus groups conducted in the fall of 1997 for the Partnership for Kentucky Schools, Roberts & Kay, Inc. (1997).

Case studies:

"The Best Hour I've Spent in School" (205 kb, pdf), a case study of the 2001-2002 Turn Up the Volume Projects at Noe and Westport Middle Schools, Louisville, Kentucky. Prepared for the Partnership for Kentucky Schools by Rona Roberts, Roberts & Kay, Inc. (2002).

Download the Toolkit

The online tutorial version of the Toolkit, accessible through the Table of Contents above, includes all the materials from the print Toolkit. The online version is designed for easy exploration and comfortable on-screen reading.

However, you may want to print out a copy of the entire Toolkit for your reference. We offer a PDF version of the Toolkit for download:

Download the Toolkit (850 kb, pdf)

If you have trouble downloading or printing the Toolkit, refer to our PDF Troubleshooting guide.