Interview Questions from Students Speak: How Kentucky Middle and High School Students View School, 1997

Question One

Imagine you are on a team that has been asked to make a movie about what __________ School is like. If you do an accurate job showing how it is at your school, you will win $100,000 in a film festival. In order to win, you must show an accurate picture of academic life, social life, and extracurricular activities. What has to go in the movie in order for it to show the good and the bad of __________ School?

Question Two

What do you want from high school/middle school?

Question Three

To what extent are you getting what you want at ___________ School?

Possible follow-ups, if needed:

• What grade would you give your school on academics? On social life? On extracurricular activities?

• (For people who are beyond the freshman year) Have either of those grades changed over time?

• When you think of your future life as an adult, what do you most hope school will do to get you ready?

• How well is ____________ School meeting your academic needs?

Question Four

Imagine that ten years from now you are all teachers at __________ School. You love your school and you want to do a great job for the students. What will your teaching be like?

Possible follow-ups, if needed:

• Name a favorite teacher in your present school. What specifically do you like about his/her classes?

• What kind of overall attitude would the ideal high/middle school have? What would make it a place you want to be?

• What kinds of things have you learned from your present teachers that you will definitely want to use yourself when you teach?

• What would the teachers be like in the ideal high/middle school?

• What would be the ideal way for teachers to teach?

• What would teachers need to do to make learning more fun?

• What would be the ideal relationship between students and teachers?

• What kinds of things do your present teachers do that you definitely will not continue when you are in charge of your own classroom?

Question Five

What would __________ School need to change in order for it to be the perfect school for you?

Question Six

What's new at your school?

Possible follow-ups, if needed:

• What's changed recently?

• Have you noticed anything different about the way teachers are teaching?

• How do you like the changes?

Question Seven

Is there anything else you would like to say about how to make __________ School a better place for you?