Five high school sophomores participated with high school staff and parents in a virtual meeting with Challenge Success, a nonprofit organization associated with the Stanford Graduate School of Education.
Rhinebeck High School and Challenge Success have deepened their relationship during the current school year with the goal of elevating student voice and implementing research-based, equity-centered strategies that improve student well-being, belonging, and engagement.
The Jan. 27 meeting with Challenge Success School Partnership Coach Jennifer Butterfoss reviewed the results of a Rhinebeck High School student survey in Challenge Success’ “I wish campaign.” Students answered the prompt, “I wish my teachers knew” during physical education class.
Rhinebeck High School Principal Edwin Davenport said about 250 of the high school’s 310 students took part in the survey.
“One of the foundations of this process that we’ve learned is that student voice is really critical for putting changes in place. It will improve engagement, sense of belonging and student wellness,” said Davenport.
Davenport said he will share with his faculty the student concern of stacking assignments or assessments “where students have multiple big tests or multiple big projects due on one day. To me that seems to be one of the major pieces of input our students are sharing with us so we have to respond to it.”
Sophomore Augustus Lamm, a member of the student council, was encouraged by what was shared in the meeting.
“I think we got a lot of work done; it was a very productive meeting,” he said. “I’m excited for what’s going to happen next. I think we have a lot of good initiatives planned.”
Valentina Dickens said the student responses showed there are shared concerns and she is happy to be one of the students chosen to participate in the Challenge Success meetings.
“I do really enjoy the meetings; I look forward to them,” she said. “My favorite part of the meetings is looking back at the data we collected. We just went over a document we sent out about the ‘I wish campaign.’ It was really interesting and meaningful to look through those.
“I’m really glad to be part of the team. It makes me feel very happy and hopeful for the future that we can really make a change.”
This initiative in Rhinebeck dates back to before the pandemic, when the student council became concerned about student stress, anxiety and mental health, and wanted to develop its own student survey. Davenport suggested to the student council to research organizations that conduct surveys and Challenge Success was found.
In the 2024-2025 school year, a student survey indicated the high school launching its new rotating, drop-period schedule resulted in improving engagement and student agency, and also that there is more work to be done. The high school and Challenge Success partnered to dig into the survey results and collaboratively plan responses.
This school year, the Rhinebeck team and Challenge Success have held a few virtual meetings and the next one is planned for Feb. 20. The Rhinebeck team is currently planning a day for teachers to shadow students.
“One of my main takeaways from working with this group is a change process needs to center student input,” said Davenport.