The Student Delegate Program

At the fall PSBA conference in Hershey last week, I had the opportunity to assist Lou Ann Evans (a former PSBA president) in a presentation to the student delegates.

The Student Delegate Program has been part of PSBA conference for 30 years, and is, as far as I know, unique. Students choose a "hot topic", examine the issue and propose solutions to a "mock" school board, consisting of school board members, administrators and students in attendance at the conference. During each of five 15-minute presentations, the student presenters respond to questions from the audience and the board, which eventually votes to adopt, reject or table the students' resolution.

Although the delegate program has long been a popular and well-attended part of the conference, until this year there hasn't been a lot in the way of formal training for the students, nor have they had the opportunity to hear the perspective of actual school board members prior to their presentations. We thought that might be useful.

In our thinking, this was an excellent opportunity to encourage the development of civic skills and knowledge among students - long an important goal of education. (In fact, the primary impetus for Ben Franklin's proposal to establish the first public schools in Pennsylvania was "to the end of creating citizens who could make wise political decisions".) What better place to learn the skills for becoming an effective citizen in the larger community?

In addition, there is an increasing body of research that connects academic achievement to the students’ sense of ownership in their school.

An important piece of civic knowledge is understanding who has the authority to make the changes you want to see happen. So, part of our presentation had to do with who school boards are - what kinds of decisions do they make, and how their role differs from that of school administrators. In short, the distinction between "policy" and the implementation of policy.

We then introduced the students to the "26" process - named after the 26th amendment - which they used to develop their resolutions. Once the students identified an issue of concern to them, they brainstormed potential solutions, considering the costs and possible consequences of each. Just as importantly, they tried to identify the key stakeholders, and the concerns they would bring to the issue. (This may sound familiar to veterans of Public Issues Forums.)

Finally, we talked about how to make an effective presentation: the importance of speaking clearly, anticipating questions, and knowing your audience.

While I’m probably not the best person to judge the results, I thought our presentation made a difference. And hopefully, these students will have an opportunity to make use of this experience back in their home schools.