Designing a Feedback Loop: Utilizing Community Input to Cultivate Change

Andrew Brown • Cahn Fellow 2022

As educators we use our expertise to design learning environments that best meet the needs of the communities that we serve. We work diligently to create safe and inclusive environments that engage students and create forums for community members to engage with us and influence our decision-making. Despite our best intentions, and responding to feedback about our schools, we may fall short of meeting the needs of those that we serve. 

For young people who have been unsuccessful in school, or who have had interrupted education, creating effective learning environments is all the more challenging. Frequently alternative school educators work to “fit students into school” as opposed to “fitting the school to the student”. Judith S. Kaye High School was designed specifically for young people who have been disengaged from school and frequently have been involved in the court system, foster care, or treatment. 

In the Spring and Summer of 2020, as America’s struggle with race and power once again boiled to the surface, Judith S. Kaye began to reevaluate not only what we were teaching but also how we were responding to community voice. Utilizing community meetings and digital surveys we gathered input from our stakeholders to create two new mandated courses. Although we were careful and thoughtful in designing what we thought were engaging and informative courses our students did not pass them at a high rate. In fact, they were performing worse in these courses than in others. We spent this year looking at what may be causing our students to fail our new courses and how we can incorporate feedback not only in course design but also in overall school design so that we may respond to the ever-changing needs of our community.