Dive Brief:

• The Social Innovation Series, a partnership between GENYOUth and SAP North America, asks students to compete for $1,000 in a Shark Tank-style competition and bring their best ideas for improving their schools.
• The Tribune-Review reports one group of high school students from Pittsburgh developed a plan to get students to eat only healthy food for an entire week and then take note of the benefits, another asked for the $1,000 to fund bus trips to an animal shelter during testing time to help students relieve stress, and a third wanted to open a pantry for hygiene products, clothes and winter coats that students could access anonymously.
• Before Pittsburgh, the Social Innovation Series stopped in Minneapolis, Dallas and Chicago, giving students one minute to pitch their ideas and judges a chance to pick their top 10.

Dive Insight:

Students are intimately acquainted with the problems in their own schools. When administrators and teachers ask them to be partners in developing solutions, a lot of good can come from it. With the Every Student Succeeds Act encouraging schools and districts to pay attention to more than just academics, federal funding can go toward a focus on a positive school environment. School climate surveys are one way to incorporate student voice into any improvement efforts. Competitions like this can also bring the motivated problem-solvers out of their shells.

More schools are turning to surveys to gauge student perceptions and experiences. When it comes to bullying, surveys have revealed that an average of one in four students experiences such tormenting, but among the 80,000 students surveyed by YouthTruth from 2012 to 2015, there is wide variation across schools. On the low end, 12% of students are bullied while on the other end of the spectrum 59% are. Perhaps students have ideas about how to address this.