Listen Up: Our Voice, Our Community

Listen Up! is a student and community conversation created to ask a question: Does school and community culture and climate impact student achievement? This report summarizes insights gathered from focus groups of CCS students from nine high schools in our District.

The main goal of this initiative was to understand better students' perceptions of the culture and environment within our schools. By directly involving students, we aimed to collect valuable insights into their experiences, difficulties, and suggestions for improvement. Based on the Panorama Data, we identified the top nine schools as priorities for further research and action.

The insights collected from these focus groups shed light on various aspects of school culture and environment, including diversity, academic support, student engagement, facility maintenance, community involvement, student recognition, teacher-student relationships, and equity and inclusion. Our students have shown high engagement and willingness to provide valuable feedback and recommendations that will inform our efforts to transform the culture and environment across Columbus City Schools to better cater to their needs.