Civic Engagement + Youth Leadership

The Student Board of Education is a district civic engagement youth leadership program that equips students with the skills to design and advocate for sustainable youth-led policy solutions to social justice issues impacting their school communities. Student Board Representatives serve as liaisons on behalf of their schools between the student body, and the Board of Education, as well as participate in a year-long action civics and leadership development program.

develop your
Critical thinking and problem solving
||
Inward and outward communication
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Self-directed curiosity and learning
skills

The Student Board of Education (SBOE) is comprised of three main components:

1) The Summer Student Voice & Leadership Retreat; 2) The SBOE Leadership Class; 3) Bi-weekly district SBOE meetings. As a participant of SOBE you will meet other student leaders from schools across the district, gain opportunities to network, attend leadership conferences, and experience travel and service learning! Make social change in your school while earning honors elective credit.

We, the members of the Denver Public Schools Student Board of Education enhance the performance of our schools by:

Promoting student voice and leadership

Creating positive environments

Building powerful relationships among students

Building powerful powerful youth/adult partnerships

Fostering our school and district goals

BUILDING BLOCKS

THE CRITICAL CIVIC INQUIRY MODEL

Critical Civic Inquiry (CCI) is a curricular approach that centers student voice, expertise and civic participation. In CCI, students identify a problem relevant to their lives, conduct systematic research to understand the problem, develop a policy solution, and communicate a call to action for public audiences. CCI is the foundation of all Student Voice & Leadership programming.

1. Build Community

2. Identify a Problem

3. Explore Root Causes

4. Collect Data

5. Analyze Data

6. Develop Policy

7. Propose Policy

8. Safeguard Policy Information

DPS STUDENT VOICE & LEADERSHIP

PROGRAMS

SBOE

The Student Board of Education is a district civic engagement leadership program that cultivates research and advocacy skills for sustainable youth-led policy solutions to social justice issues impacting their schools

YAALL

Young African American & Latinx Leaders address systemic issues in DPS that perpetuate the school-to-prison-pipeline through action, policy reform, and development as Education Justice leaders

Challenge 5280

Challenge 5280 is a bi-annual showcase led by SVL participants, where student leaders present policy solutions, facilitate educational workshops and generate a call to action for adult partners