Adults Advising Youth: Leading While Getting Out of the Way

Drawing on 3 years of qualitative data, this article broadens the concept of distributed leadership to include “student voice” in school decision making. Specifically, the article focuses on how adults can foster youth participation and leadership in school reform efforts. In this research, adults needed to work in partnership with youth conscientiously and continuously to develop patterns of interaction that aligned with the values of equitable relations. When adults did not strike a balance between support and letting go, the youth and adults often fell back into traditional teacher-student roles. The article identifies ways in which adults helped youth to move from the periphery to the core of group interactions, especially through a collective focus on developing shared norms, language, and skills.