I N T R O D U C T I O N
Why a Book on Agency? Conversations about how to best prepare students for their yet-to-be-known futures almost always involve an educator chiming in with, “We need to increase student agency.” The line is said with such confidence that most within earshot nod in agreement. However, when pushed to further define or describe what they mean by agency, rarely do educators have a clear idea of what it looks like or sounds like in a school or classroom. Often the answers involve phrases like: • “Putting learners in control of their learning” • “Giving them voice and choice” • “Students’ having more autonomy” When asked how those phrases are realized in the classroom, educators slow their uniform nodding, and their expressions shift from confident acceptance to perplexed uncertainty. K–12 educators are not alone in this struggle to define agency. Researchers Eugene Matusov, Katherine von Duyke, and Shakhnoza Kayumova (2016) stated, “Scholars who use the concept of agency do not define or operationalize it” (p. 420). If even experts leave the concept undefined, how can we expect practitioners in the classroom to know what agency is or how to encourage its development? Unfortunately, the lack of clarity or complete misunderstanding of what agency is has led to poor practices in our classrooms. I have heard educators proudly share that they have “given agency” to students because they have left students to “figure it out.” Dana L. Mitra (2009), professor of education at Penn State University and author of numerous books on student voice and leadership, uncovered a misconception among educators that increasing students’ sense of control means adults must simply “get out of the way” (as cited in Toshalis & Nakkula, 2012). Under
this belief, students can learn what they want when they want and share it how they want. However, this approach does not account for educators’ need to proactively monitor learning and intervene when a learner is confused or heading down the wrong path. In the name of agency, students might spend the entire day in front of a computer working through an online curriculum. While virtual options for the inputting of information offer value, they need to be accompanied by means of review, feedback, discussion, and reflection if the learner is to truly build agency. In some purportedly learner-centered classrooms, teachers sit at their desks waiting for students to come to them with questions, never rising to give the learners a reason to wonder or to provide the learners with feedback in a moment of decision making. Is this building agency in the learners? Some educators may answer yes—the students can move through the curriculum at their own pace, moving back and forth between activities and videos, rewinding when necessary to capture a description one more time. However, there is more to developing agency than simply allowing students to determine the pace of their learning. Shane J. Lopez (2013), a psychologist, research director for the Don Clifton Strengths Institute, and senior scientist for Gallup, argued that agency is a core competency of the type of person that educators want students to become. Expanding on his research, one can think of agency as the perceived ability of the individual, based on his or her capacity, to shape his or her life. This definition has two parts. The first is perceived ability. A learner must believe that he or she is capable. I refer to this as the mindset of agency. Humans do not develop agency because someone has told them they can do something. They have to experience the success for themselves. They have to know they 1
