Student Agency: Giving Learners the Wheel (Without Crashing)
We’ve all seen it - that spark of excitement when a student gets to choose their own project topic or design their own solution to a problem. When learners have a say in their own education, something powerful happens. They become more engaged, more invested, and more motivated. This is the magic of student agency. But for many educators, the idea of "giving learners the wheel" can bring up valid concerns about chaos, confusion, and maintaining a structured, productive classroom.
So, how do we empower students with choice and ownership without feeling like we’re about to lose control and crash? The key is to understand that student agency isn't about creating a free-for-all. It's about intentionally designing a learning environment with structures that support student voice, choice, and self-direction. It's a gradual release of responsibility, not an abdication of our role as the teacher.
At its heart, student agency is the feeling of ownership and control that learners have over their own education. It means they are active partners in the learning process, not passive recipients of information. As educator and author A. J. Juliani has noted, "If we want our students to be curious, we have to model that for them. It all comes back to a culture of learning." Creating that culture means building a classroom where student questions are valued, their interests are honored, and their voices help shape the path of learning.
This doesn't mean every lesson has to be a wide-open project. Agency can be cultivated through small, deliberate moves. It could be as simple as offering a choice between two different articles to read, letting students help create the criteria for a project, or providing time for them to set and reflect on their own weekly learning goals. These acts build students' capacity to make thoughtful decisions and take responsibility for their own progress.
When we build structures for agency, we are teaching one of the most critical skills our students can learn: how to learn. They develop self-regulation, problem-solving skills, and a deeper understanding of themselves as learners. This is a fundamental shift, moving from a classroom that is teacher-led to one that is learner-centered. The great educator Maria Montessori built her entire philosophy on this principle, observing that “The greatest sign of success for a teacher ... is to be able to say, 'The children are now working as if I did not exist.'” While we will always be there to guide and support, this is the ultimate goal: to empower our students to become confident, independent learners who can navigate their own paths long after they leave us.
To help you introduce these concepts into your classroom, I've designed a "Student Agency Starter Pack." This resource provides simple templates for choice boards and co-created goals, as well as reflection protocols you can use immediately to start building student ownership.
Remember, this is a perfect strategy to plan over the summer or to introduce as a "let's learn this together" routine at the start of the school year. Starting with small structures for choice gives both you and your students the confidence to gradually take on more.
Reflective Question: What is one small, low-risk opportunity you could create next week to offer your students a meaningful choice in their learning?
Citations:
Juliani, A. J. (2021). Adaptable: How to Create a More Flexible, Student-Centered, and Future-Ready Classroom. Post Hill Press.
Montessori, M. (1967). The Absorbent Mind. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Further Exploration:
Student Agency & Voice:
Choice Boards and Learning Menus:
Co-Creating with Students:
Co-Constructing Success Criteria with Students (videos)
Try this next: Now that we've explored giving students more ownership, our next post, "The Role of Rubrics, Portfolios, and Learning Conferences," will focus on practical tools for making student learning visible and trackable over time.
Kelli Marcus is the author of "Reimagining Learning: A Year of Purposeful Change," a blog series designed to empower educators—teachers, administrators, instructional coaches, and educational staff—to explore and implement innovative practices. A former classroom teacher, school counselor, administrator, and college instructor, Kelli brings extensive experience in providing professional development to school systems, with a focus on standards-based learning, change at an organizational scale, student-centered learning, and teacher-led schools. Kelli Marcus can be contacted through LinkedIn.
