The Context: Reducing Suspensions Through Student Agency
Like many others, one high school, faced a challenge familiar to many secondary schools: rising suspensions tied to on-campus conflict and fights. In 2023 alone, 115 students were suspended, disrupting learning and signaling deeper issues related to school culture, belonging, student voice, and student–adult trust.
School leaders recognized that traditional disciplinary approaches were not addressing the root causes of conflict. They needed a more effective and equitable approach—one that centered student agency, community voice, restorative practices, and shared responsibility for school climate.
Puzzle of Practice: How Can Student Leadership Reduce Suspensions?
How might a school reduce suspensions and on-campus conflict by empowering students as leaders and partners in shaping school culture, rather than positioning them primarily as recipients of discipline?
Theory of Action: Student-Led Action as a Lever for Culture Change
The school hypothesized that forming a coalition of student ambassadors grounded in justice, leadership, and restorative practices would enable students to identify the root causes of conflict, influence peer norms, and co-create solutions grounded in lived student experience.
By investing in student leadership and shared accountability, the school believed it could reduce suspensions and build sustainable, student-owned systems for addressing conflict, belonging, and responsibility across the school community.
Collective Actions: Launching the YES Ambassadors
With support from The Core Collaborative consultants, the school launched the YES Ambassadors, a diverse group of students united around a common purpose: improving school culture through student-led, justice-centered action.
Together, these ambassadors worked with school and district staff to:
- Create intentional structures for student voice and leadership
- Engage in facilitate dialogue about identity, belonging, and conflict
- Design and implement peer-led strategies focused on prevention rather than punishment
- Build adult–student partnerships that strengthened trust and shared accountability
Over time, this work expanded to include peer mediation and student-led prevention strategies that normalized help-seeking, dialogue, and collaborative problem-solving.
Rather than being asked to “behave better,” students were invited to lead better—together.
The Impact: Measurable Reductions in Suspensions and Disproportionality
The results were immediate, sustained, and measurable.
- Dramatic reduction in school suspensions
- 115 suspensions in 2022
- 42 in 2023–24
- 2 in both 2024–25 and 2025–26
- Improved fairness in discipline practices
- Suspensions for students with disabilities dropped from 15.54% in 2022 to 4.62% in 2023–24 and just 0.63% by 2024–25
- Increased student ownership and leadership
- Student self-reported peer mediations increased from 25% in 2023–24 to 90% in 2025–26
- Sustainable and scalable impact
- Participation in the YES Equity Ambassadors program doubled
- Student-designed strategies were shared across Palm Springs Unified School District, Riverside County, and partner districts nationwide
Students reported stronger relationships, increased empathy, and a greater sense of belonging. Adults observed a sustained shift in school climate, with students increasingly stepping into leadership roles to de-escalate conflict and support peers.
These outcomes reflect more than improved discipline data—they signal a long-term shift from compliance-based discipline to a culture of shared responsibility and belonging.
Why This Matters: Student Agency Drives School Improvement
This case study demonstrates what’s possible when schools move beyond surface-level discipline reforms and invest in student agency as a lever for inclusive, student-centered culture change. By positioning students as co-designers of solutions, this high school strengthened its learning community and achieved and sustained meaningful reductions in suspensions.
The strategies implemented through the YES Ambassadors did not rely on a single program or script. Instead, they built durable systems for student leadership, restorative practices, and shared accountability—equipping the school to respond to challenges with empathy, clarity, and collective responsibility.