One of the ways in which schools can prepare students for a lifetime of democratic participation is to train them in self–government within the school context. Students often have good ideas about how to improve their schools and communities as places for civic life and learning, and formal structures for considering students' views are a valuable way of modeling democratic practices and teaching students civic skills.

Perhaps the most common form of student participation in school governance, student councils, are laboratories for practical experiences in civics and the principles of democracy. Student councils should be far more than the social planners of the school; they should instead stimulate and engage large numbers of students in school and community service activities and provide a forum
for student voice on questions that impact the students themselves. In addition to civic skills and dispositions, student councils and other forums for students to participate in school government should self–consciously promote a wide range of skills and dispositions—including twenty–first century skills, financial literacy, and environmental literacy.

Research from the National Association of Student Councils notes that student participation in school governance should meet several basic tenets: Activities must be structured, students must make a substantial time commitment to activities, activities must engage student interest, and students' decisions must have real effects. These parameters leave room for a wide range of student governance programs, but all successful programs will provide students with civic skills and dispositions that, once students graduate, will be transferrable to our
democracy at large.
Beyond conventional student government (involving a few elected representatives), programs should facilitate schoolwide democratic deliberation as a way of fostering civic skills and dispositions among all students. A wide variety of programs, such as those that divide students into clusters to participate in democratic deliberation and community projects, have been shown to have positive implications on students' civic health.

Participation in school governance has benefits for the students directly involved—such as those elected to a council—and also for their fellow students. Those who directly participate show better academic success and higher likelihood of civic participation later on, including voting.( 106 )Data from the National Education Longitudinal Study demonstrates that participants in student governance have higher test scores and are more likely to volunteer and participate in campaigns and other political activities.( 107) Meanwhile, as noted above (see “Benefit of Civic Learning: Improving School Climate,” page 24), students who attend schools where they feel student voice is honored are more likely to be trusting and civically engaged later.

Student participation in school governance provides students with civic skills that will serve them well beyond their time in school. Students who know how to make their voice heard at school will be best equipped to be active and effective in their communities at large.