Students build confidence, motivation and resiliency when they experience positive relationships with adults. When they help design their own education, students uncover new needs to address—and imaginative ways to address them.

That’s what happened in Seminole County Public Schools when school district leaders asked a team of students to help design a new high school. Here’s what students said: “All students want the opportunity to have a secure and productive future in college and career,” and to leave high school with a plan for life after school. Second, students want “a fair playing field,” with “equal opportunities for all people regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or income.” And, third, students want to play a part in “solving local and global problems,” ranging from small-scale community challenges to large-scale social issues.

The school they designed, PSI High (short for Problem-Solving Incubator), an XQ school, focuses on real-world, project-based learning and serves as “living proof that students can play a leading role in changing the world for the better.”

In Tennessee, students in a sociology class at rural Elizabethton High School explored their vision for what high school could be by researching the history of public education in the U.S. and learning about education policy in their state and district. Their ideas evolved into a special student-centered program called Bartleby, which started with two pilot courses on community improvement and youth entrepreneurship.

The program was such a success that the district expanded it to include all high school students, and Elizabethton is now an XQ school. Recent graduate McKenna Kiser, who was part of the student design team, put it this way: “I initially just thought of this program as a resource to gain volunteer hours, but it completely changed how I think education should be. By having full ownership of my education, I learned skills that couldn’t be found in a classroom but only through application.”

We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate.

– Martin Luther King, Jr., The Purpose of Education