“It’s Not Your Everyday Classroom”: A Qualitative Analysis of Student Experiences in School-based Enterprise
Byrd, Kymberly Lynette
:
2019-04-11
Abstract
A school-based enterprise (SBE) is an entrepreneurial operation managed and operated by students in a school setting. School-based enterprises reinforce classroom instruction through practice-based learning and can enhance creativity, innovation, problem-solving, critical thinking, and other skills. While research demonstrates that SBE bridges the gap between classroom instruction and the world of work and can benefit students, schools, and communities, the mechanisms that produce these benefits remain unclear. This paper utilized the systems view of school climate framework to assess differences in perceptions of school climate between students participating in SBE and students not participating in SBE at a high school in the Mississippi River Delta Region. This framework has been used to identify and explain differing experiences of students within a given school and can help determine how SBE involvement contributes to positive academic, social, and emotional outcomes for students. The qualitative analysis of five focus groups with 36 students examined differences in relationships, values, and beliefs between SBE and non-SBE students and findings indicated that SBE facilitated higher quality instruction with its smaller class sizes, abundant opportunities for applied learning, and personalized attention to each student. This research adds to the sparse empirical analyses of SBE and suggests directions for future inquiry.