ÐÓ°É´«Ã½

An Interview with Superintendent Jazz Parks

By Brennan LaBrie

What are Trusted Adults?

Trusted Adults are key to boosting student belonging, engagement and success in classrooms.

They are the teachers, coaches, counselors, and other staff who support, encourage and push students to challenge themselves and dream big. 

That’s why identifying each student’s trusted adult is crucial to unlocking their academic potential, especially for those navigating advanced coursework for the first time.  

These students can often feel intimidated and out-of-place in their new academic environment. Trusted adults step in to provide guidance, emotional support, and long-term mentorship that propels these students to success in these courses and beyond. 

Trusted adults nurture both the academic and personal growth of students. Our research has linked them with increased motivation, resilience, and self-confidence in students.  

Trusted Adults in Ann Arbor Public Schools 

Every staff member either is, or can become, a trusted adult. But how do school leaders find and train them to be champions for students? 

Jazz Parks, Superintendent of Ann Arbor Public Schools, knows a thing or two about this. Since 2016, Ann Arbor has partnered with ÐÓ°É´«Ã½to boost advanced course enrollment and success, using trusted adults as a key driver.

We asked her what Trusted Adults look like in her schools, how her team identifies and equips them, and how they impact Ann Arbor’s students. 

Who can be a trusted adult? 

Anybody can be a trusted adult. It’s not just a teacher or staff person. It could be anyone who is an adult in the school with the students, who knows them well, who cares for them, who provides that sense of safety and comfort for students. 

What does a trusted adult do for your students? 

A trusted adult for our students is someone who encourages them to think beyond what they think they’re good at doing and demonstrates a belief in their ability to be in advanced programs; someone who talks to them about opportunities that they didn’t even think about for themselves, so that we can get students who would previously be unenrolled, uninformed or unaware of advanced programming into those programs and classes. 

What happens when students don’t name a trusted adult? 

Not having a trusted adult really is a barrier. It’s a barrier for their success, it’s a barrier for their belonging. When students don’t identify a trusted adult, we go back with staff and encourage them to look at students more holistically and see what it is about our students that we can tap into to be able to ensure that they feel belonging, that they feel engaged and like they have someone – at least one person – who is their champion, their advocate, who will speak up for them, believe in them and advocate for them no matter what. And we find that when teachers and staff look at students holistically, those engagement numbers and the percentages of students who are able to identify a trusted adult increase. 

What does belonging in advanced courses look like for your students? 

Belonging for our students in advanced classes means seeing themselves in the class, seeing themselves in the content and in the curriculum, seeing themselves as able to be successful in advanced coursework, and having those adults around them who believe in their capacity and potential to do advanced coursework and be successful. 

How has the ÐÓ°É´«Ã½partnership helped foster this sense of belonging?

Our partnership with ÐÓ°É´«Ã½has helped to cultivate a sense of belonging for our students and our staff by really focusing on our students being able to identify that trusted adult, and it also helped our staff understand that being a trusted adult for students really is a gateway for success. That is not something to be taken lightly or underscore.  

Being able to be a student’s person who believes in them, who advocates for them, and who really wants to ensure the student belongs in classes, in our schools and in our district, has really increased the engagement of students. 

Learn more about how ÐÓ°É´«Ã½helps schools identify and develop their trusted adults here.