What Students Are Telling Us: The Power of Effective Learning Environments
As educators, we often plan lessons, design assessments, and adopt strategies that we believe will be effective for our teaching and their learning. We lean on our understanding from our own experiences as students, our years of education and professional development, and the course content guidelines based on other expertise to meet state and local requirements. It’s hard for the voices of our students to penetrate all that teacher and personal preparation. We even wonder if we should listen to students. What do they know about teaching and learning, the Danielson framework and STEEL Standards? Do we even have time to pause to truly listen to what our students are experiencing?
The NEIR System Change Model for Education (NEIR Model) flips the focus on what happens in the classroom. If students are our clients, shouldn’t they be informing us of what impacts their learning? Should we not start with listening to them? Not through a survey or focus group, but through a space where they are our teachers from which we can learn.
Students provide a powerful lens through which we can evaluate not only what we teach, but how students experience learning in our classrooms and schools. Their feedback can be the clearest indicator of whether our classrooms are cultivating academic and personal success.
Here’s what students have shared about the impact of learning environments rooted in the indicators the NEIR Model (Normalize, Empower, Inclusive, Relevant):
Indicator #1: Normalize - Recognizing the Unique Gifts and Talents of Every Learner
“I felt like my identity and background were truly respected and valued in my tenth grade English class. At the beginning of the year, my teacher gave us each a notebook and told us we could write about anything we wanted, anything at all. I chose to write about my cultural experiences and childhood memories. Every week, he would collect our notebooks and read through every single entry. He did not just read them, he responded with thoughtful advice, personal stories of his own, and reflections that made it clear he really cared about what we shared. Through this weekly writing, I realized that my life mattered and my background was seen. It showed me just how much he valued his students as individuals, and it made me feel safe and respected for who I was.” - Vicki D.
Indicator #2: Empower - Trusting Students to Lead Their Learning
“I felt empowered when teachers and mentors gave me the space to problem-solve on my own before stepping in. That balance gave me control over my learning and boosted my confidence.” Zachary L.
My teachers empowered me to go deeper into my own interests. In Pre-Calculus, I programmed my TI-83 calculator to solve complex algorithms. Instead of discouraging this, my teacher celebrated it and encouraged me to keep learning. This experience didn’t just teach me facts, it gave me confidence. It helped shape my goals, and it confirmed that my passion for computers and problem-solving could become a real future. - Caleb G.
Indicator #3: Inclusive - Making Every Student Feel they Belong
“Group labs, discussions, and team-based projects ensured that everyone could contribute their strengths. We learned from each other in a supportive environment.” Zachary L.
“As a dental hygiene student, I see how school prepared me to listen, work in teams, and respect people’s backgrounds—just like we practiced in class.” Ean M.
Indicator #4: Relevant: Connecting Learning to Life and the Future
“ One of the most impactful experiences was participating in the National KidWind Challenge, where we designed and tested wind turbines. It started as a small class project for a grade, but it quickly turned into something much bigger. As we worked on improving our design and learning more about renewable energy, we ended up competing in the challenge against students from around the world. That project helped us take what we were learning in physics and use it to solve a real sustainability problem, which showed me how classroom concepts can turn into real solutions in engineering. Projects like this, where you get to build, test, and problem-solve, can have a big impact on a student’s future. They make the material more meaningful and help students discover what excites them and what they might want to pursue in college or as a career.” Vicki D.
So, Why Does NEIR Matter?
Because these student voices aren’t just reflections—they’re evidence. They show us that when educators commit to the values of Normalize, Empower, Inclusive, and Relevant instruction, students feel supported, motivated, and prepared for their futures.
NEIR isn’t another acronym to memorize—it’s a mindset shift. One that requires us to listen with intention, reflect with humility, and teach with purpose.
The Four Indicators:
Normalize captures an understanding of the whole child as they walk into your classroom. Like you, they have a history of experiences that impact who they are and who they see themselves as based on the influences of their family, culture, class, gender, previous learning experiences, and unique view of the world. Affirming students' identities, preferred learning styles, familial, cultural, and community influences, and just lived experiences, we begin to move outside all the noise of the education system and begin the process of creating the environment that fits best to ensure students feel seen and respected for who they are. As babies and toddlers, children love to explore and learn. As educators, we need to step outside restrictive methodologies and rely on our own voices to ensure our students, whoever they are, can enjoy the exploration of learning again.
Empower means we give the power of learning to students and trust them to develop curiosity, a desire to learn, wonder and eagerness to know. Students develop a quest for understanding as a shared goal and develop an exploratory mindset. Providing an environment that allows students to trust others (the teacher and their peers) they become free to learn. When students wrestle with challenges, teachers aren’t abandoning them—they’re elevating them. And when students experience the joy of learning again, they step up as leaders and collaborators.
Inclusive refers to the environment that students experience that goes beyond representation. If you accept that every individual is unique, we look beyond the traditional assignments of students to groups by demographics and look more for areas of common experiences, perspectives, interests, and shared values that promote empathy and care. A community of learning goes beyond just participation to an experience of shared support and belonging. When classrooms are intentionally designed to lift all voices and value diverse strengths, students don't just feel included—they feel essential.
Relevant learning is required before students can see its purpose. This requires two components to be addressed. The first is that teachers must fully understand the developmental stage of their students. It’s not just about their capacity to learn at different ages (brain development) but also the psychosocial development that highlights what we all care about at different points in our lives. The second component is the social and cultural elements that connect the students’ lives. Lessons linked to their local communities, real-world issues, and experiences they can understand and relate to equip them not just to graduate, but to lead.
Final Thought: Reflect by Listening
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou
This quote highlights the enduring emotional impact of our actions and presence—far beyond words or deeds. It's often used in teaching, leadership, and relationship-building contexts to emphasize empathy, compassion, and connection.
If we want to improve as educators, the most important question we can ask is: “How does this feel for students?
Using the NEIR indicators takes a complex question of what we select to do among the thousands of options for our students and boils it down to four essential indicators that teachers can easily reflect on to create the environment where every student is able to learn at their highest level of performance.
