Time

Team

Role

Deliverable

20 Weeks

3 Product Designers

Project Report

Teacher's Manual

Idea Bank

UX

We sought to understand the underlying causes of male

student disengagement and the effectiveness

of current behavior intervention systems at Killington Elementary School in Vermont.

This project was created through the Senior Design Challenge (SDC), an interdisciplinary capstone course for undergraduate students at Dartmouth College. In this 20-week-long course, teams of students use human-centered design to tackle real-world challenges posed by a variety of partner organizations. We conduct research, data analysis, idea generation, and iterative prototyping to create a product, service, or experience that addresses a real need in our local and global community.

Our team partnered with the Mountain Views Supervisory Union (MVSU), specifically Killington Elementary School (KES), to address significant disparities in male student experiences and outcomes, particularly in disciplinary incidents and academic performance.

BACKGROUND

PROBLEM

OPPORTUNITY

Compared to female students, male tudents at KES are underperforming academically, self-reporting less engagement, and receiving more behavior referrals. There is a clear academic gender disparity.

How might we develop actionable strategies for educators and administrators to create a more supportive and effective learning environment for all students?

Recent data indicate that male students at MVSU face higher rates of disciplinary actions and lower academic achievement, signaling disengagement from the learning process. This issue is not unique to MVSU—both at KES and across the nation, boys have been consistently underperforming compared to their female counterparts in nearly every academic metric.

MVSU tasked our team with investigating these disparities and uncovering the root causes of male student disengagement.

REFLECT

This was one of my longest projects to date and with the smallest team, but it was also by far the most rewarding and educational! I learned new methods of analysis and further honed my ability to iterate and revise. It was a wonderful way to culminate my human-centered design learning at Dartmouth College while also making a positive impact at a local community.

thanks for reading

check out more projects

Hi, there!
I'm still working on making this page responsive to different screen sizes, and I really appreciate your patience.
This project is currently available in a wider screen format, and will be available for all screens by mid-October!

Hi, there!
To get the most of out of this project's case study, try viewing in a wider screen. Thank you!

Hi, there!
To get the most of out of this project's case study, try viewing in a wider screen. Thank you!