Voices of Agency: Unpacking Student Insights on NYSED Content Standards, Local Curricular Practices, Pedagogy in New York State Schools, and their Educational Implications

Author

• Alprentice Ashanti Talibudeen McCutchen, CUNY Graduate CenterFollow

Date of Degree

2-2026

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Urban Education

Advisor

Professor Anna Stetsenko

Committee Members

Professor Michelle Fine

Professor Marc Lamont Hill

Subject Categories

Curriculum and Instruction | Curriculum and Social Inquiry | Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | Educational Methods

Keywords

Agency, student agency, state standards, assessment, pedagogy, culturally relevant content

Abstract

This research sets out to explore the concept of agency in the context of education, including my distinction between passive agency and active agency, and how these distinctions have been taken up by scholars, educators, and policy makers. The core approach is based in an expansive inclusion of various perspectives on agency as a basis for developing a comprehensive framework of active agency as well as its opportunities for educational practices and outcomes. I am arguing that there is a gap—an agency gap—between the passive and active employment of agency. I am also arguing that there is an agency in the existing education rhetoric, describing agentic secondary school content within New York State, and the realities of its maximized practice. The outcomes of this research were based upon analysis of the voices of New York State high school students and their perspectives around the extent to which their current schooling, structures of standards, local curriculum content, and state assessment guidelines have been agentic. I took a grounded theory methods approach when coding the students’ voices. I also used elements from frameworks such as Critical Pedagogy, LatCrit, Critical Race Theory, and Islamic Critical Theory as well as conceptual ideas from the New York State Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education Framework when analyzing the students’ voices. This led me to extrapolate significant conclusions that build upon what these students have experienced, as students in New York State school, and their vision for, what I frame as, an active agentic educational experience for all students in New York State. Ultimately, my explorations can lead to deeper policy applications of what I frame as active agentic standards, content, pedagogy, professional instruction, and authentic transferable skills for the 21^st century.

Recommended Citation

McCutchen, Alprentice Ashanti Talibudeen, "Voices of Agency: Unpacking Student Insights on NYSED Content Standards, Local Curricular Practices, Pedagogy in New York State Schools, and their Educational Implications" (2026). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6810