Choice and Student Agency in Learning 

When students experience meaningful choice and a sense of control, they are more likely to engage, persist, and take ownership of learning. Agency-supportive classrooms offer options within clear boundaries and high expectations. 

Why this matters 

•         When students feel they have meaningful choices within clear boundaries, they are more likely to engage, persist, and take ownership of learning. 

•         Research grounded in self-determination theory links autonomy-supportive teaching to higher motivation and sometimes achievement. 

What it is 

•         Autonomy: students experience a sense of control and choice in their learning, rather than feeling everything is imposed. 

•         Agency: students see themselves as active learners who can make decisions, set goals, and influence outcomes-not just follow directions. 

Key classroom moves 

•         Offer bounded choices for tasks, texts, or products that all align with the same learning target. 

•         Invite students to help set personal goals within unit outcomes and revisit them regularly.

•         Use language that supports autonomy (“You might try…”, “Which strategy will you choose?”) instead of controlling language. 

•         Provide clear success criteria so choice does not mean lower expectations. 

•         Help students reflect on how their choices affected their learning outcomes.  

•          

Implications by grade 

Grades K - 2

•         Offer simple choices (for example, which book to read from a curated set, which color to use) while keeping the task the same. 

•         Let students choose a partner or tool (for example, counting cubes or number line) for certain tasks. 

Grades 3– 5

•         Provide options for how to show learning (for example, write a paragraph, create a poster, record an audio explanation) with common criteria. 

•         Include student voice when choosing topics for writing, projects, or class read  alouds. 

Grades 6– 8

•         Use choice boards or menus for practice tasks while maintaining the same standards and rigor. 

•         Engage students in setting goals for reading, writing, or math and tracking their own progress. 

Grades 9– 12

•         Allow students to select research topics, texts, or project formats within clearly defined expectations. 

•         Include student feedback in decisions about pacing, routines, and classroom norms when possible. 

References 

Reeve, J. (2012). A self-determination theory perspective on student engagement. In S.

L. Christenson et al. (Eds.), Handbook of research on student engagement (pp. 149 –

172). Springer.