Despite the national standards for the implementation of full-service community schooling require the inclusion of youth participation in the decision-making and communication of these initiatives, few studies have solicited these key perspectives. The current study used focus groups to solicit youth perspectives on full-service community schooling initiatives being implemented in the schools they attended. Students were recruited from schools participating in the early years of a full-service community schooling initiative. Students were separated into focus groups based on the school they were recruited from. The questions I sought to answer through this study were: 1.) what does full-service community schooling mean to students; 2.) what characteristics of full-service community schooling do youth enjoy (and not enjoy); 3.) how, if at all, has full-service community schooling changed the lives of youth; and 4.) what factors salient to youth does full-service community schooling fail to address? Analyzing the transcripts from the focus group using Marshall and Rossman’s (1995) interrater qualitative approach produced 35 themes grouped into ten analytical categories that were then further reduced into four higher order content groupings. I discuss the manner in which these findings elucidate how youth understand the scope, benefits, and issues with full-service community schooling. Furthermore, I discuss, the implications of these findings for the future practice of and research on youth voice in the planning and design of full-service community schooling.
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