While reflecting on her own educational experiences, author Beth Taone discusses how she came up with an educational philosophy called Tri-Excellence. Taone believes that students will only be able to succeed in school if three things are in place--Student Excellence + Teacher Excellence + Family/Community Excellence. Here she describes Tri-Excellence, and its three components in detail, and provides a proposed action research plan to effectively study and measure how empowering students by drawing on their personal experiences affects engagement in learning. Sample survey questions for teachers, students and parents/community members are provided to assist data collection.