They Forgot to Tell Us: Exploring the Experience of Youth, Preservice Teachers, and Licensed Educators in Examining Community Resources

• In Event: 60.084 - Roundtable Session 20
  In Roundtable Session: 60.084-19 - Justice Through Collaboration: Foregrounding Youth Voice and Experience in Out-of-School Time Settings

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to understand the experiences of youth collaborating in participatory action research (PAR) with pre-service teachers and licensed educators in a summer program within a school that is funded as a 21st Century Community Learning Center (CLC). The focus of the PAR project was the study of community recreational resources, which revealed challenges in CLC programming in translating state and federal program resources into direct community involvement and benefit. Through reflective writings, interviews, focus groups, and autoethnography, PAR collective members revealed a shift in awareness of self as individual to self-in-relation to history and social conditions through the PAR experience. Study findings affirm the critical importance of participatory spaces within community centers.

Authors

• Erica J. Glover, Akron Public Schools

• Anne M. Galletta, Cleveland State University