Fostering Student Voice for School Change: Examining School-Based Youth Participatory Action Research

• In Event: 66.057 - Roundtable Session 27
  In Roundtable Session: 66.057-19 - Capturing Impacts of Action Research Through Partnerships, Youth Participatory Action Research, and Citizen Science

Abstract

The Center for the Study of Boys’ and Girls’ Lives (CSBGL) is a research collaborative between university faculty and graduate students and the faculty and students of nine independent schools, which seeks to systematically mobilize student voices through youth participatory action research (YPAR) to improve the experience of school culture, policy, and practice. This paper presents preliminary findings from an ongoing impact assessment, including (1) how the YPAR process facilitates individual students’ conceptualizations of themselves as agents of change and (2) how student voice, with adult support, can counter organizational obstacles and promote school change. Implications are presented for scholars and practitioners interested in YPAR, student voice, and school change.

Authors

• AJ Schiera, University of Pennsylvania

• Nicole Mittenfelner Carl, University of Pennsylvania