Youth Tell Their Stories: The Impact of Personal Stories on School Discipline Policy Making

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 28
  In Roundtable Session: Understanding and Disrupting the School-to-Prison Pipeline: School Discipline and Juvenile Justice

Abstract

Narratives and storytelling have a rich history of influencing politics and policymaking, though theory development on this process in policy studies remains in early stages. This article will examine the use of personal storytelling by young youth of color in organizing campaigns against the school to prison pipeline using key informant interviews, with the focus on an activist coalition in Chicago that used youth counter-narratives to help pass a bill in the state legislature reducing harsh school discipline. The work of these groups shows that personal storytelling, when combined with other strategies, are a particularly compelling strategy to achieve the educational equity policy goals of youth organizing groups in low-income communities of color.

Authors

• Jeffrey Moyer, University of Massachusetts - Boston

• Mark R. Warren, University of Massachusetts - Boston

• Andrew King, University of Massachusetts - Boston