Activating Student Voice Through Youth Participatory Action Research: Policy Making That Strengthens Urban Education Reform

• In Event: 66.052 - The Significance of Qualitative Studies on the Sociocultural and Sociopolitical Contexts of Education to Inform Policy

Abstract

Perspective(s) or theoretical framework
Education reform is a multi-layered, multi-tiered process mired in the reimagining and remaking of education policy and practice (Bryk et al., 2010; Payne, 2008). Too often this process commences with little attention given to the thoughts or perspectives of young people (Fine et al., 2007; Noguera, 2007; Wilson & Corbett, 2001). YPAR approaches seek to actively challenge positivist epistemological stances of researcher objectivity, by centering the experiences and perspectives of youth who design and enact research about issues of importance in their lives and communities (Cammarota & Fine, 2008; Caraballo, et. al, 2017; Fine et al., 2007; Mirra, Garcia & Morrell, 2015). Student voice more traditionally emerges as a data source for producing reliable research findings (i.e. youth as research participants). We aimed to center student voice in our study to guide the actual design, implementation, analyses, and reporting of the research (i.e. youth as co-researchers). Thus, it was determined that a YPAR approach was necessary for our research project.

Methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry
YPAR has emerged over the past two decades as a critical research methodology in response to social injustice experienced by youth. Notably, YPAR positions youth co-researchers as “active learners and knowledge producers” rather than “passive recipients of education and consumers of knowledge” (Irizarry, 2009, p. 197). Such a positioning runs counter to traditional notions of educational reform efforts in the U.S. where the perspectives of adults are typically privileged in considerations of whether, how, and why to enact change in school contexts (Cook-Sather, 2002, p. 3).

Data sources, evidence, objects, or materials
Our project included 20 high school students. 10 young men and 10 young women attending seven different high schools in one metropolitan area in the Midwestern US. Participants included students whose household incomes were less than $25,000 and others whose household incomes were more than $91,000. 2 students identified as Multiracial, 9 identified as White, 2 as Asian, 3 as Latinx, and 4 as Black. Data sources included 3 one-on-one semi-structured Interviews, 3 focus groups, over 75 hours of observations, document and artifact analyses.

Results and/or substantiated conclusions or warrants for arguments/point of view
Youth’s participation in the YPAR study provided the informal structure that both helped them to find their voice, and use that voice to conduct a justice-oriented qualitative research study of personal significance. Several of the youth, especially those who self-identify as shy or introverted, cited the importance of their research collaborations in helping them become more vocal and engaged in school improvement work. Findings reveal that this project provided the space and adult support necessary to empower these youth to identify worthwhile areas of inquiry, and as a result, use their voices to collaboratively determine outcomes that might change the function of their schools to better serve marginalized youth (and families).

Scientific or scholarly significance of the study or work
Incorporating YPAR projects into the official school curriculum creates opportunities for students’ voices to be heard regularly, while also fostering their preparation for college.

Authors

• Chezare A. Warren, Michigan State University

• Joanne E. Marciano, Michigan State University