Using Youth Participatory Action Research to Create a School District's Antiracism Policy

• In Event: Participatory Action Research: Transformative Learning Through Community Engagement and Agency

Abstract

As our nation experiences a renewed sense of urgency to dismantle deep-seated institutional racism, many scholars and educators are seeking new ways to promote equity and redress racism within their schools and school districts. Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) is an approach to scientific inquiry and social change that engages young people in identifying problems relevant to their own lives, conducting research to understand the problems, and advocating for changes based on research findings (Ozer, 2016). This paper presents a case example of how one school division in Charlottesville, Virginia used YPAR to engage students in creating an anti-racism policy.

Author

• Kimalee Cottrell Dickerson, University of Virginia