"How Are They Going to Know They Can Be More Than a Basketball Player if You Only Ever Give Them a Basketball?" Exploring Community Voice Within Urban School Design

• In Event: Equity and Community Contexts: Implications for Educational Leadership and Policy

Abstract

Understanding the role of research in community efforts to determine its truth is imperative. As the world watched and deliberated in 2020, it became understood that Minnesota presents its brand of truth. This paper highlights the process, outcomes, and tensions inherent in community-assets-based research. Findings indicate divergent "truths" across stakeholders involved in the potential development of a community-based charter school in the METRO area. The study illustrated how stakeholder groups reasoned about community members' positionality that influenced individual and group perceptions of the future success or failure of developing a non-profit-sponsored charter school. This paper addresses the tensions and subsequent outcomes created when various stakeholder groups were given explicit opportunities to voice their truths, priorities, and concerns impacting their community.

Author

• Yolanda J. Majors, Hurston Institute for Learning & Development
  Presenting Author