Between "Overpromising" and "Broadening Imaginations": Adult Understandings of Tension and Possibility in a Statewide Youth Power Initiative

• In Event: AERA Graduate Student Research in Progress Roundtable Session Three
  In Roundtable Session: Examinations of Local, State, and National Education Policies: District Implementation, Youth Engagement, Systemic Equity (Table 6)

Abstract

Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction (DPI)--the state's agency advancing public education and educational policy--is attempting to better engage young people as education decision-makers and policy influencers. This study draws on three interviews with adult members of the DPI youth power initiative and observational data from whole group meetings to answer the following question: How do adult group members participating in the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's youth power initiative, meant to engage youth as education decision-makers, make sense of their role? The data revealed that adults (1) approached the initiative with careful reflections and analyses of power, privilege, and their positionality, (2) grappled with tensions in the work related to questions of power, control, and larger organizational, structural challenges, and (3) illuminated the potential of this initiative to broaden the imagination of organizations and other collaborators. Based on these findings, I argue that despite a hyper-awareness of the power dynamics in youth-adult relationships, adults can still inadvertently reproduce hegemonic power dynamics in statewide initiatives meant to empower youth and involve them in educational decision-making. Furthermore, adults' approach to engaging in youth-adult partnerships are shaped and facilitated by the broader sociopolitical context in which they exist, including bureaucratic organizations, funding structures, and time constraints.

Author

• Moisés Gabriel Contreras, Harvard University
  Presenting Author