Troubling Safety: A Youth Participatory Action Research Project by the Youth Research Council

• In Event: Expanding Research Practice Partnerships: Integrating Youth Voices for Equitable and Impactful Collaboration

Abstract

Objectives
School violence is on the rise in the United States, and schools are under extreme pressure to increase safety and reduce incidents of violence (Fox & Fridel, 2018; Madfis et al., 2021). School leaders and policy makers have responded by spending billions of dollars on school security measures to prevent school violence (Singer, 2022; Schwartz et al., 2016). Yet, whose voices are being heard in these debates, and what actually makes students feel safe in schools? The Youth Research Council (YRC) is a group of high school researchers and adult allies in the Washington, D.C. area. The purpose of this study is to contribute our perspectives and those of our peers to conversations around school safety. As a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) collective of over 30 racially and ethnically diverse high students, we are well-positioned to conduct this research.
Perspectives
We believe students’ lived experiences should be honored as expertise in decision making processes that affect the lives of young people (Brion-Meisels & Alter, 2018; Cammarota & Fine, 2008). We take an anti-racist stance that emphasizes psychological safety and harm reduction, resists fear-mongering, and interrogates the racialized histories of criminalization that undergird popular discourses about safety (Henning, 2021; Norris, 2020).
Data Sources and Methods
We collected data for this study using several techniques:
Community consultations: informal conversations with no predetermined questions (Dickert & Sugarman, 2005).
Video testimonials (N=5).
Text message interviews (N=282).
Concept mapping to develop a preliminary analytical framework of school safety
School Safety Questionnaire (N=137): Participants answered demographic questions and several open-ended questions including: “Share an experience where you felt safe at school,” or “Share an experience where you felt unsafe at school.”
After data collection we engaged in collaborative coding and arts-based analysis to better understand students’ experiences of safety in schools.

Results
Study findings fell into four main areas:
Students felt unsafe because of the fear of physical violence
Students felt unsafe in schools because of the predominance of the use of derogatory and discriminatory language between peers or by school adults.
Students felt unsafe when administrators did not establish accountability structures to address discriminatory or violent behaviors.
Students reported feeling safer in schools when adults explicitly showed care and developed relationships with students and when students were given the freedom to express care for each other.
Significance
Our work has significance on multiple levels. First, we have developed specific demands and suggestions for local school leaders and based on our findings, which we have shared with local school leaders. Second, our findings, which we have shared in academic venues, offer a more comprehensive and youth-centered understanding of school safety, which has significance for both academic and policy-making audiences studying school safety measures. Finally, our work is a meaningful example of the powerful outcomes that result from centering youth expertise in educational research.

Authors

• Meagan Call-Cummings, Johns Hopkins University

• Bethany Monea, University of the District of Columbia