Youth Learning Outcomes from Youth Participatory Action Research: A Practical Assessment

• In Event: Supporting Youth Activism in Hostile Times: Case Studies in Deepening YPAR Practices

Abstract

Objectives
Any educator or researcher who has engaged with a YPAR group can attest to the skills youth attain, including persuasive argumentation, problem framing, research design, data analysis, and policy development. Unfortunately, there is typically a mismatch between existing mechanisms for assessment and grading and the YPAR cycle. Even when researchers are able to document learning outcomes, such as growth in critical reflection abilities, political efficacy, engagement in sociopolitical action, and leadership skills ([Author] et al., 2022; [Author] et al., 2021; Salazar-Núñez & [Author], 2022), these areas of youth development are not aligned with district academic standards.The goal of this poster is to (1) describe the co-design of a YPAR student learning assessment, (2) provide evidence for its feasibility and usefulness, and (3) describe how it can be used in educational contexts.

Perspective/Methods
For YPAR the concept of “authentic assessment” offers a promising framework ([Author] et al., 2021). According to Wiggins (1990), authentic assessment aims to evaluate youth performances or products as they master the “complex ambiguities of the ‘game’ of adult and professional life” (p. 1). Defining mastery is one step, but then operationalizing mastery is another question. Recent efforts to develop “practical measures” offer a useful way forward (Yeager et al., 2014). Practical measures should be co-designed with educators in recognition of the constraints of everyday practice so that they “can be used easily in practice, about practice, and by educators” (Krumm et al., 2020, p. 2462). We draw on this notion of practical measures to inform our assessment design.

Results
Through a series of workgroups with YPAR educators and students, key learning outcomes were identified. Based on these initial decisions, concept maps were created to describe five “habits of a youth leader”: Research Skills, Critical Consciousness, Critical Action, Collaborative Skills, and Self-Knowledge. Each of these habits was accompanied by a low-inference description of what it looks like and what behaviors count as indicators of these habits. This led to an initial version of the assessment, which was evaluated by a group of educators leading to the creation of a second version of the assessment, which added a sixth habit: Communication and Storytelling.

Significance
There is ample evidence of positive outcomes for students engaged in action research, such as cognitive development, new awareness of funds of knowledge, and perceived relevance of academic practices to everyday lives (Cammarota, 2007). In an educational landscape that is assessment oriented, the ability to accurately measure youth learning is paramount (Levinson, 2012). Given this reality, an assessment of student learning that can help educators to document youth learning and help youth to identify areas of strength and weakness is of vital importance.

Authors

• Ben Kirshner, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Carlos P. Hipolito-Delgado, University of Colorado - Denver

• Salvador Ramirez, University of Colorado - Boulder