Data Breachers: Youth Counterstories in Quantitative Education Research (Poster 37)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Thursday 2:15pm
  In Invited Poster Session: Research Engagement and Development with Youth (READY) Program Invited Poster Session

Abstract

This project engages high school students as co-researchers who critically analyze and reinterpret data collected about them. Using Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) and Quantitative Critical Race Theory (QuantCrit), students explore how educational data shape narratives about success, equity, and opportunity. Through data walks, reflective journaling, and storytelling, they create “counter-data stories” that challenge assumptions of objectivity and neutrality in traditional metrics. Grounded in counterstorytelling traditions, the project positions youth as interpreters of data rather than subjects of it. Findings will demonstrate how justice-centered, participatory approaches to data literacy can cultivate critical consciousness and inform more equitable education policy and research practices.

Authors

• Wendy Castillo, Montclair State University

• Juan Andrés Ouviña, Montclair State University

• Marielyn Hidalgo, Montclair State University

• Jeidymar Molina-Cruz, Newark School of Data Science & Information Technology

• Aolani Perez, Newark School of Data Science & Information Technology

• Oluwadamilare Ashaolu, Newark School of Data Science & Information Technology

• Mishael Adesoji, Newark School of Data Science & Information Technology

• Daniel Asebiomo, Newark Public Schools