Youth Civic Engagement and School Community, Climate, and Culture: Reciprocal Possibilities

Session Submission Type: Symposium

Abstract

This goal of the proposed paper session is to explore the dynamic and reciprocal relationship between youth civic engagement and youths’ school environments. The ecological theory of human development posits that while settings affect individual outcomes, individuals may, in turn, alter their settings. Youth civic engagement may be a mechanism through which this “outward” arrow in the ecological model manifests, particularly in regard to students and their schools. What is more, positive school climates and cultures may, in turn, promote higher levels of student civic engagement, and thus growth in youth engagement and the school community may mutually reinforce one another. This symposium seeks to bridge the academic dialogue between researchers of youth civic engagement and school community, climate, and culture.

Sub Unit

• SIG-School Community, Climate, and Culture

Chair

• Adam Voight, Cleveland State University

Papers

• School Climates and the Development of Social Trust in Younger Generations - Constance A. Flanagan, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Les Gallay, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Breaking Down Youth Civic Participation: The Effect of Engagement on Students’ School Climate Perceptions - Joanna D. Geller, Vanderbilt University; Maury Nation, Vanderbilt University

• Developing Nation, Developing Citizens: Contextualizing the Meaning of Civic Engagement Among School Students in Liberia - Holly Wegman, Vanderbilt University

• Student Perspectives on the Efficacy of Youth Participatory Action Research as a Tool for Institutional Change - Adam J. York, University of Colorado - Boulder

• School Climate as “Common Good”: Urban Middle School Student Civic Engagement for School Improvement - Adam Voight, Cleveland State University

Discussant

• Ben R. Kirshner, University of Colorado