This article considers how youth participatory action research (YPAR) can be used to build the civic teaching capacities of preservice teachers working in urban settings. In the final semester of an urban-focused teacher education program, preservice teachers led YPAR programs in the urban schools in which they student-taught the previous semester. This article analyzes what preservice teachers learn through the process of YPAR. Specifically, we found that YPAR supported teacher learning in three areas: cultivating student-centered teaching practices, observing and documenting students’ strengths and capacities, and developing new understandings of the structural inequalities that shaped the lives of the students in urban schools. Drawing on data collected over the past 6 years, we argue that leading children and young people in participatory action research projects can contribute to the creation of the transformative civic educators so sorely needed in urban settings.
Abu El-HajT. R. (2007). “I was born here but my home it’s not here”: Educating for democratic citizenship in an era of transnational migration and global conflict. Harvard Educational Review, 77, 285-316.
2.
Abu El-HajT. R. (2009). Imagining postnationalism: Arts, citizenship education, and Arab American youth. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 40(1), 1-19.
3.
Abu El-HajT. R. (2015). Unsettled belonging: Educating Palestinian American youth after 9/11. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
4.
Abu El-HajT. R.RubinB. C. (2009). Realizing the equity-minded aspirations of detracking and inclusion: Toward a capacity-oriented framework for teacher education. Curriculum Inquiry, 39, 435-463.
5.
AndersonG.HerrK.NihlenA. S. (2007). Studying your own school: An educator’s guide to qualitative practitioner research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
6.
AronsonB.AndersonA. (2013). Critical teacher education and the politics of teacher accreditation: Are we practicing what we preach?Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 11, 244-262.
7.
BartonK. (2012). Expanding preservice teachers’ images of self, students, and democracy. In CampbellD. E.LevinsonM.HessF. (Eds.), Making civics count (pp. 161-182). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
8.
CammarotaJ.FineM. (Eds.). (2008). Revolutionizing education: Youth participatory action research in motion. New York, NY: Routledge.
CaraballoL.HillM. (2014). Curriculum-in-action: Cultivating literacy, community and creativity in urban contexts. English Leadership Quarterly, 27, 1
11.
CarrollD.FeatherstoneH.FeatherstoneJ.Feiman-NemserS.RooseveltD. (Eds.). (2007). Transforming teacher education: Reflections from the field. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
12.
CarterP.WelnerK. (2013). Closing the opportunity gap. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
13.
Carter AndrewsD. J. (2009). The hardest thing to turn from: The effects of service learning on preparing urban educators. Equity & Excellence in Education, 42, 272-293.
14.
CoatesT. (2015). Between the world and me. New York, NY: Spiegel & Grau.
15.
Cochran-SmithM. (1995). Color blindness and basket weaving are not the answers: Confronting the dilemmas of race, class and language diversity in teacher education. American Educational Research Journal, 32, 493-512.
16.
CushmanK. (2008). Helping students research their communities. In PollockM. (Ed.), Everyday antiracism (pp. 165-171). New York, NY: The New Press.
17.
EpsteinS. (2013). “They have their hands on the pulse of the city”: Teachers’ constructions of students’ civic knowledge in an urban middle school classroom. In NengaS.TaftJ. (Eds.), Sociological studies of children and youth (Vol. 16, pp. 125-149). Wagon Lane, UK: Emerald.
18.
FineM.BurnsA.PayneY.TorreM. (2004). Civics lessons: The color and class of betrayal. In FineM.WeisL. (Eds.), Working method (pp. 53-74). New York, NY: Routledge.
19.
GrossJ. (2011). Education and hegemony: The influence of Antonio Gramsci. In LevinsonB. A. U. (Ed.), Beyond critique: Exploring critical social theories and education (pp. 51-79). Boulder, CO: Paradigm.
20.
GuajardoM.GuajardoF. (with del Carmen CasperaltaE.). (2008). Transformative education: Chronicling a pedagogy for social change. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 39, 3-22.
21.
HessD. (2009). Controversy in the classroom: The democratic power of discussion. New York, NY: Routledge.
22.
HimleyM.CariniP. F. (Eds.). (2000). From another angle: Children’s strengths and school standards. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
23.
IrvineJ. J.YorkD. E. (1995). Learning styles and culturally diverse students: A literature review. In BanksJ.BanksC. A. (Eds.), Handbook of research on multicultural education (pp. 484-497). New York, NY: Macmillan.
KwonS. A. (2008). Moving from complaints to action: Oppositional consciousness and collective action in a political community. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 39, 59-76.
26.
LeCompteM.SchensulJ. (1999). Designing and conducting ethnographic research. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
27.
LevinsonM. (2012). No citizen left behind. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
28.
LipmanP. (1998). Race, class, and power in school restructuring. Albany: State University of New York Press.
29.
MairaS. M. (2009). Missing: Youth, citizenship, and empire after 9/11. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
30.
MatskoK. K.HammernessK. (2014). Unpacking the “urban” in urban teacher education: Making a case for context-specific preparation. Journal of Teacher Education, 65, 128-144.
31.
MehanH. (1992). Understanding inequality in schools: The contribution of interpretive studies. Sociology of Education, 65, 1-20.
32.
MirraN.MorrellE. (2011). Teachers as civic agents: Toward a critical democratic theory of urban teacher development. Journal of Teacher Education, 62, 408-420.
33.
MojeE. (2007). Developing socially just subject-matter instruction: A review of the literature on disciplinary literacy teaching. Review of Research in Education, 31, 1-44.
34.
MorrellE. (2004). Becoming critical researchers: Literacy and empowerment for urban youth. New York, NY: Peter Lang.
35.
NygreenK. (2013). These kids. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
36.
RodriguezL.BrownT. (2009). From voice to agency: Guiding principles for participatory action research with youth. New Directions for Youth Development, 123, 19-34.
37.
RubinB. C. (2007a). Learner identities amid figured worlds: Constructing (in)competence at an urban high school. The Urban Review, 39, 217-249.
38.
RubinB. C. (2007b). “There’s still not justice”: Youth civic identity development amid distinct school and community contexts. Teachers College Record, 109, 449-481.
39.
RubinB. C. (2012). Making citizens: Transforming civic learning for diverse social studies classrooms. New York, NY: Routledge.
40.
RubinB. C.HayesB. (2010). “No backpacks” versus “drugs and murder”: The promise and complexity of youth civic action research. Harvard Educational Review, 80(3), 149-175.
41.
RubinB. C.JonesM. (2007). Student action research: Reaping the benefits for students and school leaders. National Association of Secondary School Principals Bulletin, 91, 363-378.
42.
SchultzB. D. (2008). Spectacular things happen along the way: Lessons from an urban classroom. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
43.
SchultzK.Jones-WalkerC. E.ChikkaturA. (2008). Listening to students, negotiating beliefs: Preparing teachers for urban classrooms. Curriculum Inquiry, 38, 155-187.
44.
StoudtB. (2009). The role of language & discourse in the investigation of privilege: Using participatory action research to discuss theory, develop methodology, & interrupt power. The Urban Review, 41, 7-28.
45.
ThomasD. (2006). A general inductive approach for analyzing qualitative evaluation data. American Journal of Evaluation, 27, 237-246
46.
ValenciaR. R. (Ed.). (1997). The evolution of deficit thinking. London, England: The Falmer Press.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
