READY projects focus on a wide range of topics related to education, teaching, and learning in formal and informal settings. Teams present their research as part of a featured poster session at the 91涩漫 Annual Meeting during which youth researchers discuss and visually display their work on large interactive screens. Scroll down to view READY project abstracts. To learn more about a team please click on the team’s name to be directed to the READY Teams page. Click on the project title to view the i-Poster presentation (if available) in the 91涩漫 i-Presentation Gallery.
2025 Projects 2024 Projects 2023 Projects
Black Girlhood Collaborative Youth Team
Project Title:
Youth Presenters: Kayleigh Alotch, Jaleah Brown, Jalexi Reed, K’haManni Smith, and J’Nelle Westersea
Black girls across the United States encounter considerable institutional barriers to educational success with limited opportunities to offer first-person embodied perspectives or counternarratives. Guided by the research question, “In what ways do environmental factors influence the joyful experiences of Black girls?”, we investigate the criticisms, aspirations, and dreams of Black girls within conventional, non-traditional, and informal educational spaces in Florida using Youth Participatory Action Research and creative qualitative methodologies. Our preliminary findings examine the significance of joy in the context of success. We aspire to enrich the academic discourse at the intersection(s) of gender, race, age, joy, and other determinants in the educational experiences of Black girls. Our goal is to urge educational key interest holders to foster positive learning environments for all students.
Full STEAM Ahead
Youth Presenters: Jamarion Berry, Keenan Cain Garrett Simmons, Jr. and Aleena Watson
We will be sharing results of student interviews conducted by youth researchers (YR) in year one of a five-year NSF-funded project. The purpose of the project is to examine how the STEAM lab embedded in DBG Detroit, a community-based youth development program, grows the STEM engagement of the Black youth they serve and creates affordances for the development of STEM efficacy, interests, and identity. In Year 1, the YR on our interdisciplinary team conducted interviews with 25 DBG students to begin answering two of our research questions: (1) How does DBG support students’ interest and participation in their embedded STEAM lab?; and (2) How is the STEAM lab curriculum structured to create opportunities for student engagement with STEM content?
Instituto Students Elevating Logros
Youth Presenters: Martin Hernandez, Yuceslimar Marquez, Alondra Mejia, Brenda Rivera, and Yohana Rivera
Latine migrant youth arrive in the United States seeking an education that mirrors their own experiences, as a way to confront the many inequities they face in and outside of their schooling (Yosso, 2013). This project seeks to understand how migrant youth that have recently arrived to Chicago engage in youth participatory action research (YPAR) and collectively co-create what they believe is a pathway toward racial understanding and healing through civic engagement. Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Latine Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) as a guiding theoretical and methodological lens, young people explore how they leverage their experiential knowledge to challenge dominant ideologies present in their school and communities.
The Localized History Project, AAARI@CUNY
Youth Presenters: Amy Feng, Violet Kim, Jessica Ong, Subah Sumaiiyat, and Ravi Vora
The Localized History Project, housed at the Asian American/Asian Research Institute@CUNY, is a New York State funded youth participatory action research project investigating the extent to which AANHPI history is taught in K-12 history classrooms in NY State, and presenting youth-driven curriculum alternatives to test-driven curricula. Our project seeks to challenge dominant colonial narratives in history, and we are building a counter archive of localized testimonies and oral histories that center working class, resistance, and solidarity-oriented stories. Our research operates at two levels of intervention. Firstly, our Youth Action Boards (YABs) work to build a community-driven archive of localized history. Secondly, our Youth Research Team produces mixed-methods surveys and assessment tools to evaluate the inclusion of AANHPI history in NY State and the experiences of AANHPI youth in schools. Preliminary findings suggest that students feel ignored and marginalized within regents-driven curriculum. Students feel as though important, identity-developing, and enriching American history is omitted. Informed from this data, we are constructing a community-driven archive that we hope to implement into schools, which will uplift a more truthful and complete history of AANHPI communities in NY State.
Lompoc Youth Action Research Team
Youth Presenters: Sophia Austin, Ameeya Dalmida, Jasmyn Hughes, and Madison Turner
This study explores Black high school student experiences in a California school district through an intersectional ecological framing of school safety (Edwards, 2021). Through photovoice, youth researchers found that Black students experienced (1) the pervasive use of the N word (2) teachers’ avoidance of addressing racist incidents, (3) racial microaggressions, (4) lack of culturally relevant coursework, and (5) disproportionate disciplinary response to Black students. Through this process, youth researchers found a space of healing, similar to bell hooks’ concept of “communities of resistance” (hooks, 1999). Despite the noted struggles this study presents, we found that the hope came from the opportunity to come together as a community to not only improve education for young people, but to heal and resist.
Relatable Xcholars
Youth Presenters: Laela Anderson, Soyeon Park, Hannah Pfab, and Eleanor Walz
Inspired by Inside Out 2, we explored the relationship between anxiety, belonging, and academic performance among high school students, particularly in the context of post-pandemic challenges. Grounded in participatory action research, we used mirrored window practices to reflect on our experiences of anxiety and belonging as we returned to in-person classrooms. We then compared these reflections with broader patterns observed in a larger population. Our findings highlighted that anxiety and belonging significantly impact academic outcomes, with peer belonging showing a stronger positive effect than school belonging. Notably, academic and expectation anxiety were positively linked to achievement, suggesting anxiety’s dual role as a challenge and motivator. These insights emphasize the importance of addressing anxiety and cultivating belonging to enhance academic success.
Asian American Students Disrupting Truth (AASDT)
Youth Presenters: Edeline Jung, Catherine Lee, Isaiah Lee, Caryn Seulah Cho, and Ethan Yeung
The concept of the United States as a "salad bowl" symbolizes the coexistence of diverse entities retaining their unique identities, a phenomenon increasingly evident in the varied backgrounds of American students. This diversity accentuates the necessity for multicultural education in English classrooms, where students' diverse identities are recognized and explored through literature, fostering analytical thinking and self-reflection. However, the implementation of multicultural education often leaves students of color feeling alienated due to a lack of representation and a predominantly white perspective in academic texts. With rising diversity and racial tensions, it's crucial to integrate culture-based curricula and focus on equity to align students' learning with their diverse backgrounds.
Our research investigates the impact of the US English curriculum on the division between students of color and White students through the lens of social identity theory, which suggests that individuals categorize themselves into in-groups and out-groups. We aim to understand how the curriculum contributes to racial divisions in classrooms and explore ways to foster a cooperative classroom environment that bridges the gap between the curriculum and students' racial identities.
Employing narrative inquiry, we plan to survey and interview students from various racial backgrounds in Long Island high schools, using online tools for data collection and analysis. By emphasizing the experiences of students of color, this study seeks to shed light on the crucial yet often overlooked perspective of these students regarding the US English curriculum. The goal is to advocate for inclusive curricula that embrace multiculturalism and encourage educational institutions to recognize the importance of diversity in fostering a more equitable learning environment.
Caminos de Biling眉ismo
Youth Researchers: Yadira Campos Lopez, Hamilton Dunn, Reese Furman, Vida Loeb, Damian Luna, Patrick Martin, Grayson Tate & Lilli Thoresen
New Vista High School (NVHS) students in Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) are co-designing and co-conducting a study exploring potential high school biliteracy pathways for their school and district. The research question students designed is What kinds of unique secondary bilingual programs could BVSD create to best help emerging bilinguals (EBs) across the district?
Inspired by other Youth Participatory Action Research projects (Cammarota & Fine, 2008), students are using interviews, observation, and photovoice to answer their research question. Students developed interview protocols and have interviewed students and parents from BVSD DLBE elementary and middle schools, students at a bilingual high school in nearby Denver, bilingual education teacher candidates at Metro State University, and bilingual education scholars at the BUENO Center. Students have already witnessed the transformational power of having high school content in Spanish in a community that supports a diversity of linguistic practices. Leaving a Denver high school’s bilingual program, students said, “I want this in BVSD.” In analyzing interviews, NVHS students found that younger students value the support for their culture and the opportunity to learn in Spanish and want to be able to continue doing this in high school. When we researched the history of bilingual education in the United States, a Senior student said, “what we’re doing is part of this history, we are fighting for this, too.”
There is a growing network of excellent DLBE schools across the country at the elementary and middle school level, but far fewer examples at the high school level. We believe student perspectives should be centered in program development, as well as in the development of policies that support culturally and linguistically diverse education. Our students will share their findings and recommendations bilingually to different stakeholders in BVSD in Spring 2024, with hopes of implementation starting in Fall 2024.
CARE Initiative
Youth Presenters: Faustine Gultom, Andrea Jasmine Lie, Sophia Lauwidjaja, and Summer Sykes
Our research partnership has a longstanding tradition of learning from and with Philadelphia community organizations, particularly those who advocate for Communities of Color in South Philadelphia. In recent years, youth members of our project have increased connections to the Chinatown neighborhood in Philadelphia, where in 2022, a sports team and billionaire-backed developers announced their attempt to build a major sports arena. This presentation will share how youth of color developed an intergenerational inquiry community to answer the following research questions: What can we learn from past fights against gentrification and displacement in Chinatown, as well as from current and former Chinatown residents, while resisting the building of a major sports arena in Chinatown? What educational practices comprise the Save Chinatown movement, and how might these inform school-based learning? To answer their research questions, youth planned and facilitated inquiry groups where they collectively determined their research methods and data collection. Through historical inquiries, community interviews, and participatory analysis, youth will share how learning about the Chinatown neighborhood, while being responsive to the needs and desires of members of that community throughout the research process, resulted in both an increased understanding of the community itself and in coalitional efforts to support Chinatown residents. The group documented how community groups use culturally responsive and linguistically inclusive critical literacy practices, as well as the arts, in their organizing – a form of education schools have much to learn from. The poster presentation links education to other social justice movements and considers pedagogical implications that can be drawn from these vibrant community education spaces. It also surfaces youth’s perspectives on what it means to undertake research that is led by community priorities and situated in community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005), and their practices for negotiating and embodying these ideals.
Center for Youth Equity
Youth Researchers: Tia Augustin, Jonta Gumms, and Shine Holmes
In the “Twisted Garden” project, African American students from New Orleans public schools used comics-based research methods to explore their experiences in the city’s privatized school system. The project aimed to counter the test score-focused narrative of educational success by creating culturally relevant knowledge that centered on youth perspectives. Their experiences were compiled into a graphic novel, “Twisted Garden.”
The study was informed by critical race theory and youth participatory action research methodology, supplemented by arts-based and decolonizing methodologies. Comics-based research, specifically collaborative graphic autoethnography, was employed. Data was gathered through participant-created comic narratives. The narratives highlighted the influence of gender, race, and class on their school experiences, the punitive environment under “zero tolerance” policies, and a sense of overlooked grief. Despite these challenges, a theme of the need for change emerged.
The project demonstrated the power of fiction in counter-storytelling and the transformative potential of comics-based research. The study calls for a shift towards asset-based, healing-centered approaches in education to address anti-Blackness and grief, advocating for changes in educational policies and practices.
Youth Researchers: Amil Risin
In the youth participatory action research (YPAR) project “This Is New Orleans,” young individuals from New Orleans employed an arts-based approach and video documentary/qualitative interview methods to explore community and youth perspectives of violence in the city. The project aimed to counter the prevailing narrative of youth violence by capturing the lived experiences of the youth and the community. The focus was on building economic opportunities in the city as a means to address the root causes of violence.
The data for “This Is New Orleans” was gathered through video documentaries and qualitative interviews, offering rich insights into the community’s experiences and perceptions of violence. The narratives highlighted the systemic issues contributing to violence and the need for economic opportunities as a solution. The project demonstrated the power of arts-based research in YPAR and the transformative potential of video documentaries in capturing and presenting complex social issues. The study calls for a shift towards asset-based approaches in community development to address violence, advocating for changes in socio-economic policies and practices by honoring the resilience of the youth and supporting their efforts to resist oppressive structures.
Columbia Heights Educational Campus Food Equity Team
Youth Researchers: Issa Batista, Gisselle Lainez, Ydidiya Nadew, Jasmin Ramirez
Two years ago, student engagement and motivation at the Columbia Heights Educational Campus (CHEC) were at an all-time low. Students pushed hard for more empowerment, and school leaders past efforts to engage students weren’t working. CHEC, which serves grades 6-12, subsequently adopted design thinking. The CHEC design thinking initiative turns traditional approaches on their head: students identify opportunities for change, then use participant-research to select solutions. Student voices are elevated, and the adults are there to advise, support, implement, and enable.
The Food Equity design team selected and researched solutions to a particular issue: reducing hunger and improving belonging by providing food that students want to eat. Student researchers are asking: Why don’t students eat in the cafeteria? How can the cafeteria environment be improved? Do students like what time they eat? Where do most students get food from before, during, and afterschool? How do students respond to to-go meals and snacks throughout the day?
Since starting this work two years ago, the student researchers have interviewed students around school, designed and administered school-wide surveys, met with the food vendor, conducted focus groups, and spoken with other food providers in the area. The first year of data collection activities helped the researchers understand why students don’t eat in the cafeteria, what they don’t like about the food, what they like to eat, where they like to eat, and what changes they would like to see. Their research has led to a new contract with the school’s food vendor and significant changes to the menu, the look and feel of the cafeteria, and school policies around when and where food is served.
Dialogical Pedagogy
Youth Researchers: Isabella Andino, Kay Castillo, Justin Lopez, Javier Nunez, Sarai Roca, Dayra Sanchez, and Jose Soso-Dolmo
We, student-researchers, a Global History teacher, and a Special Education teacher, engaged in a year-long participatory action research ethnographic study. Believing that classroom practices not only shape those who belong to them but are also shaped by its members, our study examined the process of creating discussions that revised, resisted, and reversed normative classroom practices. Namely, along with 22 other classmates/students, we created inclusive, student-led, academically rigorous class discussions. These discussions took place during the 2021-22 school year in two co-taught 9th grade Global I History classes located in a multicultural working-class community in the South Bronx. To analyze our class discussions, our data included 49 audio-recorded class discussions (totaling 36-hours), twelve class discussion reflections, and end-of-year interviews.
Our findings showed transformations in classroom hierarchy and discourse. The structure of student-led discussions which gave us freedom, roles, and responsibilities significantly increased our engagement and interest in learning. Vibrant global history class discussions were created that repositioned us (students) as (a) experts in classroom action and talk (facilitating, delegating tasks, pacing lessons, managing participation, materials, behavior, scaffolding, and notetaking); and (b) knowledge contributors who built on each other’s ideas to uncover textual evidence, connect enduring issues, and think critically about our worlds. Including everyone proved critical to such transformations. We are culturally, linguistically, and abilities diverse. Some of us are at the top of our class, some have individualized education programs and/or are English language learners. However, it was not these institutional distinctions that mattered during discussions. What was important was that by including everyone, our diversity of learning styles, personalities, and academic strengths transformed learning and created opportunities that went beyond what any of us could have done on our own.
Global Inclusion Alliance
Youth Researchers: Rusham Goyal and Amruta Patel
This study delves into the experiences of South Asian American students regarding the portrayal of South Asian culture and history in the world history survey course, aiming to discern its impact on their sense of belonging inside the classroom and connection to their communities outside of the classroom. It is rooted in the framework of 'windows and mirrors', which advocates for educational content to offer new perspectives alongside reflections of students' experiences, scrutinizing the (mis)alignment between teacher goals in crafting curriculum content and students' experiences. The research employs semi-structured interviews with self-identified students of South Asian origin. Situated within Saint Mary’s Hall, an independent school in San Antonio, Texas, the interviews illuminate students' interactions with the curriculum and their perceptions of its reflection of their cultural experiences. Qualitative analysis of interview data reveals emergent themes, including feelings of alienation during cultural holidays, dissatisfaction with the depiction of the caste system in relation to Hinduism, and discomfort stemming from discussions on colonialism. These findings underscore the significance of considering students' voice and lived experiences in shaping curriculum design. Recognizing the gap between South Asian American students' experiences and the curriculum, the study emphasizes the need for inclusive educational practices. The preliminary findings highlight the urgency of addressing discrepancies between curriculum content and students' cultural realities, emphasizing the importance of fostering inclusive learning environments.
Youth Researchers: Sohan Bhakta and Helen Trottmann
This study endeavors to use computational modeling to dissect the biases inherent in world history textbooks, particularly concerning representations of colonialism, and their impact on student understanding. By employing computational modeling techniques, the study aims to quantify and analyze these biases at scale. The algorithmic approach enables the examination of vast amounts of textual data from multiple sources, facilitating the identification of sentiments, biases, and language clusters. The algorithm developed for this study parses text sentence-by-sentence, categorizing words and phrases based on predefined dictionaries. Postcolonial theory, which views textbooks as institutional discourse, informs the choice of textbooks as a critical part of student engagement with world history content. Preliminary findings revealed a prevalence of pro-imperialist language in sections pertaining to British colonization of India, underscoring the need for more nuanced analytical tools. While the initial stage of the study served as a proof of concept, it also highlighted the necessity of refining the algorithm to capture the complexity of colonialist discourse accurately. To enhance the algorithm's efficacy, the study expanded to a collaborative effort to create more comprehensive dictionaries, leveraging the collective insights of students gathered through Google form data. Ultimately, this study aims to challenge the process by which textbooks and other educational resources are written by scholars and used by teachers in high school classrooms across the country.
Manual High School SVL Team
Youth Researchers: Kaelie Cazares, Iyari Hernandez-Bartolo, Flor Hernandez-Velasco, Abraham Munoz, Amorina Slaton, Indigo Smith, and Nevaeh Walker
Student researchers in this study are engaging in healing justice through their YPAR work. They are wanting to address, change, and transform the pieces of the school that bring inequity into their educational experience. Through interviews, best practices, a curriculum review board, and policy development, the youth team seeks to transform the education of future generations.
The purpose of this study is to gather data that can inform the development of a Professional Development Unit (PDU) for Manual’s teachers. Students seek to address three main issues through their work:
Initial findings from interviews and literature review led the team to create a Student Curriculum Review Board (SCRB). Preliminary results suggest that the SCRB has enabled students to feel higher levels of engagement in their classrooms. District leaders were particularly interested in this finding, as they too seek to understand how to better engage youth.
NextGen AI-ers
Youth Researchers: Despoina Georgiou, Georgios Georgiou, Christos Loannou, Cleo Smyrillis, and Constantinos Smyrilli,
The purpose of this study is to explore the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in revolutionizing education by examining the viewpoints of secondary school students, teachers, and university faculty. The data were collected from a sample in the Republic of Cyprus through anonymous online questionnaires and were analyzed through a mixed methods methodology. The teachers in the study believed to a higher extent that AI can be incorporated in the various school subjects, which were followed by the students and the academic faculty. The participants also believed that Physical Education was the subject in which AI would be used to the least extent. The qualitative analyses of the data showed that all participants believed that AI would be integrated in school in ways that would benefit themselves (instruction, assessment), without focusing on helping students develop competencies in collaborating with AI that would be useful for their future careers.
SEEJuSt
Youth Presenters: Abdirahman Abdulahi, Mahba Ahmad, Jasmine Chee, Ethan Lin, Kira Matsuoka Cody Shiang, and Sophi Tong
The purpose of this study is twofold. One, understand various perspectives of the stakeholders in the school food system regarding the problem of food waste and their proposed solutions. Two, examine the type and nature of students’ civic actions to mitigate food wastes in their school community. Employing participatory design research (Bang & Vossoughi, 2016) and community ethnography (Calabrese Barton & Tan, 2019), youths, educators, and researchers co-designed activities to explore and address the problem of food waste at the school cafeteria. The study context was a year-long interdisciplinary climate change course at a public high school in the pacific southwest of the United States. The participants were about 70 students who enrolled in the course including seven student researchers, five teachers, cafeteria workers, two custodians, and four administrators. Student researchers co-designed the unit and participated in data collection and analysis. Data sources include: a) interview transcripts with multiple stakeholders, b) youth survey and c) learning artifacts produced from the co-designed unit. The analysis reveals that stakeholders attended to particular aspects of the food system when framing the problem and proposing solutions, while rarely connecting the system and scales. It shows some discrepancy between the framing of the problem and the proposed solution. For example, many people attended to the existing policies and practices that caused food waste at the school, but they rarely proposed a solution or actions to change the policies and practices, instead, the most common proposed action was increasing people’s awareness. Based on the analysis about stakeholders’ perspectives, students took civic actions as a collective to address both the issues of increasing awareness and changing policies. Together, this study shows one possibility of leveraging students’ voices and agency through a collaborative partnership with researchers in the context of climate change education.
The Youth Research Council
Youth Researchers: Ruth Abebe, Duchmaa Ariunbold, Gilden Atongazi, Tsion Deressa, LemLem Lemma, Ziyad Sankoh, and Emily Ta
For the past seven months, we (the Youth Research Council, or YRC) have investigated where and why high school students feel safe and unsafe in Northern Virginia public schools using Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) methods. Through interviews, surveys, and other qualitative methods, we have gathered stories and insights from over 100 of our high school peers about what makes them feel safe and unsafe in school environments. We used dialogic and arts-based analysis to construct a framework for understanding what safety means, when and where students feel safe or unsafe in schools, and how students navigate un/safety in their daily lives. We have learned that Northern Virginia’s high schoolers’ feelings about safety depend on factors related to their identities and personal expression, encountering threats of violence, the implementation of school policies, and interpersonal relationships with teachers, administrators, staff, and students. We aim to share our findings and recommendations with school leaders, educational researchers, teachers, and everyone invested in creating inclusive, safe, and identity-affirming learning environments for all students.
Action Against Gender-Based Violence
Youth Researchers: Jaya Choudhry, Simon Goleszny, Akshita Nath, Kiran Oberai, Curtis Yeung
Girls often receive unsolicited sexual content and feel pressured to send sexual images (Mishna et al., 2020; Ringrose et al., 2021). Youth report lacking support from parents, schools, or other adults (Mishna et al., 2021), consistent with research findings that schools and organizations are ill equipped to deal with youth digital sexual intimacy and gendered harms (J酶rgensen et al., 2019). Youth are unhappy with education they receive on topics such as consent, sexual harassment, and LGBTQ+ rights (Keating et al., 2018). The objective of this project is to work with youth to raise awareness of online sexual and gender-based harassment and abuse, to increase youth’s ability to respond effectively.
Prior to COVID, the research team examined consensual and non-consensual sexting, through focus groups with youth from three schools and organizations, in which University of Toronto Schools (UTS) participated. One year later, as the research team planned a follow-up study, the School formed a Committee of students and staff to address online sexual harassment. The research team and the Committee decided to collaborate. We co-created and conducted a survey on online sexual harassment and abuse, with grade 7-12 students. We also co-created, implemented, and are evaluating an educational workshop for youth on this topic. The workshop was co-facilitated by school staff and the research team. A survey was administered before and after the workshop, to monitor our impact and inform workshop iteration. Finally, we are conducting short individual interviews with workshop participants who agree, to obtain further feedback. Preliminary results of the Online Sexual Harassment survey confirmed the need for information/education and effective strategies and support to respond to online and gender-based harassment. Preliminary workshop survey results indicate that the youth found the material relevant, timely, and helpful with regards to safety, advocacy, and self-care.
Cincinnati's Teen Think Tank
Youth Researchers: Safa Ahmad, Shahnaz Hassan, Abigail Rubinstein, Atlas Suarez
Due to the high prevalence of poor mental health experienced by teens during the COVID-19 pandemic, the recent rise of antisemitism, and anti-LGBTQIA+ movements, we engaged in a youth participatory action research (YPAR) project from May 2021 to August 2022 to design a community center in an underserved urban area located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Our project documents the research and design process we undertook to develop a space for people to access resources, gather safely to discuss difficult topics, and build supportive social networks. Over the course of the project, we engaged in a variety of data collection methods, including, conducting a Group Level Assessment, vision boards, photo documentation, and survey responses from event attendees. We also engaged in numerous brainstorming and design sessions. Since August 2021, our space has brought a total of 1,500 visits from community members and forty organizations, including LGBTQIA+ support groups and mental health services. When surveyed about their experiences attending events at the community center, approximately 200 teens responded that they felt accepted and safe; felt better about their social life; and felt better able to deal with stress. Our research seeks to prioritize the voices and wisdom of teens in educational and community-based settings, and for teens to be viewed as co-researchers, co-designers, and co-changemakers.
Columbia Heights Education Campus and the DC Education Research Collaborative
Youth Researchers: Jennifer Aguilar, Gustavo Rosas Cardos, Ydidiya Nadew , Belstar Nimon鈥怲oki, Elimane Samb
Columbia Heights Education Campus is a large public high school in Washington DC. This research project was designed and conducted entirely by CHEC students. Student engagement and motivation at CHEC is at an all-time low after students returned after the pandemic. Students complained that they were not being heard, pushed hard for more empowerment, and had higher expectations that they could affect their own decisions. School leaders saw what they tried in the past to engage students wasn’t working. This year, CHEC adopted “design thinking,” a way of problem-solving where all people who use a system could be heard. Design thinking has several steps, all of which require research, data collection, and analysis: identifying opportunities, designing change, putting change into place, and measuring whether the change made a difference. CHEC students led all aspects of the research. We collected and analyzed primary data, including interviews with parents, teachers, administrators, students, and experts; classroom observations; student shadows; surveys; and focus groups. Our research found three opportunities: increase students’ interest and options for the things they learn, provide healthy and culturally diverse meals for students in a fun and engaging environment, and make CHEC a place where students are heard, cared for, and empowered to make decisions for themselves. Based on our research, we designed an inter-disciplinary class where students would earn credit for traveling and then completing projects based on what they learned. We will study the impact of this class next year. We also worked with the school’s food supplier to make changes that address student needs and also fit within the nutritional requirements and budget. The result is more students eat school lunch in the cafeteria (even those who bring lunch from home) and fewer students wander the hallways. We will keep studying the impact of the changes and improving the food and programming. Finally, we will study whether students are actually empowered to see if the larger design thinking work made a difference.
Cyphers for Justice
Youth Researchers: Fatima Farrukh
The absence of mental health care facilities is a prevailing issue in American high schools affecting a substantial amount of individuals every year. My research was one of the many initiatives required to address this core problem- particularly the impact of lack of resources stemming from underfunding and the misallocation of resources that are available.
The prerogative during the preliminary stages of the research was to analyze why students were hesitant to reach out for help even though more than one third of the students in my high school reported feeling persistently sad or helpless and deteriorating standards of mental health.
My findings gathered through anonymous surveys suggested that the derogatory societal label of being the ‘problematic child’ inculcated within the students deep resentment towards the social workers and faculty specifically hired to cater to them, perpetuating the feeling of ostracization and prevented them from reaching out for help.
Additionally, my school having only one licensed worker to cater to the student body of over 600 students particularly stood out to me and prompted me to dig deeper into studying the correlation between the funding allocated towards a school and the students’ mental health, especially in Title 1 schools located in high crime neighborhoods. Interviewing the social worker at my school revealed the much deeper rooted, systematic problem in addition to the lack of resources and stigmatization such as the impact of dismissive teachers and parents, academic pressure, alienation caused by societal judgment, gang related activities etc.
Authorities need to address this issue on an urgent basis to prevent the generational impact poor mental health has on our nation as a whole. Something that might seem trivial, such as the decreasing graduation rates in a particular neighborhood, can prove to be extremely detrimental.
Youth Researchers: Xuyin Zhong
The “Asian Minority Myth'' is an ideology perpetuated in part by the high academic achievement of Asian-American children alongside racially-segregating beliefs. Asian American students are generally perceived to have higher academic achievement than other minority students; the myth disregards the multitude of intersectionalities of Asian American students and its implications on their success. This qualitative study explores perceptions of Asian American high school students in the New York City area. Data were drawn from the base-year survey of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) as well as other scholarly statistics and self-conducted surveys. The findings from such a study examine the complex relationship between Asian American student identities and perceptions regarding future opportunities and attitudes toward schooling. It is concluded that the academic success of Asian American students is influenced by the interplay of racial, ethnic, economic, and cultural identities of Asian American students. Furthermore, to create a more socially-conscious society, there is a need for a more comprehensive and diversified conception of Asian American students that encompasses their multiple intersectionalities.
Youth Researchers: Catherine Lee
Abstract: The purpose of this research project is to investigate the needs of international high school students in America. This study focuses on the testimonies of non-native English speakers, and how to best remedy the lack of support they receive in their high school life. For this study, the primary method of research was surveying students at Friends Academy and interviewing those who reported lower levels of English proficiency. Through the collection and presentation of this research, I hope to highlight the plight of students who are marginalized due to a lack of support in speaking the English language for school.
Youth Researchers: Stephanie Sosa
The research project explored the discrimination faced by LGBTQIA individuals in the United States public school system. The objective is to create a safer environment for LGBTQIA youth at schools and include their history and perspectives in public school curriculum. The data collection method used was interviews with students and teachers to gather their opinions on what needs to happen for the LGBTQIA community to exist safely in schools and reduce discrimination.
The data revealed that both students and teachers believed that schools should do more to provide a safe environment for queer students and include LGBTQIA issues in public school curriculum. The findings suggest that public schools have a duty to ensure that all students feel safe, and that including queer stories and history in curriculum, safe sex practices for queer individuals, and creating affinity spaces for queer students can help create a safer environment for LGBTQIA youth. The study aims to bring awareness of the need for empathy and representation of the LGBTQIA community in public schools.
Youth Researchers: Alitzah Pacheco
This research project focuses on the lack of equity in education for students in District 75 of New York City, and how it can limit their ability to reach their fullest potential.
The purpose of the study is to highlight the overrepresentation of minorities, lack of accessibility, and absence of evidence-based literacy instruction in District 75. The objective is to bring awareness to stakeholders regarding the many inequities children face, and the physical and mental trauma they experience on a daily basis, as a result of these inequities.
One-on-one interviews were conducted with those who have worked in District 75, and/or former and current students of District 75 in order to create an emotional connection with those who have been affected by the inequities of District 75.The aim is to showcase the issues that arise when school districts are underfunded.
Implications include the need for conversations about how access to resources and evidence-based literacy instruction affects school districts, those working within districts, and the students who are attending or have graduated from those districts. The goal is to bring awareness that will address the inequities in education and create change in the education system to ensure that all students receive a quality education that prepares them for future success.
Youth Researchers: Clarissa Kunizaki
This project explores how having teachers with the same/similar backgrounds as students in NYC public schools can affect students’ mental health. The study highlights the lack of diversity amongst school faculty, and considers possible impacts on students' identity construction and mental health.
There have already been studies establishing a relationship between having teachers from minoritized backgrounds and minoritized students’ academic performance. My study expands on this framework, to evaluate the impact of representation on students’ mental health in the midst of a teen mental health crisis that disproportionately impacts minoritized communities.
The objective of this study is be to help educators and legislators gain a better understanding of how important it may be for students to feel represented by their teachers (especially racially), and how it can impacts students’ mental health.
Freedom Area High School – Science Education Research Group
Youth Researchers: Carter Altvatter, Brandi Bonzo, Meadow Ging鈥怶argo, Leannah Messenger, Ana Shipman
The purpose of this inquiry is to investigate the efficacy of an intervention during high school science instruction. The epistemological foundations of student’s scientific knowledge were examined before and after the intervention, through written declarative statements about the nature of scientific practices. The intervention includes, but is not limited to, students engaging in authentic scientific practices using the Next Generation Science Standards.
Our research questions include: 1) How does an intervention affect students’ ability to describe science and scientists? 2) How does the explicit instruction affect the efficacy of transfer between engaging in scientific practices and forming declarative statements about science? 3) What is the gradient of change between simple and na茂ve statements to sophisticated and more accurate statements?
Testing these ideas requires our Youth Researchers to examine and code written statements from students who were prompted to answer the following questions: What is Science? What Do Scientists Do?
To measure student performance, several methods were employed, starting with the crude quantifiable measurement, such as character count in the responses. The next level of analysis was the coding of key words that show sophistication of scientific knowledge. And finally, student interviews were conducted to investigate the process of transfer.
The theoretical framework for this project relies on the notion that language and learning are inextricably linked, however, the mechanism for evaluating the causal agent remains unclear. For example, engagement in a practice does not necessarily mean that one is articulate in that practice. This tension is a criticism of sociocultural theory, which suggests that learning is situated, meaning that how one learns is dependent on the contextual nature of how the learning takes place.
The results show that despite making gains, learning implicitly is insufficient for articulating authentic scientific practice. This tension is examined in this study.
Students for Inclusion
Youth Researchers: Dar铆o Calder贸n鈥怌ano, Malena Calder贸n鈥怌ano, Ant贸n Fontao鈥怱aavedra, Indira Mart铆nez鈥恉e鈥怚larduya, Jorge Osa鈥怓ern谩ndez
Since 2020, a group of 16 high school students from different territories of Spain have held virtual meetings with some senior researchers to analyze their school experiences and build a guide aimed at other students initiating processes to make their own high schools more inclusive. They have made up a valuable intersectional support network (gender, ability, social class, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity, health, etc.) that has brought an activist movement for diversity: ‘Students for Inclusion’.
The Student Team has developed a Youth Participatory Action Research, to promote educational justice through inclusion, encouraging the young people themselves to lead changes in their own high schools. In turn, some of these students have built their life stories to illustrate school exclusion and inclusion processes as a help for other students.
The information used in the research is that generated through dialogue and joint work on their own school and life experiences. They have been developed through more than 20 online collective work sessions (recorded, analyzed, and categorized by themselves), meetings and coexistence, interviews and participation in public events.
As a result, an activist group has emerged offering mutual support, generating shared reflections, and promoting transformations. They have prepared student life stories, published a guide, participated in meetings with the Spanish Minister of Education, in teachers training programs… And they have starred in a documentary film entitled: ‘Inclusive education. Love is creating’.
The Youth Team and its research is opening resistance and resilience processes in the participants, who are recognized as people able to imagine and build other futures. The scientific rigor of the proposals, the collaborative construction with families and professionals, and the social impact of student work show the value of their knowledge, their critical sense and transformative ability, and the need to recognize the agency of all students without exception.
Team Peace and Education Coalition High School / DePaul University
Youth Researchers: Jayshaun Doyle, Andres Martinez, Derek Nash Jr., Layla Nash, Damari Robertson, Rotierra Smith
We are a team of five students attending a Chicago Public alternative high school for 16-21 year-olds on the South Side, our school counselor, and professors from DePaul University. We are working to improve our school and community by bringing awareness to mental health needs, especially among young people. We began this study by surveying students at our school about their experiences with mental health and mental health resources. Our questions included: What in your life causes you the most stress? If you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed out, or depressed, who do you talk to? If your school offered mental health resources, would you use them? If not, what’s holding you back? When was the last time someone asked you how you were, like really asked how you were honestly doing? We also interviewed some of our friends at school and are continuing to interview others including young people who are not currently in school, community mental health providers, and others knowledgeable about mental health issues in Chicago and Cook County. Our goal is to raise awareness, lessen stigma, and to improve access to mental and other health resources for young people—especially those who do not have access now. We want our school and community to know where to turn when they are struggling, and to know that they are not alone.
Thornton Fractional South High School Student Equity & Leadership Team
Youth Researchers: Isis Barrett鈥怰ogers, Dulce Gonzalez, Aayla Holiday, Kyndall Jackson, Breanna Lopez, Makalah Simpson
The purpose of this study was to understand the reflect upon how curriculum encourages student activism and the role of students in resisting and confronting racial inequity in their suburban public school. In order to come to a greater understanding of how and why such inequities are prevalent in public education, students studied “Toward a Critical RaceTheory of Education'' (Ladson-Billings and Tate, 1995) and “Whiteness as Property” (Harris, 1993). To apply their new learning to the school, student researchers held open invitation “listening rooms” to hear students’ concerns and have organized petition campaigns, seminars, and round table discussions. Additionally, students have conducted interviews about particular concerns to gather data to present to the Board of education. As new concerns arose students continued to research methods of organizing, tactics used by other schools, and alternative methods of schooling and discipline. A research partnership with Radically Imagining School Equity (RISE), a project of Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS) offered students access to school data and allowed students to converse with other high school students as well as professors about the circumstances in their school. Students have found that there is resistance to merely acknowledging the property function of Whiteness, let alone dismantling it. Their decision outlined in the original proposal to make public comments at Board of Education meetings has been actively discouraged, but has encouraged them to involve their parents in their struggle. Parents have recently been in conversation with one another about how to best support their students and join in their fight for a racially just school. While detoured from their original goal, students hope their project will inform practices on equity initiatives in similar schools. For example, student activist groups might seek to immediately enlist the support of parents in working toward equity.
Trinity Youth Scholars
Youth Researchers: Skarleth Elvir Betancourth, Mario Herrera, and Kimberlyn Salvador Avilez
The purpose of this bilingual qualitative study is to document and center the experiences of immigrant youth and their families while also exploring ideas of immigration reform from those directly impacted by immigration policies. The increasing numbers of migrant deaths on the Mexican and U.S. border is a humanitarian crisis that needs to be addressed. Our rationale for this study is to understand why, despite the increased numbers of migrant deaths on the border, there have not been any changes to immigration policies. Our research questions are as follows: 1) Why do so many immigrants die every year as they migrate to the U.S.? and 2) How can we change the laws to prevent these deaths from continuing happening? We use semi-structured interviews to explore the experiences of immigrants and the direct impacts of immigration policies on our everyday lives.
Youth Researchers: Ashby Casta帽eda
The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand why some people are racist and whether or not racist ideology can be changed. The rationale for this study is to explore how people come to their understanding and conclusions regarding racism. This study also seeks to explore people’s experiences with racism and discrimination and how they deal with these experiences. The research questions for this study are: 1) How does racism come to exist? and 2) Why are some people racist while others are not? Semi-structured interviews are used to deconstruct racism.
Youth Researchers: Daira Garc铆a Manzano and Shiara Ruiz
The purpose of this bilingual study is to identify what affects students’ mental health. There has been an increasing number of students experiencing mental health issues in schools, and schools are struggling to meet the needs of students regarding this issue. This study uses both semi-structured interviews and an online survey to center and highlight high school students’ experiences regarding mental health. The rationale for this study is to understand the many factors that impact students’ mental health and the ways they address and cope with mental health. The research questions for this study are 1) What affects students’ mental health? and 2) What can schools do to help support students struggling with their mental health?
Youth Action Council, Impression 5 Science Center
Youth Researchers: Jack Balzer, Evan Bohus, Aliyah Brown, Frankie Calabrese Barton, Maia James, Amyah Madison, and Grace Rose
Science centers offer young people opportunities and resources not traditionally available within schools. However, inclusion and participation in museum environments are patterned hierarchically, benefiting white, English-speaking and high-SES families. From curricula to exhibit design, museum experiences elide the lives of marginalized communities.
Since 2016, the Youth Action Council [YAC] at the Impression 5 Science Center, has engaged in participatory design-based research to “reclaim” the Center from colonial, white, heteropatriarchal histories, asking the questions: How does the Center maintain injustices such as racism? What design actions can we take to make our Center more humanizing and just for marginalized communities?
Through a critical race and justice-oriented infrastructuring perspective, we seek to identify normalized unjust structures; and create new conditions to resist and transform systems. The YAC is a racially diverse group of 20 youth who meet monthly to investigate, critically rethink and redesign the Center’s areas/programs, in partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Lansing and the University of Michigan. Using participatory design-based research, we gather and analyze data about the Center and user experience towards design and action-taking.
Our research has uncovered specific, material, historicized, and embodied ways coloniality and whiteness are enacted in/across the Center while also contributing to new justice-oriented infrastructures. In this way, new discourses, practices, and material representations have been developed that give just witness to youth lives and communities, transforming the realities and relationalities of/at the Center, including: a) Youth led-designed spaces at the Center reflecting diversity, inclusion, justice and equity in STEM (e.g., transformation of a main exhibit to reflect the community’s diversity; designing the Katherine Johnson room); b) Transforming the Center’s culture and decision-making process to require youth participation and centering intersectional justice; and c) Youth development (e.g., teamwork/design skills; critical agency; understandings of systemic injustices).
Youth Research Council
Youth Researchers: Dyhemia Cummings, Natale Gray, Sohan Jama, Oaklen Kalinichenko, Bethlehem Tekle, Jehan Ziboukh
A growing body of research demonstrates that racial microaggressions result in negative academic and mental health outcomes for Black and Brown youth. The Youth Research Council (YRC) was founded in 2021 to gather 30-40 racially and ethnically diverse youth as co-researchers (“YRC Fellows”), alongside researchers from George Mason University (GMU), to investigate the effects of racial microaggressions on high-school-aged youth. The YRC follows a youth participatory action research (YPAR) model, beginning from the view that students’ lived experiences and local, context-based knowledge, when analyzed using systematic methods and analyses, constitute strong evidence that can be utilized for decision making. YRC Fellows identified this research topic and subsequently designed a mixed methods research plan. They engaged in qualitative research by conducting interviews with their peers (n=150) and used a storytelling technique intended to gain a sense of the nuances of individual experiences. YRC Fellows analyzed interview and storytelling data using an adapted thematic analysis approach. Findings from this analysis then informed their creation of a survey to identify the prevalence of specific racial microaggressions and their effects on the mental health of high school-aged youth, as reported by youth respondents. Analysis of responses (n=730) were triangulated with interview and storytelling findings. YRC Fellows’ analysis of the survey data showed large variances in youths’ experiences with racial and ethnic microaggressions in school. For example, while 29% of White students reported some level of negative effect on their confidence or self-esteem, 71% of Black / African American students reported some level of negative effect (i.e., 15 times more likely). Fellows contextualized these results within their thematic analysis of interview and narrative data to identify nuanced findings, such as the intersections between racial microaggressions and gender, a topic they are now further investigating in the project’s second year (2022-2023).
YTER Canada: We are One
Youth Researchers: Selma Abdulkadir, Kanaalaq Hoyland, Nikki Kasaba, Cindy Li
This two year study took place in a rural high school in Western Canada, with approximately 35% of the students identifying as a visible minority. It represented a transformational experience for the researchers, the student participants and the school’s administration. Through a multi-layered approach involving the student body, focus groups, surveys, social media, and dialogue, the researchers came to a better understanding of newcomer and 1.5 generation students’ experiences, and uncovered the racial, cultural, linguistic, and religious challenges that these students so often face. Among these were lack of recognition and awareness about religion (e.g., holiday observances and prayer times), personal and family pressure to perform academically, racism, fear of backlash for cultural/ religious events, and lack of involvement/ connection to the school. The process afforded the school an opportunity to heighten awareness and understanding of the power of self advocacy and to encourage racial literacy in authentic discussions. The session will highlight the unique nature of the relationship among administration, researchers, educators, and student participants, and discuss how challenges were overcome through engaging students in proactive social justice initiatives. These included the creation of multimodal content (social media advocacy posts) that incorporated the pertinent themes revealed through the focus groups, and the formation of an advisory board that identified urgent issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion. The presenters will demonstrate how three distinct, but related levels (the micro (classroom, school), the meso (community), and the macro (provincial and/or national level practices and policies)) can work together to improve the way in which education systems interact with newcomer/racialized students. Additionally, the presentation will offer insights into and underscore the implications of how best educational practices can be addressed, particularly for newcomer students and pre-/in-service educators.
YTER – TEXAS 2023
Youth Researchers: Jose Medrano, Sharai Mondragon, Esteban Posadas, Ashley Sanchez
Concerns regarding the academic achievement of Emergent Bilinguals (EB’s), priorly defined as English Language Learners (ELs), have been a topic of exhaustive scholarly discussion in the US for many years (Abedi, 2002; NAEP, 2021). Texas educates the highest percentage of EBs in the nation (NCES, 2022). In Texas, the concerns of academic achievement of EBs intensify greatly amongst Long-term Emergent Bilinguals because EB’s have to overcome specific state language proficiency standards (TELPAS), in addition to the academic requirements of standardized testing set for by the state prior to graduation (Texas Education Agency, 2020). Very little is known about the trajectories of Long-term EB’s during the high school years. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to learn about the trajectory of Long-term EBs at two different high schools with a high-density of the population. This is a research project conducted by Emergent Bilinguals, about Emergent Bilinguals. This research will aim to cultivate youth researchers’ knowledge and interest in the field of education research. Additionally, it might contribute to a scarce body of research while allowing student voice to shed light into an area of needed study.