This document describes a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) project conducted by a class of students. The students researched various social issues in their community through surveys, interviews, and reading research. They selected topics democratically and focused on issues like college pathways, school funding, and curriculum. For each topic, they investigated preliminary findings and connections to adolescent development, language/literacy, gender/sexuality, and representation of marginalized identities. The overall purpose of the YPAR project was for students to research local injustices and make recommendations to educators to enact positive changes.

2. What is YPAR?
 Youth Participatory Action Research
 A class of students who research issues within their
community that concern them
 Focusing on local issues of injustice
 Collecting data such as surveys, interviews & reading
research & current events to familiarize ourselves with the
issues.
 We continue to use our research to bring the issues to light &
make a change
 We will make recommendations to teachers and
administrators to make changes in the school

3. Topic Selection
 Spent first quarter of semester learning about various social
injustices
 Selection process
 Was a democratic process
 We brainstormed & discussed a list of possible topics
 We anonymously voted
 We compromised & not all topics were chosen because of
lack of interest

4. Final Topics
 College & career pathways
 Curriculum & instruction
 School & district funding
 School rules & structures

5. College & Career Pathways
 This group is researching
 Drop out rates for privileged vs. marginalized groups
 Access to scholarships for minoritized students
 AP course recruitment for minoritized students

6. College & Career pathways
 Preliminary findings
 More students from minoritized groups have or know someone who has
dropped out
 Black and Latina/o enrollment in AP or AP prep courses is disproportionately
low, & those who are in enrolled are one of few in these courses. This is
problematic because these courses are designed to prepare students for
college
 Connections to the conference theme
 Adolescent development
 Teachers, counselors and administrators need to work to help students, especially
students of color and English Language learners acquire resources to reach their
full potential and achieve their post high school goals whether it be college or
career.
 Language & literacy
 ELLs are marginalized and unable to fully develop in an environment that
specifically caters to native English speakers. When ELLs are segregated from
mainstream classroom opportunities they don’t get access to the rigorous academic
preparation necessary for college.

7. School & District Funding
 This group is considering
 How UHS textbooks are old, crumbling, & out of date
 How some classroom materials (like calculators) are too
expensive for everyone to afford
 How the school cafeteria food lacks nutritional value & is low-
quality
 How students with mental health concerns are treated by staff
& peers, & what supports are available to them

8. School & District Funding
 Preliminary findings
 ¾ of our student body is under the poverty line, and this is a 10%
increase from the previous school year.
 60% of students in poverty are of color
 Our school currently has a $6 million dollar field house that was
funded by a 1% tax increase. None of this money went to
improving our educational materials.
 Connections to conference theme
 Language and literacy
 Text (such as textbooks) are a form of communication. Often times
students go home and ask their families for help, and the textbook is
a way for students to communicate with their families about what
they are learning in school as well use the text to seek assistance on
assignments.

9. School Rules & Structures
 This group is considering
 How dress code enforcement differs based on students’
identities
 How PDA is mostly discouraged for same-sex couples
 How the current gender structures & categories (bathrooms,
forms, etc.) in school impact transgender students

10. School Rules & Structures
 Preliminary findings
 Students need to be better informed about LGBTQ students &
their identities
 Students perceive gender & sexuality as a binary and don’t
consider how it is a spectrum
 Connections to the conference theme
 Gender & sexuality
 Students who identify as heterosexual are privileged (i.e.
heterosexism) because school rules & structures are designed to
support them & their identities. Because of this heterosexism we
don’t think about how schools academically disadvantage
students of LGBTQ identities.

11. Curriculum & Instruction
 This group is considering
 How marginalized identities are underrepresented in the
curriculum
 How Eurocentric the World Studies courses are
 How most texts we read are written by dominant groups

12. Curriculum & Instruction
 Preliminary findings
 Most marginalized groups noticed that there is a lack of identity
representation in the curriculum, where as most students of
dominant groups did not see an issue of representation.
 Most concerning, almost all marginalized groups agreed that their
classroom settings were hostile when certain aspects of their
identities were brought up
 Connections to conference theme
 Adolescent Development
 Students need to have aspects of their identity represented and
respected in the classroom situation to further the development of
their identities. With no or poor representation, it hinders students’
personal development

13. Q & A