Disparities in academic performance based on race in the United States are a persistent problem. As a result, a plethora of remedies such as using student-centered instructional strategies, de-tracking, ensuring low teacher-student ratios, and promoting high teacher expectations for all learners have been tried with limited success. Thus, this…

Introduction: Several studies demonstrate the benefits of socially critical work in physical education and sport which value the importance of taking action intended for democracy, empowerment and critical reflection [Devis-devis, Jose. 2006. "Socially Critical Research Perspectives in Physical Education." In "The Handbook of…

Educational disparities are deeply entrenched in U.S. society. Our research focused on a move toward equity and investment in one Midwestern charter school via the implementation of the African American Student Network. Participants were 15 male and 15 female students in Grades 9 to 12 who participated in the network for one semester. Qualitative…

The Juntos Program empowers Latina/o students and their families to gain the knowledge and resources necessary for academic success in high school and college. This is made possible via four interlinking components: Family Engagement; 4-H Clubs; Success Coaching and Mentoring; and a Juntos Summer Academy. Nineteen focus groups with participants in…

Photovoice is an innovative participatory action research (PAR) method that empowers groups, especially marginalized ones, to define, analyze, and critique their communities through photography and the analyses of photographs. The purpose of this study was to showcase the implementation of the different steps of photovoice methodology. The first…

The funds of knowledge framework promotes connecting community contexts with curriculum aimed to activate children's prior knowledge. Typically, teachers determine what knowledge sources harmonise best with their existing programming, potentially omitting particular resources that may not align. Young children, on the other hand, can act as agents…

The purpose of this study was to investigate elementary students' creating processes and perspectives through composition. Two fourth-grade classes took part in this action research, which consisted of creating four compositions--two with acoustic instruments and two with computer software. For each of the two sound sources, the first composition…

This paper uses Nancy Fraser's concept of participatory parity to reflect on data gathered by and from third year students in a final year research module in the Women's and Gender Studies Department at the University of the Western Cape in 2015. During the course students developed a research proposal, collected and shared data with other…

This study conducted a secondary analysis using data from the "National Longitudinal Transition Study-2" (NLTS-2) to examine the degree to which three of the four essential characteristics of self-determination (autonomy, psychological empowerment, and self-realization) predict enrollment in, and completion of, postsecondary education…

This work chronicles strategies used to engage a low-income rural community in the development of a middle school service-learning curriculum. Through interviews, focus groups, meetings, and retreats, we engaged in a cycle of implementing the curriculum, soliciting feedback, and revising materials. The community's feedback led us to simplify the…

Research on teaching visioning supports the claim that visioning functions as a tool to support beginning and in-service teachers in their efforts to develop equitable, student-centered learning contexts. While research on teacher visioning has provided insight into the nature of visioning, more research is needed to document the ways in which…

The aim of this study was to examine the mediating effect of the Five Cs of Positive Youth Development (PYD) on the relationship between students' perceived school empowerment and school satisfaction, as well as gender differences in these relationships. The data stemmed from a cross-sectional survey of 997 adolescents from four upper secondary…

This paper uses photo-cued interviewing and grounded theory approaches to understand student empowerment resulting from study abroad programs. Using data from 62 students who traveled to 9 countries on several different programs, this paper highlights what student empowerment as an outcome of study abroad can look like and how student empowerment…

In this study, we investigated how various teaching behaviors influence student interest as a situational variable. Specifically, we studied how behaviors related to "catch" interest (i.e., ephemeral aspects of the learning environment such as instructor humor, nonverbal immediacy, intellectual stimulation) and "hold" interest…

This one-year qualitative study examined the ways in which five Chicana/o and Latina/o teachers committed to social justice perceived their roles in their college-going work with Latina/o students, as well as the challenges threatening their efforts with students. Building on Stanton-Salazar's (2011) concept of "empowerment social…