The Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative (WEC) has conducted a review of relevant literature on and existing efforts to promote youth participation in decision making, particularly in the context of education. The purpose of this review is to support capacity building efforts within the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (WI DPI) and the…

This paper reports on the findings of an Erasmus project entitled 'ReHaRe' (Reaching the Hard to Reach). The aim of this project is to develop more inclusive learning environments. The project adopts an action research approach and gives school pupils a role as researchers who plan, evaluate and develop lesson plans in collaboration with their…

Partnerships between teachers and parents from nondominant communities hold promise for reducing race- and class-based educational disparities, but the ways families and teachers work together often fall short of delivering systemic change. Racialized institutional scripts provide "taken-for-granted" norms, expectations, and assumptions…

This article explores how and why a group of Latino/a high school students identify and explain racism differently over the course of an 18-month participatory action research (PAR) project. To do this we examine what recent scholarship has termed racial microaggressions in what is thought of as the Post-Racial America public school system.…

Acknowledging children as rights-holders has significant implications for research processes. What is distinctive about a children's rights informed approach to research is a focus not only on safe, inclusive and engaging opportunities for children to express their views but also on deliberate strategies to assist children in the formation of…

This article revisits the theme of the clash of interests and power relations at work in participatory research which is prescribed from above. It offers a possible route toward solving conflict between adult-led research carried out by young researchers, funding requirements and organisational constraints. The article explores issues of…

Rooted in feminist philosophy, critical race theory, and participatory action research (PAR), I partnered with four faculty and four students at an elite, private, college preparatory day school for boys in order to examine bullying. In this article I closely examine the role of language and discourse when conducting counter hegemonic research…

The search for new designs for improving parent involvement is a common issue in many schools today. The notion of local control of education in First Nations communities in Canada is directly linked to the need for parental involvement in schooling. This study utilizes a participatory research approach to examine views on community involvement…

This study examines how socially conscious bilingual Latino educators, specifically prepared to teach underserved children, resist multiple layers of hegemonic structures. The participants are five beginning Spanish bilingual teachers who teach in urban and semi-rural elementary schools. The study explores how their resistance unfolds as they…

This paper emerges out of a larger qualitative study that aimed at mapping barriers to basic education experienced by children and adults in the context of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. The study was undertaken in Richmond district and involved a range of centres of learning (formal and informal) including three high schools, five primary schools,…