Insofar as youth participatory action research (YPAR) aims to produce knowledge that is local, timely, and meaningful to young people, the model has the potential to inform educational policy and practice and promote accountability to young people among district and school leaders. While youth-generated research is designed to be useful, however, little is known about its use. In this study, Ozer and colleagues will examine the conditions under which school and district decision makers use youth-generated research to inform policies and practices. The team will leverage variation across different districts and YPAR projects to reveal the conditions, organizational structures, and policies that are associated with adult decision makers’ use of YPAR research in 16 schools in 7 districts. The team will survey and interview decision makers, observe student presentations, interview youth, conduct structured observations of policy meetings, and code relevant district and school documents. Ozer and colleagues will assess how adults make sense of and apply the YPAR findings in their work. They will also examine how their use of the research relates to their more general support for youth voice, the roles and power relations of students and adults in the YPAR projects, and the broader local and state policy context. The study breaks new ground in understanding what happens when students produce their own research insights and the conditions under which this research is more or less likely to be used.
Under what conditions do school and district decision makers use youth-generated research to inform policies and practices?
