The Empowering Schools Project: Identifying the Classroom and School Characteristics That Lead to Student Empowerment

In an education system marred by inequity, urban schools in the United States are faced with the challenge of helping students from marginalized groups succeed. While many strategies have been tried, most are built on deficit-based models that blame students and teachers for a lack of achievement an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Youth & society 2017-09, Vol.49 (6), p.827-847
Main Authors: Kirk, Chris Michael, Lewis, Rhonda K., Brown, Kyrah, Karibo, Brittany, Scott, Angela, Park, Elle
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic achievement
At Risk Students
Blame
Case Studies
Classrooms
Coding
Critical Theory
Disadvantaged Youth
Educational Change
Educational Environment
Educational Improvement
Educational systems
Empowerment
Ethnic groups
Focus Groups
Group decision making
High School Students
High Schools
Inequality
Institutional Characteristics
Interviews
Leadership
Marginality
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Participant Observation
Participative Decision Making
Power
School environment
Secondary School Teachers
Sense of community
Student Attitudes
Student Characteristics
Student Empowerment
Student Leadership
Student teacher relationship
Students
Teacher Attitudes
Teacher Student Relationship
Teachers
Teaching
Urban Schools
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Summary:In an education system marred by inequity, urban schools in the United States are faced with the challenge of helping students from marginalized groups succeed. While many strategies have been tried, most are built on deficit-based models that blame students and teachers for a lack of achievement and ignore the role of power within the school setting. Building on the body of research on school climate, critical pedagogy, and empowering settings, the present study developed a model of student empowerment using a case study of an ethnically diverse urban high school in the midwestern United States. Participant observation, focus groups, and interviews were utilized to identify classroom and school characteristics related to student empowerment. Students reported equitable teacher–student relationships, integrated student leadership, and shared decision making. Similarly, school staff reported high staff empowerment and sense of community. The Student Empowerment Model is a useful framework for school improvement, adding “power” to the broader literature on school climate and extending the work on empowering settings to schools.
ISSN:0044-118X
1552-8499
DOI:10.1177/0044118X14566118