PREVENTING BULLYING AND IMPROVING SCHOOL CLIMATE THROUGH INTEGRATING YOUTH PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH INTO SCHOOL-WIDE POSITIVE BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS AND SUPPORTS

Presenters

John VandenburghFollow

First Presenter's Institution

Protect Connect Educate

First Presenter's Brief Biography

John Vandenburgh has spent his career working in the fields of youth development, safe schools and internet safety. He has served as a high school teacher, school site administrator and a district safe schools administrator. He now works with schools, communities and universities across the country addressing the latest youth development trends that are impacting the next generation of young people. John’s experience includes Developed and patented an internet safety social reporting tool for youth to utilize to address online harassment. He is the author of the Evidence Based PLUS Program, a Youth Participatory Action Research curriculum that is being utilized by schools nation wide to address building a positive school climate and safer environments for all students to be included in. His most recent work includes developing the Direction Survey and Resource Database for schools and communities to gather real time data to trend youth behavior.

Document Type

Event

Primary Strand

Positive Behavior Interventions and Support

Relevance to Primary Strand

Youth participatory action research (YPAR) is an equity-focused approach intended to generate local knowledge and democratise the production of research evidence. YPAR offers opportunities for new insights, and can be implemented successfully at scale. A Cal Berkeley research study found that YPAR evidence provided useful information for educational decision making, policies, and programs. University Florida research found Youth-led efforts can lead to positive developmental and socioemotional impacts, improvements in school climate, and reductions in bullying, while simultaneously improving SW-PBIS relevant outcomes and transforming school systems in the process.

Alignment with School Improvement Plan Topics

Climate and Culture

Brief Program Description

Stop doing the research on the students and start letting the students do the research on themselves! Youth participatory action research (YPAR) is an equity-focused approach that leads to positive developmental and socioemotional impacts, improvements in school climate, and reductions in bullying, while simultaneously improving SW-PBIS relevant outcomes and transforming school systems in the process.

Summary

Youth participatory action research (YPAR) is an equity-focused approach intended to generate local knowledge and democratise the production of research evidence. YPAR offers opportunities for new insights, and can be implemented successfully at scale. A Cal Berkeley research study found that YPAR evidence provided useful information for educational decision making, policies, and programs. University Florida research found Youth-led efforts can lead to positive developmental and socioemotional impacts, improvements in school climate, and reductions in bullying, while simultaneously improving SW-PBIS relevant outcomes and transforming school systems in the process.

What is YPAR? Simply stated, “stop doing the research on the students and start letting the students do the research on themselves!” Here, YPAR supports those people most affected by education policy – the students – to have the power to inform decisions that affect them. YPAR can broaden the set of evidence and perspectives that decision makers review to inform policy decisions.

Expected session outcomes: skills and insights participants should be able to gain :

Participants will learn three objectives from this workshop:

1. How Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) is used to gather quantitative and qualitative data to help in the development of school site policies and action plans.
2. How to utilize a youth leadership program to be a proactive organization in addressing school safety issues, such as Racism, Gangs, Violence, and Bullying.
3. How student voice activities led by students, can increase student engagement and academic achievement.

Evidence

Published in the Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness Youth Participatory Action Research in the High School Curriculum: Education Outcomes for Student Participants in a District-Wide Initiative

This study employed a quasi-experimental design to examine the effects of a school-based youth participatory action research program on the education outcomes of participating high school students. The program was a year-long elective course in six high schools in the same California district whose student population is predominantly low-income youth of color. A propensity score matching approach compared the reading achievement, attendance rates, and discipline referral rates of 153 students who participated in the program to nonparticipating peers with similar demographics and baseline scores on the outcomes. Results showed that the program significantl improved students’ attendance rates with less compelling evidence for its effect on reading achievement. These findings suggest that youth participatory action research may be an effective pedagogical practice for high school students, particularly low-income students of color.

Learning Objective 1

How Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) is used to gather quantitative and qualitative data to help in the development of school site policies and action plans.

Learning Objective 2

How to utilize a youth leadership program to be a proactive organization in addressing school safety issues, such as Racism, Gangs, Violence, and Bullying.

Learning Objective 3

How student voice activities led by students, can increase student engagement and academic achievement.

Recommended Citation

Vandenburgh, John, "PREVENTING BULLYING AND IMPROVING SCHOOL CLIMATE THROUGH INTEGRATING YOUTH PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH INTO SCHOOL-WIDE POSITIVE BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS AND SUPPORTS" (2023). Southeast Conference on School Climate. 45.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/secsc/2023/2023/45

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.