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YOUTH PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH

(YPAR)

Dr. Melanie Bertrand

Dr. Julio Cammarota

College of Education, University of Arizona

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Transformative and activist

Participatory

Situated and inquiry based

What is YPAR?

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Principle 1

Principle 2

Principle 3

(Rodríguez & Brown, 2009)

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  • Agency
  • Self-efficacy
  • Civic engagement
  • Critical consciousness
  • Academic skills

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(Cammarota, 2011; de los Ríos et al., 2015; Domínguez & Cammarota, 2021; Durand et al., 2025; Duncan-Andrade & Morrell, 2008; Garcia et al., 2015)

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What Youth Gain from YPAR

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YPAR…offers a powerful model of youth engagement, one that affirms the legitimate role that young people can and should play in the process of collecting and analyzing data that reveals the contemporary conditions of urban schools and communities.

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– Dr. Ernest Morrell, 2008

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Although they are the population with the most at stake in schools, youth are rarely engaged in conversations about the conditions of schools or school reform.

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– Dr. Ernest Morrell, 2008

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Ways youth have shaped policies through YPAR

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  • Equity in school discipline (Bal et al., 2022; Ko et al., 2022)

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  • Multicultural curricula (Cammarota, 2014)

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  • Equitable dress code (Welton et al., 2016)

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  • Anti-bullying practices (Bertrand, 2018)

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YPAR Activity: Think-Pair-Share

  • An instance you felt disempowered in school.
  • An instance you felt empowered in school

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(7 minutes)

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YPAR Activity: Think-Pair-Share

  • Shows how YPAR can create conditions for youth voice and agency.
  • Possible jumping-off point for collaborative research.