The Empowering Schools Project: identifying the classroom and school characteristics that lead to student empowerment

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Authors
Kirk, Chris Michael
Lewis, Rhonda K.
Brown, Kyrah K.
Karibo, Brittany
Scott, Angela
Park, Elle
Advisors
Issue Date
2017
Type
Article
Keywords
Urban context , Education , Qualitative methods
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Citation
Chris Michael Kirk, Rhonda K. Lewis, Kyrah Brown, Brittany Karibo, Angela Scott, Elle Park. The Empowering Schools Project: identifying the classroom and school characteristics that lead to student empowerment. Youth & Society. vol 49:no. 6:pp. 827-847, First published date: January-13-2015
Abstract

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.

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Publisher
SAGE Publications
Journal
Book Title
Series
Youth & Society;v.49:no.6
PubMed ID
DOI
ISSN
0044-118X
EISSN