The Development of Critical Consciousness in Adolescents of Color Attending “Opposing” Schooling Models

2021 ◽  
pp. 074355842110064
Author(s):  
Scott Seider ◽  
Daren Graves ◽  
Aaliyah El-Amin ◽  
Lauren Kelly ◽  
Madora Soutter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Schools ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Ethnic Studies ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Consciousness Development ◽  
Adolescents Of Color ◽  
Longitudinal Survey Data ◽  
Departments Of Education ◽  
Rates Of Growth

Critical consciousness refers to the ability to analyze and take action against oppressive social forces shaping society. This longitudinal, mixed methods study compared the critical consciousness development of adolescents of color (n = 453) attending two sets of high schools featuring schooling models that represent “opposing” approaches to education. The participating adolescents were 13-15 years old at the start of the study; the majority identified as African American or Latinx; and nearly 80% came from low-SES households. They attended public charter high schools located in five different northeastern cities. Analyses of longitudinal survey data revealed that the adolescents attending these two sets of high schools demonstrated greater rates of growth on different dimensions of critical consciousness over their four years of high school. Qualitative interviews with youth attending these two sets of schools(n = 70) offered evidence of the long-theorized relationship between critical consciousness and problem-posing education, but also that effective practices supporting youth critical consciousness can be found embedded in schools featuring a broader range of pedagogies. These findings offer support for ethnic studies and action civics programming that several state departments of education have recently added to secondary school curricula.

Fostering the Sociopolitical Development of African American and Latinx Adolescents to Analyze and Challenge Racial and Economic Inequality

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 756-794 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Seider ◽  
Lauren Kelly ◽  
Shelby Clark ◽  
Pauline Jennett ◽  
Aaliyah El-Amin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
High Schools ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Sociopolitical Development ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Latinx Adolescents ◽  
Insight Into

Sociopolitical development refers to the processes by which an individual acquires the knowledge, skills, and commitment to analyze and challenge oppressive social forces. A growing body of scholarship reports that high levels of sociopolitical development are predictive in adolescents of a number of key outcomes including resilience and civic engagement. The present study explored the role that urban secondary schools can play in fostering adolescents’ sociopolitical development through a longitudinal, mixed-methods investigation of more than 400 adolescents attending “progressive” and “no-excuses” high schools. Analyses revealed that, on average, students attending progressive high schools demonstrated meaningful growth in their ability to critically analyze racial and economic inequality, while students attending no-excuses high schools demonstrated meaningful growth in their motivation to challenge these inequities through activism. Qualitative interviews offered insight into youth’s perceptions of the programming and practices at their respective schools that contributed to their sociopolitical development.

The Development of Critical Consciousness

2020 ◽  
pp. 202-221
Author(s):  
Scott Seider ◽  
Aaliyah El-Amin ◽  
Lauren Leigh Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Sociopolitical Development ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Conceptual Frameworks ◽  
Consciousness Development ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Pedagogical Approaches

Critical consciousness refers to the ability to recognize and analyze oppressive political, economic, and social forces shaping society and to take action against these forces. Critical consciousness is often conceptualized as consisting of three distinct yet overlapping dimensions: critical reflection, political self-efficacy, and sociopolitical action. In this chapter, the authors report on a growing body of scholarship that has found critical consciousness to be predictive of a number of key outcomes for individuals from oppressed groups and their communities. They also report on a number of conceptual frameworks theorizing the processes underlying critical consciousness development, describe several new scales for measuring such development, and review a diverse set of pedagogical approaches to fostering critical consciousness. The chapter concludes with several of the key issues that the authors believe are ripe for scholars interested in critical consciousness and sociopolitical development to take on in the coming years.

Critical Consciousness Development

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatma Aydin ◽  
Kristen Adams ◽  
Laura Barsigian ◽  
John Bruner ◽  
Chih-Ting Chang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Consciousness Development

Safe Spaces: Gay-Straight Alliances in High School

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Fetner ◽  
Athena Elafros ◽  
Sandra Bortolin ◽  
Coralee Drechsler
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
High School ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
High Schools ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Safe Space ◽  
Safe Spaces ◽  
Complex Concept ◽  
The People

In activists' circles as in sociology, the concept "safe space" has beenapplied to all sorts of programs, organizations, and practices. However,few studies have specified clearly what safe spaces are and how theysupport the people who occupy them. In this paper, we examine one sociallocation typically understood to be a safe space: gay-straight alliancegroups in high schools. Using qualitative interviews with young adults inthe United States and Canada who have participated in gay-straightalliances, we examine the experiences of safe spaces in these groups. Weunpack this complex concept to consider some of the dimensions along whichsafe spaces might vary. Participants identified several types of safespace, and from their observations we derive three inter-related dimensionsof safe space: social context, membership and activity.

Using a Narrative Approach to Analyze Longitudinal Mixed Methods Data

2020 ◽  
pp. 155868982095323
Author(s):  
Maureen R. Waller ◽  
Lenna Nepomnyaschy ◽  
Daniel P. Miller ◽  
Meaghan Mingo
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Longitudinal Survey ◽  
Fragile Families ◽  
Narrative Approach ◽  
Case Histories ◽  
Multiple Factors ◽  
Longitudinal Survey Data ◽  
Research Designs

Despite growing interest in longitudinal mixed methods research designs, more strategies for analyzing and integrating these data are needed. This article contributes to the field of mixed methods research by presenting a novel narrative approach to data analysis in longitudinal studies. Our approach involves the transformation of longitudinal survey data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study into narrative case histories. We use qualitative interviews from participants in an embedded study to select survey variables for data transformation and to explain unexpected survey outcomes. Our analysis shows how multiple factors converge to enable or constrain fathers’ involvement with children in five different fathering trajectories, and how the narrative frames of some disadvantaged fathers may facilitate their sustained involvement.

Embodying justice: Situating college student articulations of social justice in critical consciousness

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-68
Author(s):  
Alexander Harris Jones
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
College Student ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Affect Theory ◽  
Affective Domain ◽  
Christian College ◽  
Adverse Impact ◽  
Consciousness Development

Many American evangelical college students today enter into college with a new awareness of justice-related issues. However, situating student commitments to justice in a larger discourse on critical-consciousness development is necessary for educators to assist students in their justice development. This article reviews the literature on critical-consciousness development and places it in conversation with Deleuzian affect theory, suggesting that extant theory does not take into account the affective domain of critical-consciousness growth. This article also demonstrates common ways Christian college students might portray themselves as critically aware through distinctly Christian tropes that express their passion for and commitment to justice. These tropes, which commonly include human trafficking, diverse friend groups, and being globally-minded, actually have an adverse impact on social justice. By better understanding these tropes as masquerading critical consciousness and by understanding how students become critically aware through affect theory, educators and mentors can more adequately guide students in their attempts to seek justice.

Critical consciousness

2017 ◽  
Vol 98 (5) ◽  
pp. 18-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaliyah El-Amin ◽  
Scott Seider ◽  
Daren Graves ◽  
Jalene Tamerat ◽  
Shelby Clark ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Black Students ◽  
Urban Schools ◽  
Academic Motivation ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Promising Practices ◽  
Marginalized Students ◽  
Consciousness Development ◽  
Motivation And Achievement

Research has suggested that critical consciousness — the ability to recognize and analyze systems of inequality and the commitment to take action against these systems — can be a gateway to academic motivation and achievement for marginalized students. To explore this approach, the authors studied six urban schools that include critical consciousness development in their mission. Three strategies emerged as promising practices that schools can use to develop black students’ critical consciousness and harness the connection between critical consciousness and student achievement. They include teaching students the language of inequality, creating space to interrogate racism, and teaching students how to take action.

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