Apprenticing urban youth as critical researchers: implications for increasing equity and access in diverse urban schools

Educational scholars have argued that poverty can hamper student achievement. In this critical discussion paper, we provide a historiography of how urban poverty increased in America over the last 30 years of the 20th century. We contend that educators and educational researchers working in P-12 urban schools should understand how federal urban policies contributed to the academic opportunity gap. To show how these federal polices still affect urban youth today, we provide demographic, housing, and crime data from two school districts in Nashville, Tennessee. These data shed light on the adverse effects federal policies have had on urban districts when compared to their suburban counterparts. As such, we believe there is a need for a reconceptualization of the type of research conducted in P-12 urban schools. We end by providing recommendations for how this shift might occur.

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Note to Educators: Hope Required When Growing Roses in Concrete

Harvard Educational Review ◽

10.17763/haer.79.2.nu3436017730384w ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 79 (2) ◽

pp. 181-194 ◽

Cited By ~ 177

Author(s):

Jeffrey Duncan-Andrade

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Urban Schools ◽

Urban Youth ◽

Educational Practice ◽

Critical Hope

In this essay, Jeff Duncan-Andrade explores the concept of hope, which was central to the Obama campaign, as essential for nurturing urban youth. He first identifies three forms of "false hope"—hokey hope, mythical hope, and hope deferred—pervasive in and peddled by many urban schools. Discussion of these false hopes then gives way to Duncan-Andrade's conception of "critical hope," explained through the description of three necessary elements of educational practice that produce and sustain true hope. Through the voices of young people and their teachers, and the invocation of powerful metaphor and imagery, Duncan-Andrade proclaims critical hope's significance for an education that relieves undeserved suffering in communities.

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The Stories We Tell: How Merit Narratives Undermine Success for Urban Youth

Urban Education ◽

10.1177/0042085918817342 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 55 (3) ◽

pp. 394-423 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Gretchen Givens Generett ◽

Amy M. Olson

Keyword(s):

Urban Schools ◽

Urban Youth ◽

American Dream ◽

Status Quo ◽

Hard Work ◽

Educational Success ◽

The Status ◽

Analyze Data

This article looks at the American Dream as a merit narrative to understand how it supports barriers to educational success for educators working to improve the lives of students in urban schools. Hard work/perseverance and individualism are interrogated as components of merit narratives used to sustain the American Dream. We analyze data from six educators who identify as advocates. We conclude that the stories educators tell reify individuals’ hard work/perseverance, rather than dispel myths of meritocracy, thereby blaming the lack of success on students’ inadequate effort as opposed to schools designed to maintain the status quo.

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