May 2023
As part of the AERA Youth Teams in Education Research Program (YTER), 13 competitively selected teams of high school students participated in the place-based component of the 2023 Annual Meeting. The teams, which included 79 students from the U.S., Canada, and Spain, traveled to Chicago to present their research in a featured poster session and to take part in a mini-workshop.
YTER builds on AERA’s established commitment to engage with high school youth and provide opportunities that foster their interest in education research and expand their knowledge of the field. The program also aims to highlight the work of youth who are actively engaged in research that takes up critical questions related to education. In this first year of a two-year pilot, YTER attracted an expansive pool of strong proposals from across the country and around the world. Proposals are submitted by education researchers who serve as team leaders.
During the meeting in Chicago, YTER participants attended a selection of high-profile sessions, including the Opening Plenary and the Presidential Address. Program activities also included workshop sessions with leading scholars, which were designed to offer students insights into the field from multiple vantage points. In each of these sessions, the lively discussions were propelled by the students’ provocative and insightful questions about their own work and about the field.
One of the highlights of the two-day program was the featured poster session held April 14. The session, which drew a large, enthusiastic audience, offered youth researchers an opportunity to discuss their work with a broad segment of Annual Meeting attendees. The students’ research projects employed a range conceptual frameworks and methodologies to focus on a number of key issues and topics, including special education, student motivation and activism, mental health, discrimination and harassment in education contexts, social justice, and inclusive education, among others. Annual Meeting registrants can access the YTER poster presentations in the AERA i-Presentation Gallery.
“YTER creates a space for AERA to re-engage with youth researchers and showcase their work,” said Lori Diane Hill, AERA associate executive director for programs. “The level of interest from high school students around the world who are conducting high-quality education research speaks to the value of the initiative. YTER is an important extension of our commitment to cultivate the next generation of education researchers.”
A Call for Proposals for the 2024 Youth Teams in Education Research Program, which will take place during the Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, will be released in September. Questions about the program should be directed to edresearch@aera.net.
2023 YTER Participants
Trinity Youth Scholars
Team Leaders: Enrique Aleman, Jr., Trinity University; and Lisa Mendoza Knecht, Trinity University
Telling the Immigrant Stories, Skarleth Elvir Betancourth, Mario Herrera, and Kimberlyn Salvador Avilez
Understanding Racism, Ashby Castañeda
The Mental Health Challenges of High School Students, Daira García Manzano and Shiara Ruiz
Youth Action Council, Impression 5 Science Center
Team Leaders: Angela Calabrese Barton and Wisam Sedawi, University of Michigan
Reclaiming Our Science Center Towards Social Justice, Jack Balzer, Frankie Calabrese Barton, Evan Bohus, Aliyah Brown, Maia James, Amyah Madison, and Grace Rose
Students for Inclusion
Team Leaders: Ignacio Calderón-Almendros, Teresa Rascón-Gómez, and Luz Mojtar-Mendieta, University of Málaga
Emerging Narratives on Inclusive Schooling, Darío Calderón‐Cano, Malena Calderón‐Cano, Antón Fontao‐Saavedra, Indira Martínez‐de‐Ilarduya, and Jorge Osa‐Fernández
Youth Research Council
Team Leaders: Meagan Call-Cummings, George Mason University; Bethany Monea, University of Pennsylvania; and Giovanni Dazzo, University of Georgia
The Intersectional Impacts of Racial Microaggressions in High Schools: A YPAR Investigation, Dyhemia Cummings, Natale Gray, Sohan Jama, Oaklen Kalinichenko, Bethlehem Tekle, and Jehan Ziboukh
Cyphers for Justice
Team Leader: Limarys Caraballo, Teachers College, Columbia University
The Silent Epidemic, Fatima Farrukh
Exploring Intersectionality: Asian American Students and Academic Excellence, Xuyin Zong
Language Experiences of International ELL Students in an American Secondary School, Catherine Lee
LGBTQIA+ Discrimination at School, Stephanie Sosa
Addressing Inequity in Special Education, Alitzah Pacheco
Exploring the Relationship between Teacher Diversity and Students’ Mental Health, Clarissa Kunizaki
Action Against Gender-Based Violence
Team Leaders: Faye Mishna, University of Toronto, Jennifer Cypher, University of Toronto Schools, and Crescencia Fong, University of Toronto Schools
Collaborating to Address Online Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment and Abuse, Jaya Choudhry, Akshita Nath, Kiran Oberai, and Curtis Yeung
Team Peace and Education Coalition High School/DePaul University
Team Leaders: Joby Gardner, Thomas Noel, Jr., and Rebecca Michel, DePaul University
Improving Our Community by Promoting Youth Access to Mental Health Services, Jayshaun Doyle, Andres Martinez, Derek Nash, Jr., Layla Nash, Damari Robertson, and Rotierra Smith
Thornton Fractional South High School Student Equity & Leadership Team
Team Leaders: Guadalupe Ramirez, University of Illinois; and Steven Flores, National Lewis University
Partners in Change: Using Literature to Activate Student Activism, Isis Barrett‐Rogers, Dulce Gonzalez, Aayla Holiday, Kyndall Jackson, Breanna Lopez, and Makalah Simpson
Cincinnati’s Teen Think Tank
Team Leaders: Allison Lester, Ish Cincy
Our Community Safe Space: A Youth Participatory Action Research Project by Cincinnati's Teen Think Tank, Safa Ahmad, Shahnaz Hassan, Abigail Rubinstein, and Atlas Suarez
Columbia Heights Education Campus and the DC Education Research Collaborative
Team Leader: Dara Shaw, DC Urban Institute
A New Beginning: The Journey to Student Voice at a DC High School, Jennifer Aguilar, Gustavo Rosas Cardos, Ydidiya Nadew, Belstar Nimon‐Toki, and Elimane Samb
YTER–TEXAS 2023
Team Leader: Elizabeth Stackhouse, University of Houston–Downtown
When It Personally Matters—Engaging Emergent Bilingual Students in Education Research: Investigating the Trajectories of Long-Term Emergent Bilinguals in High School, Jose Medrano, Sharai Mondragon, Esteban Posadas, and Ashley Sanchez
Freedom Area High School–Science Education Research Group
Team Leader: Brian Wargo, Freedom Area High School
The Relationship Between Engagement in and Articulation of Authentic Scientific Practice, Carter Altvatter, Brandi Bonzo, Meadow Ging‐Wargo, Leannah Messenger, and Ana Shipman
YTER Canada: We are One
Team Leaders: Rahat Zaidi, University of Calgary; Michelle Veroba, Brooks Composite High School; and Joseph Octavius, Grasslands Public High School
Activism and Advocacy During Troubled Times: A Roadmap for Improved Practices Among Newcomer Youth, Selma Abdulkadir, Kanaalaq Hoyland, Nikki Kasaba, and Cindy Li