Session Information
05 SES 07 A, Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education
Paper Session
Contribution
The purpose of this study is to understand the life experiences and potential impact of troubled, high-risk adolescents who have been identified as Children in Need of Services (CHINS) by the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice through their participation in a developmental community-based intervention program and on pre-service teachers who volunteer to participate in the program. Often plagued with problems not of their making, troubled youth find themselves in classrooms where they are quickly labeled as lazy, disruptive or defiant and quickly erect walls to insulate themselves to what is about to happen. These students lack the skills and resources to resolves or respond to deforming home environments outside of school and expectations from their teachers. This paper aims at an alternative approach to reconciling troubled youth and teachers that avoids traditional punitive measures. The SPARK program is designed to prepare pre-service teachers by giving them the knowledge and dispositions, along with experiences with groups of troubled youth, and ignite a spark in these youth.
Three primary theoretical perspectives will be utilized to frame the proposed research: Person-centered approach (Rogers, 1959), positive youth development theory (Lerner, Lerner, Johnson, 2013), and participatory action research (Chevalier & Buckles, 2013).
Rogers created the person-centered approach out of his work with troubled youth (Rogers, 1966). In particular, Rogers (1959) created the client-centered approach, or commonly referred to as person-centered therapy, to restructure the traditional medical and behavioral models of working with clients in a therapeutic setting. The aforementioned theoretical perspectives discussed provide rationale for a qualitative research design and an interview approach. The person-centered approach posits that when you accept a person for who they are and view them, beyond their actions or behaviors, can assist in cultivating a relationship that is grounded in human connection (Rogers, 1966).
The second theoretical perspective that frames the proposed research is positive youth development (Benson et al., 2006; Lerner, Lerner, Johnson, 2013). According to Benson et al. (2006), positive youth development (PYD) uses a strength-based approach that potentially helps adolescents discover and strengthen their positive attributes (I.e., characteristics they exhibit, skills, interests) rather solely fixing the high-risk behaviors (I.e., reducing recidivism, decreasing truancy, etc.). Further, PYD does not remove problematic circumstances that youth may encounter, but attempts to add elements of support to youth including coping mechanisms and guidance to resources.
The third theoretical perspective that frames the proposed research is participatory action research (PAR). The work of Lewin and the Tavistock Institute conceptualized Participatory Action Research (PAR) as an alternative to positivism’s denial of human agency and social change with marginalized communities (Chevalier & Buckles, 2013). According to Chevalier & Buckles (2013), the PAR builds on the concept that research must be done “with” people and not “on” or “for” people. PAR is a form of inquiry that works well in communities where the objective is to transform rather than solely study and observe human behavior.
The proposed research questions guiding the study are:
1. What is the potential impact troubled, high-risk adolescents may experience in their lives being a part of a developmental community-based intervention program?
2. How does it feel for high-risk adolescents to be in a mentoring relationship with an adult who wants to listen to and support them in a developmental community-based program?
3. How does it feel for troubled, high-risk adolescents to share their life story in a developmental community-based intervention program (i.e. the process of telling their story and being listened to)?
4. What potential impact will a community-based intervention program have on pre-service teachers in their development to become teachers?
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Benson, P.L., Scales, P.C., Hamilton, S.F., Sesma, A., Hong, K.L., Roehlkepartain, E.C. (2006). Positive youth development so far: Core hypotheses and their implications for policy and practice. Search Institute Insights & Evidence, 3, 1-12. Bruner, J. (1990). Acts of meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univeristy Press. Chevalier, J.M., & Buckles, D.J. (2013). Participatory action research: Theory and methods for engaged inquiry. Routledge: New York, NY. Josselson, R., & Lieblich, A. (2009). Reflections on the narrative study of lives. Narrative Inquiry, 19(1), 183-198. Lerner, R. M., Lerner, J. V., Almerigi, J., Theokas, C., Phelps, E., Gestsdottir, S., Naudeau, S., Jelicic, H., Alberts, A. E., Ma, L., Smith, L. M., Bobek, D. L., Richman- Raphael, D., Simpson, I., Christiansen, E. D., & von Eye, A. (2005). Positive youth development, participation in community youth development programs, and community contributions of fifth grade adolescents: Findings from the first wave of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Develop¬ment. Journal of Early Adolescence, 25(1), 17-71. Lerner, R.M., Lerner, J.V., Johnson, H. (2013). The positive development of youth: Comprehensive findings from the 4-H Study of positive youth development. Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development. National 4-H Council: Chevy Chase, MD. Rogers, C. R. (1966). Client-centered therapy. American Handbook of Psychiatry, 3:183-200. New York: Basic Books. Rogers, C. (1959). A Theory of Therapy, Personality and Interpersonal Relationships as Developed in the Client-centered Framework. In (ed.) S. Koch, Psychology: A Study of a Science. Vol. 3: Formulations of the Person and the Social Context. New York: McGraw Hill.
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