The Safety, Dignity, and Belonging project is a legal youth participatory action research project co-led by four youth researchers and an adult researcher studying the school discipline experiences of Black girls in Atlanta-area schools.
In schools across the United States, racial and gender biases compound to influence school discipline policies and practices, leaving Black girls disproportionately punished. Nationally, Black girls are consistently the most over-disciplined compared to girls of all racial groups.
The educational experiences of girls of color in the South are uniquely informed by racial and gender biases riddled with both historic and cultural nuance. Girls of color are often mischaracterized as deviant, unladylike, too adult, loud, or simply “too much” and penalized for cultural and self-expression.
Youth participatory action research (YPAR) is an opportunity for young people, whose power is often underestimated or disregarded, to study social problems that impact themselves and organize for systematic, institutional and cultural change. This project connects these research principles and frameworks to legal scholarship and advocacy, called legal youth participatory action research (LYPAR).
Special thank you to Cool Girls for its partnership in this work.
Meet the Researchers
Betzayda
I aspire to make a meaningful impact in the lives of children, and I’m considering career paths as a pediatric nurse, an elementary school teacher, or a child life specialist. In my free time, I love immersing myself in music and reading romantic comedies, which provide a delightful escape from the world around me. I also enjoy engaging in social media, where I connect with others and find entertainment. Additionally, I recognize the value of rest, which fuels my love for naps as a way to recharge. I am genuinely excited about my future and the chance to make a positive impact on the next generation, believing that every small effort can create a ripple of change in their lives.
Eden
I have always been passionate about social justice and environmental issues, especially climate change. After high school, I plan to attend college in environmental science with an emphasis on marine biology I also enjoy learning about marketing. Outside of school, I take modern dance classes, aerial dance classes, and I am a member of various organizations including Bioneers, Cool Girls, and Girls Inc. I am also a Junior Conservationist in the Beginner Environmental Leadership Program at the Georgia Aquarium.
Natiyya
A few hobbies that I have are doing nails and lashes. I love speaking my mind. I also like clothing and shopping. I want to go to the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) for fashion design.
Nickell
I love watching movies and talking about issues that affect the youth. I aspire to become a journalist.
What Participating Girls Are Doing
This project is well underway. Together, these researchers:
- Have explored issues of gender, race, bias, adultification, school pushout, restorative justice, and civil rights in education through engaging workshops;
- Have received training by IDRA on qualitative research methods, like surveys or listening sessions;
- Have identified an issue and constructed a research question driven by the experiences and curiosities of students;
- Will implement research methods of your choosing, create findings, and make recommendations to be published in a report; and
- Lead presentations about their research and recommendations and participate in opportunities for advocacy.
Similar and Related Research
Examples of participatory action research or similar methods that focus on the experiences of Black girls and girls of color in schools include the following.
- Keep Her Safe: Centering Black Girls in School Safety, National Women’s Law Center and the Southern Poverty Law Center – NWLC, SPLC, and Black girls and young women enrolled in Miami-Dade County Public Schools co-authored a report exploring the experiences young women and girls have with school safety and school policing.
- New Suns: Using YPAR with Black Girls to Combat Misogynoiristic Educational Policies, Parker E. Foster – In this manuscript, Foster discusses YPAR as an opportunity to center Black girls in discussions of punitive school discipline policies with a goal of dismantling sexist and racist educational policies.
- The Leftover Kids: Centering Black Girls’ Stories of Overdiscipline within Ecological Systems Using a Youth Participatory Action Research Approach, Jadyn Harris – In this study, three participant-researchers with experiences of overdiscipline explored their identity and school discipline experiences through storytelling and analysis.
About the Lead Researcher
Makiah Lyons, J.D., is an Equal Justice Works fellow hosted by IDRA, working to implement a fellowship project centering Black girls and their intersectional experiences with school discipline and pushout in the Atlanta area. As a part of her fellowship, Makiah is crafting a youth participatory action research project developed with and co-led by Black girls.
