Organizing Question
To what extent can education serve as a tool for promoting access to, and understanding of, full participation in LA public life?

Conceptual Framework for Civic Education
Move from a Spectator View to a Participatory Approach.

SPECTATOR VIEW OF CITIZEN EDUCATION

Politics
Politics as a contest between politicians.

Locus of Political Activity
Inside convention hall or capital building
Viewed through television.

Citizen
Citizen’s role is to watch the politicians’ spectacle, follow the issue, and decide who to vote for.

Citizen Education
Civic education encourages youth to follow the election—to know the players and their positions.

PARTICIPATORY APPROACH TO CITIZEN EDUCATION

Politics
Public Conversations about equity in and access to public institutions and public life.

Locus of Politics
Public spaces inside and outside convention hall and capital building.

Citizen
Participate in public spaces, learn about public issues, draw on new understanding to shape public discourse and decisions.

Citizen Education
Civic Education seeks to: promote learning about public issues through participation; encourage young people to develop public voices; provide young people with opportunities to shape public discourse and decisions.

MODES OF STUDENT PARTICIPATION

Research issues of concern to LA’s youth

• Access to learning in schools
• Access to civic life
• Access to learning sites in the community
• Access to a livable wage
• Access to media

Tell the story of the convention from the perspective of LA’s youth

Participate as actors in the public conversation

I. What are the stories we want to tell from the seminar?

A. That students of color who have been previously marginalized in the college admissions process because of traditional notions of merit are capable of producing college level work.

B. That it is possible to have a curriculum that is at once demonstrative of college-type research skills, affirming of students' cultures and backgrounds, and facilitating of a critical consciousness.

C. That there is both academic and community currency to posing urban students as street sociologists engaged in community research for the betterment of community.

II. What stories do we want the students to be able to tell?

A. Students will be able to tell the stories of how youth access across a variety of spheres is determined by factors such as race, socioeconomic status, and geography. They will also tell the story of how various constituencies are framing access issues in the context of the Democratic National Convention.

B. Students will also create and then critique their emerging counternarratives about the Democratic National Convention from the vantagepoint of marginalized urban youth from Los Angeles.

C. Students will collect meaningful data for the production of a policy document that will illuminate the relationship between inequitable patterns of college access and youth access to schooling, community learning resources, public space, the media, and a livable wage.

III. What work products are associated with these stories?

A. Students will work collaboratively with their Research Fellows to create presentations and products utilizing innovative combinations of media that demonstrate:

1. Their understanding of various theories that explore the relationship between knowledge, culture, and power within the contexts of state institutions and public spheres.

2. Their ability to synthesize these theories when collecting and analyzing data.

3. Their facility in explaining and defending their studies and their findings with university faculty and community intellectuals.

B. Students will also create a reflective and analytical journal that chronicles their experiences at the Convention and throughout the seminar.

IV. What background do the students need to tell these stories effectively?

A. Students need an introduction to the site of Los Angeles as a city of competing narratives.

B. Students need an introduction to the current Democratic National Convention and how the Democratic Party Platform has staked out positions around these salient issues of access. The students will also need an understanding of counter-positionalities represented in the platforms of other political parties.

C. Students will also need an introduction to the role that political conventions have historically played as dominant narratives of the political process. Occasionally, however, they have served as the sites for the presentation of profound counternarrives through protests and civil disobedience.

D. The students will need an introduction to the research process and the various ways that one can employ qualitative research methodologies to solve real world problems.

E. Students will need an introduction to the social, cultural, political, and economic contexts of college access.

F. Students will need an introduction to the various theoretical frameworks that will serve as lenses into the specific areas of inquiry.

I. Introduction

A. The Problem (Justification for the Research)-This should be the initial portion of the introduction where you explain the relevance of the research you are conducting.

B. The Research Question -Given the need for the research, what specific question is your study attempting to answer? Why is your question significant or important?

II. Literature Review

A. Upon what theories or prior studies are you basing your research? What are the terms or concepts that need defining? How does your study build on these theories and concepts?

III. Methods

A. Describe in detail, the schools, classrooms, students, politicians, activists, community members, etc. that you encountered in your study. To ensure anonymity, choose pseudonyms for the schools and all people you include in the study.

B. Explain the process or method your paper will employ to explore the question that you have asked? Will you conduct interviews, surveys, perform ethnographic research, or design an experiment? What is the rationale behind your methodology?

IV. Reporting of Findings

A. This is the body or meat of your paper where you introduce, cite, synthesize, and critique the data that you collect.

V. Conclusion

A. What significance do these findings hold for educational policy and research? What do these findings suggest about the broader issue of youth access? What further research would you suggest? How would you like to pursue these issues in the 2000-2001 school year? Based on your expert status, you need to take some leadership and exert some authority to help solve the problems you mention in your introduction.

VI. References

A. You are required to have a minimum of 3 references to readings.

B. All papers will use the APA style.