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Critical consciousness refers to the ability to analyze and take action against oppressive social forces shaping society. This longitudinal, mixed methods study compared the critical consciousness development of adolescents of color (n = 453) attending two sets of high schools featuring schooling models that represent "opposing" approaches to education. The participating adolescents were 13-15 years old at the start of the study; the majority identified as African American or Latinx; and nearly 80% came from low-SES households. They attended public charter high schools located in five different northeastern cities. Analyses of longitudinal survey data revealed that the adolescents attending these two sets of high schools demonstrated greater rates of growth on different dimensions of critical consciousness over their four years of high school. Qualitative interviews with youth attending these two sets of schools(n = 70) offered evidence of the long-theorized relationship between critical consciousness and problem-posing education, but also that effective practices supporting youth critical consciousness can be found embedded in schools featuring a broader range of pedagogies. These findings offer support for ethnic studies and action civics programming that several state departments of education have recently added to secondary school curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociopolitical development refers to the processes by which an individual acquires the knowledge, skills, and commitment to analyze and challenge oppressive social forces. A growing body of scholarship reports that high levels of sociopolitical development are predictive in adolescents of a number of key outcomes including resilience and civic engagement. The present study explored the role that urban secondary schools can play in fostering adolescents' sociopolitical development through a longitudinal, mixed-methods investigation of more than 400 adolescents attending "progressive" and "no-excuses" high schools. Analyses revealed that, on average, students attending progressive high schools demonstrated meaningful growth in their ability to critically analyze racial and economic inequality, while students attending no-excuses high schools demonstrated meaningful growth in their motivation to challenge these inequities through activism. Qualitative interviews offered insight into youth's perceptions of the programming and practices at their respective schools that contributed to their sociopolitical development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Serve Program at Ignatius University is a community service-learning program that combines academic study of philosophy with a year-long field-based project at one of approximately 50 different sites. Half of these projects entail working with youth, while the other half entail working with adults. This mixed methods analysis found that college students engaged in adult-oriented service demonstrated larger shifts in public service motivation and belief in a just world than their peers engaged in youth-oriented service. Qualitative interviews with participating students suggest that these differences may be due to the disparate expectations of participants who entered into their respective service experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study considered the impact of the SERVE Program at Ignatius University upon participating students’ expected political involvement. The SERVE Program is a community service learning program sponsored jointly by Ignatius University’s philosophy and theology departments. Through a mixed methods research design, the authors found that Ignatius University students participating in the SERVE Program demonstrated statistically significant increases in their expected political voice in comparison with peers in a control group. Qualitative interviews with SERVE participants revealed that the program increased students’ awareness of political and social issues; heightened their commitment to philanthropy; fostered their interest in pursuing socially responsible work; and strengthened their commitment to working for social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, I compared the shifts in worldview of affluent young adults participating in a course on social justice issues to a control group of similar young adults. In this course, participating students learned about the size, scope, causes, and impact of world hunger and global poverty. However, an analysis of pre- and postsurvey data revealed that the young adults participating in the social justice course experienced a decline over the course of the semester in their support for humanitarian aid in comparison to the control group. Interviews with these young adults, and analyses of their student work, revealed that the manner in which they learned about world hunger and poverty led them to become overwhelmed by the size and scope of these global problems and convinced of their intractability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, I compared the shifts in attitude of affluent high school seniors participating in a course on social justice issues to a control group of similar adolescents. In this course, participating adolescents learned about social justice issues such as homelessness, poverty, world hunger, and illegal immigration. An analysis of presurvey and postsurvey data revealed that the adolescents participating in the social justice course experienced a decline over the course of the semester in their support for educational equity between wealthy and poor communities. Interviews with these adolescents and analyses of their student work revealed that their shifts in attitude were influenced by fears about the possibility of one day becoming poor or homeless themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the author conducted in-depth interviews with college students from affluent suburban communities who perform 10 to 20 hours of community service each week. Three fourths of these students attribute their commitment to community service in large part to a single academic experience that influenced their respective worldviews and conceptions of service. Examples of such experiences include Bible studies, secondary and university-level courses, a freshman week orientation program, and independent study. For the majority of the students in this study, these experiences occurred during the freshman year of college. In this article, the author offers a model that documents the role of these experiences in catalyzing an emerging adult's commitment to community service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]