In 2021, the DJUSD Board of Education approved a resolution to bring Ethnic Studies to our students. One of the early steps in this process was to create a grade 9 Ethnic Studies course that all DJUSD Freshpeople would take. An intrepid group of junior high teachers, along with the DJUSD Ethnic Studies Coordinator, have continued to iterate the course and this year it culminated with an engaging and exciting Youth Participatory Action Research Project, or YPAR Project. 

A central goal of the YPAR Project is for students to take action based upon their learnings within The Four Cornerstones of Ethnic Studies, which are: centering the history of marginalized groups, developing criticality and critical consciousness, pairing knowledge with purpose and action, and nurturing community and solidarity. Using survey data from Harper students, Mr. Gallaudet’s Ethnic Studies students generated a list of community issues, such as homelessness, social media in school, and the challenges for immigrant students, and then they were placed in teams based upon their topic of interest. Then, they began researching the issue, including gathering data directly from the community groups being impacted. Next, this informed the development of a call to action that centered the needs of the community group. Finally, groups presented their findings at a symposium open to students, staff and community members.

From a distance, this process might appear simple, but Mr. Gallaudet works tirelessly to nurture certain skills and dispositions necessary for students to center, empathize, and advocate for people and groups that they may have not previously understood or appreciated. When students speak directly with a marginalized community group, they understand the group’s history and are able to recognize differences that exist among individuals from different social and cultural backgrounds. When they understand how marginalized groups can be negatively impacted, they develop criticality and consciousness about differences that exist for people within systems. When they are tasked with developing a call to action, they pair their knowledge with action and increase their capacity for becoming responsible and contributing citizens. When they present their findings publicly, they are engaging civically and developing a sense of community and solidarity. 

Mr. Gallaudet’s YPAR project has helped build a coherent connection between Ethnic Studies and the Civic and Cultural Awareness of the DJUSD Graduate Profile and, as a result, DJUSD 9th graders at Harper are developing their Civic and Cultural Awareness in ways that well serve themselves and others well beyond their junior high experience. 


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“I want people to feel okay – safe and welcome - especially at school. I care about this project because I want students to feel the same way about others. I am always thinking about how we can make our community better for everybody. I think this project helps students consider that questions also. Many of the private reflections from students reveal that they didn’t realize how certain community groups were impacted, which seemed important to them. They realize that many of the stereotypes we hold were not always true.”
- Mr. Gallaudet:

__________________________________________________________________________________ “The project has a fun aspect to it. You get to see how everyone’s project comes together and see their presentations. But also, you hear people talk a lot about Ethnic Studies, but you never really know that much about the issues. When you spend every day thinking about it over five weeks, it becomes much deeper. You realize there are a lot of issues out there and that you can actually help.” 

- Isla
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“In Ethnic Studies you see historical movements and see how people have changed their communities. This shows people our age that we can also be people who make changes.” 
-Abby
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"I looked at how social media can impact mental health. My parents would always tell me negative things about social media, but it was really important to learn it for myself.  I was really glad we got the chance to spread knowledge we gained to others."
-Mia