From permission to partnership: Participatory research to engage school personnel in systems change

ABSTRACT

Data collected from teachers in a racially diverse, high-poverty high school were used to inform the initial steps in developing a school–university partnership to create a culturally responsive trauma-informed community school. The project utilized community-based participatory research to explore sensitive areas of school system functioning. School–university partnerships and community-based participatory research (CBPR) projects offer important opportunities for innovation, but the process of how these relationships evolve is not often described. Thus, the process of the research as it unfolded over the course of a school year and lessons learned are described along with findings. Findings include teachers’ perceptions of the impact of trauma on students, their own stress level and self-efficacy in addressing students’ social-emotional and behavioral concerns, and the role of race in the teachers’ perceptions.

KEYWORDS:

• Community-based participatory research
• community school
• cultural responsiveness
• poverty
• school–university partnership
• trauma-informed

Note

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express our deep appreciation and respect for our school partners on this project. To protect the confidentiality of the school district, we are not specifying names but are very grateful for the collaboration we enjoy with the teachers, pupil services personnel, and administrators represented here.

Notes on contributors

Lisa V. Blitz, PhD, LCSW-R, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work, College of Community and Public Affairs and Co-Director of the Institute for Multigenerational Studies at Binghamton University, State University of New York. She is engaged in community-based participatory research with urban and rural schools to develop practice approaches that eliminate disproportionally negative outcomes for students of color and those who are economically disadvantaged.

Candace A. Mulcahy, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education, Binghamton University, State University of New York. Her current research interests include school-based academic, behavioral, and social-emotional practices for students in alternative and segregated settings, and marginalization of students.

Notes

1. To protect the identity of the school district, a specific citation is not provided for school data.