By Laurel White
Creating vibrant spaces for students to connect outside of school hours can improve marginalized students’ well-being and help develop their understanding of and engagement with social justice issues, according to a new study from a School of Education doctoral student.
The study was published in a recent special issue of the journal Children & Schools. CJ Greer, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, was the lead author of the study.
Greer says the article explores strategies that can exist between youth workers and social workers in cultivating ‘out-of-school time’ (OST) spaces for young people to engage with complex social justice development in “humane, nurturing, and respectful environments.”
“We hope this article makes more educators aware of how profoundly these spaces can shape young people’s development,” he said.
Greer co-authored the study with Lyrah Grace Fosl of Global Game Changers, a national education nonprofit, and Brandon D. Mitchell, a doctoral candidate at the University of Louisville.
The authors argue OST spaces, when set up for relaxation, conversation, and connection, are fertile ground for students to build self-esteem, as well as interpersonal and leadership skills. According to their analysis, effective OST spaces include opportunities for storytelling, transformative conflict practices, cooperating on collective action, engaging critically with social activism, forming relationships with peers and adults, and experiencing leisure.
Importantly, the authors argue students should be involved in building out and making decisions about programming and curriculum in these spaces. They contend such opportunities are especially valuable for marginalized youth who don’t often receive such empowerment in traditional educational environments.
“Youth-serving OST spaces can reject deficit portrayals by incorporating young people into the organization’s decision-making processes and providing leadership opportunities,” they wrote. “The centering of youth within OST spaces begins to craft a foundation that emboldens hope and opportunity and affirms the wholeness and competence of youth.”
Other recent publications from Greer historicized attacks on critical race theory and showed how virtual community-building aided retention for Black graduate students during pandemic.
This fall, Greer was named to the American Educational Research Association’s Division G Graduate Student Executive Committee as a student representative. He was also recently announced as one of five outstanding scholars joining the UW–Madison chapter of the national Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society. That honor society commemorates the first person of African heritage to earn a PhD in the United States.