Critical media literacy in an underfunded neighborhood school: How a university-school partnership can promote civic media by applying critical pedagogy

Teaching critical media literacy can be highly challenging when a school has no resources (materials, curriculum, and professional development). While critical media literacy includes skills crucial for fighting inequalities, underprivileged socio-economic situation deprives students and teachers of the resources necessary for developing these critical media literacy practices. This case study showcases a partnership between a state university and a public-neighborhood school in a Northeast poor urban community. Due to budget cuts, the school faced a threat of being closed. Therefore, the partnership focused on a deliberative critical media literacy action to keep it open. The data was collected in 2016-2017 by Dr. Friesem and Dr. Ayalon, whose undergraduate students worked with the school staff and community members to advocate for the importance of the school. During that time, the researchers observed the critical media literacy course, conducted interviews with teachers, students, the principal, and community members, and analyzed students’ artifacts and public records. The study’s results show four types of challenges for teaching critical media literacy in an underfunded public-neighborhood school: technical issues, behavioral issues, access issues, and critical analysis skills. As a result, the case study allowed the researchers to develop a model of the school-university partnership to promote democratic and civic collaboration. During the presentation, conference participants will engage in a discussion about the affordances and limitations of critical media literacy in underfunded schools