Active affiliation as a process for engagement and social change for marginalized high school students

Cultural diversity and demographic change are major challenges to the education systems in Canada and the United States. American researchers have examined disproportionately low academic achievement, high discipline incidence, and inflated dropout rates for AfricanAmerican and Latino students when compared with their white counterparts (Vincent, Randall, Cartledge, Tobin, and Swain-Bradway, 2011). Canadian research and statistics indicate that almost 50 percent of Aboriginal students do not complete high school (MacIver, 2012). There is evidence that current educational practice is not equitable in its service to students of nondominant cultural backgrounds (Gregory, Skiba, and Noguera, 2010). Cultural diversity in our schools continues to increase, warranting further examination of the inherent challenges; along with this examination comes the exploration of effective ways to meet these challenges. Extant research on program-specific interventions suggests possibilities in meeting the challenges of cultural diversity through programs that enhance school connectedness (Chapman, Buckley, Sheehan, and Shochet, 2013). Following the recommendations of such research, the Active Affiliation Group Program was devised to increase school connectedness among the culturally diverse students at the high school in which I work as a guidance counsellor. Active affiliation is a phrase I use to describe the intentional creation of a structured opportunity for emotional and contextual connection to take place. Through the process of active affiliation, the students in the program explored and shared their identities, experiences, and ideas, thereby increasing their sense of school connectedness.Includes bibliographical references (pages 58-62). "A thesis submitted to Faculty of Education in partial fullfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education.