Youth Art Ambassadors: A Youth Participatory Action Research Project Using Social Justice to Incite Change in Classrooms where Teachers Teach Young People of Color

This is a qualitative case study using youth-based participatory action research as a model. The author views the youth-based participatory action research through both a social justice and multicultural lens. The prevalence of Eurocentric ideals in society and in the classroom are addressed and solutions on how to remedy these ideals to foster a greater sense of awareness to discrimination, encourage positive ethnic identity, and increase self-esteem are some of the issues addressed in this research. Instead of approaching the research individually, the researcher joined ranks with middle school students to help research these issues as she felt they were important in improving her practice as an educator as well as empowering the students who participated in conducting the research. Both researcher and participants worked together to inform each other and broaden awareness of issues. Some outcomes of this study included empowerment of female adolescents, awareness of when to speak up for oneself, adolescents collaborating with teachers and administration, and teachers implementing instructional strategies based on student feedback