UP welcomed back five school teams from across Methuen (MA) Public Schools for year two of their Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MA DESE) funded Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) project. With a big picture goal of “elevat[ing] student voice in order to strengthen safe, supportive and healthy learning environments,” over 80 youth and adults convened to build relationships with new and returning team members, look at data, plan their next action steps, and start thinking about their district-wide “Vision of a Methuen Learner.” Thanks to a team of four returning Methuen High youth who stepped into facilitation roles, this retreat was filled with laughter, dialogue, and renewed commitment to improving Methuen schools.   

A key element of the YPAR process is exploring and analyzing data. Last year, the team looked at their schools’ Views of Climate and Learning survey project (VOCAL) data during their first retreat.This year, the team looked at their own UP pre-survey data. In one activity, members were prompted to estimate the percentage of students in their district who answered a particular way on different survey questions. For example, members were asked to estimate the “percentage of team members who consider themselves a leader.” The participants then lined up on a spectrum (from 0% to 100%) around the room to indicate what they thought the data would say. The spread ranged from 20-80%; the answer was 76%. The team responded to the question “I am included in decisions about my school” with a similar spread – 36-80% with the actual percentage being 60%. These data points led to an important discussion about their role as leaders on this larger team and in their schools. UP staff pointed out that leadership can take many forms, and that each of them showed their leadership skills by joining the team and coming to the retreat. 

One youth remarked during the data analysis that “the purpose of YPAR is to give students’ voice” and “to look at issues in their school and make more people feel included and respected.” With this framework, teams got to work bringing new team members up to speed on where to pick up the work from last year. The Methuen teams had wrapped up 2024-2025 by presenting at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MA DESE) Showcase event on May 9th. Each school was drawn to focus on areas of particular interest to their school community. At this retreat, they shared with other schools how their aspirations for 2025-2026 build off of the 2024-2025 work:

  • Methuen High School explored who was actually able to participate in extracurricular activities at their school last year. This week, they will hold their first ever Freshman Club Fair to increase access to extracurricular activities for all students. They plan to investigate starting a PTO and contributing to the Vision of a Learner project as well. 
  • Tenney Grammar School conducted observations of different classrooms at different times of the day to explore what behaviors were supporting and disrupting learning. This year they plan to expand observations to the lower school and to survey teachers. 
  • Comprehensive Grammar School conducted surveys, engaged in conversations with teachers, and had ongoing discussions with administrators to develop a plan for more varied and responsive approaches to their WIN (“What I Need”) block. This year they will administer a follow-up survey and talk to the administration about how to implement changes. Then the YPAR process begins again!
  • Marsh Grammar School surveys and classroom observations revealed a need to strengthen relationships within advisories. Their work will continue to support their advisories in creating stronger identities (through team names and mascots) and participating in more whole-school team-building activities. 
  • Timony Grammar School discussed ways the team could help students stop bullying and respect each other and shared the concerning data they saw with administrators. They will continue to collect data to indicate new ways to improve feelings of safety in school. 
 

99% of this team responded that they “listen to others and respect their ideas.” That inspiring statistic was visible at the retreat where the team quickly and fully integrated new members into their community and exhibited deep knowledge of how to use YPAR to enact change. An exciting and productive year lies ahead!