Dear Commons Community,
A new issue of TRAUE (Theory, Research, and Action in Urban Education) is now available at the CUNY Commons at https://traue.commons.gc.cuny.edu/. TRAUE was started by Jean Anyon and students in the Ph.D. Program in Urban Education at the CUNY Graduate Center. The current issue contains policy briefs and Notes from the Field: Voices from Youth Leadership for College Access. Joanna Yip, the editor of the issue, provided the following summary.
“When the late Jean Anyon first gathered a group of doctoral students at the CUNY Graduate Center to create Theory, Research, and Action in Urban Education, she expressed a desire for the journal to not only publish academic work by doctoral students but to also feature voices in urban education that are often unheard or even silenced – that of children and youth. The editorial board envisioned a space in which young people could speak to educational issues in their own voices in an academic journal.
This Spring, the Notes from the Field section in this issue features the voices of six New York City high school students who served as Youth Leaders at their schools through the Youth Leadership for College Access Program, created by an organization called College Access: Research and Action (CARA). These Youth Leaders are leading the way at their respective campuses in providing college planning awareness and support to high school students across the city. Their essays tell a series of powerful stories about the work that young people can do to help their peers navigate the daunting college application process, how they address inequities in post-secondary planning that impact their classmates in their school district, and their contributions to closing the college counseling “guidance gap.”
To understand the significance of the Youth Leaders’ stories, Tara Bahl provides the policy context in her policy brief, and outlines the reasons why urban schools struggle to provide the kind of college counseling support that underserved minority students often need, the challenges that educators and guidance counselors face in helping high school students with post-secondary planning, and how we can reimagine college counseling to better serve high school students. As well, this issue features a policy brief by Chet Jordan that discusses the use of online and hybrid course practices in higher education.
In sum, this new issue of TRAUE explores both the challenges and opportunities that come with providing equitable access to resources and educational experiences in college.”
Well-done, Joanna! Congratulations to you and to all who made this issue possible. Jean would have been proud of you.
Tony