Vol.:(0123456789) The Urban Review https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-019-00530-5 1 3 What Youth Care About: Exploring Topic Identifcation for Youth‑Led Research in School Mary Frances Buckley‑Marudas 1  · Samantha Soltis 1 © Springer Nature B.V. 2019 Abstract Youth-led participatory action research (YPAR) has been documented to increase youth’s social, emotional, and cognitive outcomes, foster critical thinking and aca- demic success, and encourage civic participation. YPAR allows for young to develop their voices, direct their own learning and act as change agents as they take steps to infuence their community’s civic health. This article ofers an account of one urban, public high school’s efort to integrate YPAR as a year-long project for all enrolled 9th graders. Drawing on the work of 100 students who participated in this year-long project, this inquiry examines the topic identifcation phase of the school’s frst-ever enactment of YPAR as part of the everyday curriculum. Specifc attention is paid to understanding the issues and questions that surfaced during the topic identifcation stage of the action research process within a formalized school setting. This work has implications for teachers and school leaders interested in adopting YPAR as part of the school-sanctioned curriculum for all students. Keywords Youth participatory action research · Research topic identifcation · High school · Urban education · Critical literacy · Sociopolitical development Introduction Historically, many advocates for democratic education and proponents of criti- cal traditions have viewed public education as a place to support American youth to actively investigate, contribute to, and/or improve their local and global com- munities, including their own schools and schooling. Although this vision may be interpreted in diferent ways and feels increasingly constrained by various state and * Mary Frances Buckley-Marudas m.buckley67@csuohio.edu Samantha Soltis s.m.soltis@vikes.csuohio.edu 1 College of Education and Human Services, Cleveland State University, 2121 Euclid Avenue, JH 327, Cleveland, OH 44115, USA