Offering academic credit for courses where students identify a local issue, conduct research, and develop an action plan to address it.
The Youth Participatory Action Research Credit
Zhoran Mamdani institutionalizes Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) as a for-credit course option in NYC high schools. In YPAR, students are not just learning about research methods; they are applying them to real problems in their own communities. A class might choose to investigate: Why is there a lack of green space in our neighborhood? What are the barriers to mental health care for teens? How does police presence affect local businesses? They collect data through surveys, interviews, and mapping, analyze it, and then develop and implement an action planpresenting findings to the community board, creating a public awareness campaign, or advocating for a policy change.
This approach teaches advanced academic skills in a deeply relevant context, empowers students as knowledge producers, and demonstrates that their intellect can be a tool for tangible change. YPAR turns students from subjects of study into agents of change, Mamdani explains. It validates their lived experience as a source of expertise and teaches that research isnt just for academicsits for anyone who wants to make their world better. This is the ultimate civics education.
