Empowerment Starts Here
Seven Principles to Empowering Urban Youth
By (author) Angela Dye Foreword by Mary E. Diez
Publication date:
17 November 2011Length of book:
182 pagesPublisher
R&L EducationISBN-13: 9781610485814
Empowerment Starts Here covers an experimental approach to social change within urban communities by way of seven distinct principles for student empowerment. Turning classroom methods into a school model, Preparatory School for Global Leadership was the first to experience student empowerment at a school-wide level. This book provides insight on how educators can increase the efficacy and achievement of urban youth. Angela Dye shares instructional methodologies and stories to help the reader develop an intimate understanding of the empowerment principles in action. Through these principles and methods, individuals can increase their capacity to combat the psychological, social, and political challenges associated with student achievement and real school reform.
This book breaks down the elements of student/adolescent empowerment into specific component parts. In the foreword Mary E. Diaz defines in detail the seven principles of empowerment that make up the social being and change model based on the curriculum of the Preparatory School for Global Leadership. Dye takes care to describe each of the seven principles in the context of minority education--providing a separate chapter on each, including an anecdotal section within each chapter to illustrate the points in a "real world" context. While the book does highlight a program serving minority students, the strategies that make up the seven principles are not limited to underrepresented populations. The work provides a solid overview of a broad empowerment curriculum, but there is little here in the way of new ideas. It is a good first read for those new to the concept of student empowerment; however, for those more well versed in the topic, the work provides little in the way of supporting evidence and lacks a research depth that would prove helpful. Perhaps useful in its articulation of implementation strategies, but less so in its theoretical development. Summing Up: Recommended.