“Lead, Act, and Change: Youth Empowerment and Possibility in a Democratic Society”

This past year, teacher James Liou and his seniors took on a new challenge at their six-year-old pilot school in Boston. They launched a unique program that combined historical reading, participatory action research, community internships, and the writing of a 40-page research report. Their focus: the social and historical forces that have shaped and continue to shape the lives of Boston’s residents, particularly its young people. Called a “capstone,” all the school’s seniors had to complete the project to graduate.

As told to WKCD by James Liou, history teacher, Boston Community Leadership Academy

“The Boston Community Leadership Academy (BCLA) is one of Boston’s 20 pilot schools, a group of small autonomous schools within the Boston Public Schools. BCLA is six years old, with 400 students, grades 9 – 12. This was my first year teaching there. Before that, I taught for 4 years at another pilot school in Boston.

“In the previous school year, BCLA faculty had decided to pilot a project built around the idea of a senior ‘capstone’ or culminating project. My job last summer was to create the experiences and frameworks that would make up the project, along with the curriculum that went with it, since the plan was to have the capstone project be the main focus of senior history—the class I would teach.

“From the start, completing the capstone project would be both a history requirement and a graduation requirement. It would serve a dual purpose. It also would actualize BCLA’s mission statement, and the student’s work would be evidence that they’d met that mission.

“The students’ first reaction when I laid out the year’s plan and syllabus, at the start of the year, was resistance. It sounded complicated and rigorous. The fact that I was a first-year teacher may have compounded that. Several students wanted to transfer out.

“We started by getting the historical lay of the land, learning about the social forces that have shaped youth over time, and reading historical case studies rooted locally.

“When we transferred to looking at the social forces affecting us today, in Boston, the students’ interest grew. We looked for ways to bring it home and to support the belief that the perspectives students had on the issues were critical.  One assignment, for example, asked students: ‘What do the tourist brochures say about Boston and how does that jive with your experience of the city?’

“As we moved onto the participatory action research phase and the community internships, most of the students were pretty well engaged. The Boston Plan for Excellence helped us make the connections for these community internships, and they were tremendous.

“What did the students gain? They recognized that the historical and social themes that shape national and global history are also the ones that shape the city of Boston, including its youth. They gained academic experience, practicing primary and secondary research skills critical to history and sociology. They got exposure to the habits of leadership. And, I hope, they gained an appreciation for the importance of activism, of participation in our complicated democracy.

“The students had to present their final capstone project in a variety of ways. There was a celebration event, with all of the students, BCLA juniors, and community partners, where some students presented their findings and then the whole group divided into breakout discussions to discuss what they’d heard and suggest action steps. The capstone was part of each student’s final exhibition. It was also part of their portfolio defense, in front of three teachers. And, finally, students had to turn all of their work into a digital portfolio

“For me, two things stand out. I was stunned at how proud the students were of what they’d accomplished. This came up again and again in their reflections and acknowledgements. They were proud of what they’d done individually and proud of what they’d done collectively. And I felt the students had accomplished one of my biggest goals: to show that our students, with all of their challenges, could produce work on a par with students anywhere in the country. “

 Click here for a full tour of BCLA’a Senior Capstone Project—the syllabus, student reflections, and sample digital portfolios with the students’ research papers.