UCLA

This study explores the impact of teaching critical literacy in an urban school with a group of African American male youth. Using action research, I present a program called the Black Male Youth Academy (BMYA), a critical literacy intervention intended to serve African American males. The aims of this study were to present outcomes of youth who participated in the intervention program and to understand the utility of action research in an urban school setting. Furthermore, this study sought to understand the ways in which critical literacy could be used to advance the academic and sociopolitical development of youth in the context of the Black Male Youth Academy (BMYA), the intervention program. Finally, I present the use of critical research methodologies, such as youth participatory action research (YPAR), and discuss the usefulness of these methodologies to help address challenges facing African American male youth in urban schools.