Dr. Clay, co-author examine “critically relevant civics”

Full article is free online for the next 30 days.

Headshot of Dr. Kevin Clay of the VCU School of Education.
Kevin Clay, Ph.D.

October 28, 2020

Kevin L. Clay, Ph.D, assistant professor in the VCU School of Education's Department of Foundations of Education, and co-author Dr. Beth C. Rubin of Rutgers University, examined how young people of color experience and interpret current forms of racialized injustice, how their school-based civic instruction intersects with these experiences, and where they turned to when they want to explore these dilemmas.

The authors found that youth engage with various out-of-school resources, including family members and new media platforms, to investigate and interpret racialized injustice. Through these findings, the authors developed a grounded theory of school-based civics education that they call “critically relevant civics,” which embraces the out-of-school resources that young people tap into to navigate the civic world and grapple with the precarious nature of their citizenship status.

The authors' publication is part of a curated article collection from the editor of “Theory and Research in Social Education.” The collection consists of recent articles related to confronting racism and white supremacy in social studies education. The authors' and several other scholars' articles were released today as a thread and will be provided free for 30 days.

Direct link to free article: http://bit.ly/Clay-Rubin

Citation:
Clay, K.L. & Rubin, B.C. (2020) “I look deep into this stuff because it’s a part of me”: Toward a critically relevant civics education, Theory & Research in Social Education, 48:2, 161-181, DOI: 10.1080/00933104.2019.1680466