| The current push for K-12 service-learning, particularly as an intervention strategy for "at-risk" youth, makes more urgent the need for critical service-learning constructions that counter deficit ideologies. Responding to this need, the researcher designed, implemented, and researched a course-embedded service-learning project conducted with Latin high school students considered "at-risk" by school personnel. To explore the possibilities of creating a critical, social justice, asset-oriented service-learning project in a core classroom setting specifically designed to foster students' critical agency, the researcher and students blended the service-learning with Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) methods. The findings of the postcritical ethnography of this course-embedded YPAR guided service-learning project indicate that the project did create a unique space within the school for fostering critical agency. Additionally, the work demonstrates how service-learning and YPAR can inform one another, creating a more asset-based and social justice-oriented practice. Finally, the findings model how teachers can successfully navigate the pedagogical, ideological, and practical challenges of fully embedding YPAR and/or service-learning projects into their core classroom practice. |
