Dr. Case’s research uses social justice and systems theory lenses to investigate the extra-academic, ecological, and sociopolitical factors that affect youth development, especially educational success. In particular, Dr. Case studies how families, schools, and community-based organizations can work together to support educational equity especially for economically marginalized, first-generation, and BiPOC students and how colleges and universities can transform policies and procedures to better support these same students after they have matriculated.
Her current projects focus on examining community-based youth development programs for their effectiveness at preparing students for educational persistence and examining how school-community-university partnerships can be leveraged to fill gaps in youth preparation. Much of this work is conducted in partnership with community-based organizations.
Additional research interests: best practices in researcher-community partnerships; how informal learning spaces can support the mental health of youth; multicultural training.
Amanda Sommerfeld Case 