Tara Bartlett, PhD is a Senior Research Analyst at Arizona State University's Participatory Governance Initiative. Tara’s research focuses on student-centered participatory governance within school communities and is driven by 14 years of teaching experience in Title I schools and a passion for integrating opportunities for youth and families to participate in school decision-making processes and policy creation and adoption. These experiences, alongside the outcomes of civic action and student voice, prompted Tara to assess how schools can better equip youth with the knowledge, attitudes, skills, and practices to become political and civic changemakers within their own communities. Tara has also worked on small and large-scale civic education projects, including serving as Co-Director of the Arizona Civic Coalition, working on the Educating for American Democracy project and the Project Citizen Research Program, and facilitating cross-cultural learning opportunities for the U.S. State Department.