This dissertation studies the impact of two courses, “Rise Up” and “Leadership in Community Service,” at a Level 4 high school in Massachusetts. The school, which had a higher than average level of student dropout, implemented the two courses developed by the researcher to address student retention, academic performance, and connection to school. Students in grades 9-12 took one or both of the semester-long classes, which used community building activities, group discussions, democratic teaching principals, community service–learning, and goal setting to address the needs of marginalized students. Students who participated in the classes showed increased connections to peers, teachers and community members, an improvement in indicators for school retention including grades, behavior, and attendance, and also an increase in their perceptions about their ability to persist in challenging situations.

The aim of this paper is to examine how teachers experience their possibilities to develop democratic teaching in high school and how they reflect upon their position of power within the teaching situation. Four professional high school teachers have been interviewed for the study. The theoretical perspective of the study is an intersectional view on power and a view on democratic teaching which is partly built on the high school curriculum, but mainly defined by deliberative conversations, anti-oppressive education and norm-critical education. The result of the study is focused on three themes, which were shown in the analysis of the interviews. These themes are: choices of teaching content,  authority of the teacher and democratic teaching. The conclusion of the study is that there is no fixed manual or one single method, for democratic teaching. However, if possibilites are created through educational politics, teacher tranining, existing norms at the school, and individual teachers ability to reflect upon their own position of power, democratic and anti-oppressive education is possible.