READYNEWS: News & resources from the Forum and the field about collaborative work to get young people ready by 21.
In this Issue:
- Social and Emotional Learning
- Graduation
- Youth Voice
- School Reopening
Thriving, Robust Equity, and Transformative Learning & Development
The potential for thriving is universal, but so too is the existence of adversity. Young people can overcome adversities, but the ease of doing so is not equally shared. Opportunity structures – in schools, communities, and society – make it easier for some youth to avoid or buffer the impacts of adversity than others.
A new paper from the Readiness Projects partners, Thriving, Robust Equity, and Transformative Learning & Development, speaks to the needs of all youth, as every youth can benefit from robust approaches to thriving, equity, and learning. The cumulative impacts of inequity and trauma, however, propel the authors to call out the need to improve opportunity structures to address and eliminate the disadvantages created by current systems and practices. The report also calls out the need to eliminate the root causes of structural inequality in opportunities for youth to thrive across all domains. Throughout the paper, the authors:
- Introduce a formula and a rationale for addressing thriving, equity, and learning and development together that helps us better focus on actionable social factors.
- Summarize prevailing definitions of thriving, equity, and learning and development (and related terms).
- Take a deeper dive into the dimensions that contribute to individual and collective thriving.
- Offer powerful and aligned conceptualizations of thriving, equity, and learning and development.
- Describe the opportunities and conditions required to ensure that efforts to create “equitable educational outcomes” or “equitable learning and development opportunities” are as powerful and inclusive as possible.
Social and Emotional Learning:
Reunite, Renew, and Thrive: Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Roadmap for Reopening Schools
The return to school this fall will be unlike any other. Students, families, educators, and community partners have all been impacted by a global pandemic, economic crisis, and the ongoing mobilization against systemic racism. Social and emotional learning has a powerful role to play in helping schools reopen in the fall in the face of these challenges. The Forum for Youth Investment is a proud collaborator on Reunite, Renew, and Thrive: SEL Roadmap for Reopening School
This new guidance provides school leaders with whole-school, anti-racist SEL strategies centered on relationships and built on the existing strengths of the school community to support students and adults as they return to school this fall.
Graduation: New Toolkits from America’s Promise Alliance to Navigate Graduation Barriers
What does it take to help more young people – particularly those navigating the greatest barriers to graduation – graduate ready and well for whatever their futures hold? Communities and states in the GradNation campaign’s Acceleration Initiative help answer this question in a new case study series
The case studies highlight key themes and tangible examples from these community and statewide efforts to improve secondary school outcomes for specific groups of young people:
- Holistic Approaches to Helping Young People Succeed examines the complex barriers to success in school and life that many of today’s young people face and suggests strategies to support their holistic needs in an intentional, comprehensive way
- Building Responsive Pathways to Graduation and Beyond outlines strategies to create meaningful pathways that lead young people to viable career opportunities after they complete high school.
- Creating Effective Youth-Supporting Partnerships highlights the ways in which states and communities have leveraged strategic collaboration to align efforts to promote success for students facing the greatest obstacles to graduation
Youth Voice: Our Thoughts, Our Words, Our Work: An Online Conversation with Young Thought Leaders and Activists in Minnesota’s Fight for Racial Equity
Every Hour Counts Online Discussion July 29, 2020 2:00-3:30 EDT
Our nation is facing two major turning points, the COVID-19 pandemic and our fight for meaningful change in racial inequities and injustice. How are youth leading during this time?
Join Youthprise, Minnesota, and Every Hour Counts for a forum on what Minnesota’s fight for racial equity looks like and how youth are leading. Youthprise’s Neese Parker, Youth Engagement Manager, and Shiranthi Goonathilaka, Board Member, will moderate a panel discussion of young activists and thought leaders making a difference in Minnesota and pushing for change in new and meaningful ways.
The conversation will focus on:
- Movement building and Black liberation organizing.
- School resource officer reform.
- Amplifying the actions being called for to end racial injustice and inequality.
- Highlighting opportunities for supporting youth leadership.
- National updates and next steps.
| School Reopening: Council of Chief State School Officers Releases Guidance on Reopening Schools State and local education leaders around the country are tackling the tremendous and urgent task of planning, launching, and sustaining a strong school year in the wake of COVID-19 related school closures. While school may look different this fall than what families are accustomed to, the focus remains the same: every student receives a high-quality education. This is true whether that means learning remotely, in person, or through a hybrid of the two. To support leaders as they strive for equity, are mindful of health and safety, and focus on teaching and learning, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) created Restart and Recovery: Considerations for Teaching and Learning. This resource builds on other critical resources aligned with CCSSO’s Restart and Recovery Framework, which is designed to assist states as they work to reopen school buildings and recover student learning loss in the 2020-21 school year. Explore these resources. |