September 11th, 2017
READY NEWS
News & resources from the Forum and the field about collaborative work to get young people ready by 21.

Needed: Social and Emotional Healing
Blog by Karen Pittman, President & CEO, The Forum for Youth Investment

Schools across the country are re-opening their doors this month to begin a new school year.  This is a time that should be full of promise. But due to the current climate in this country, it is also one of fear and divisiveness.

Many schools have or are actively responding to calls that they integrate social and emotional learning into academics as a way address discipline problems, increase student engagement, and better prepare students for college, work and life.  Some communities see this as an opportunity to move beyond testing, hoping that it signals room for teaching the arts, nurturing positive relationships and rewarding responsible and compassionate behavior. Others see it as a threat to parents' rights to establish a values base for their children by advocating tolerance for lifestyles or life choices they don't agree with.

Evidence-based Policymakingev
New Report - "Managing for Success: Strengthening the Federal Infrastructure for Evidence-based Policymaking"
The Forum for Youth Investment is excited to release a new report, "Managing 
for Success: Strengthening the Federal Infrastructure for Evidence-based Policymaking." This report examines how the federal government creates and uses evidence to inform decision-making.

The report includes:
  •  A working model of the building blocks for the federal infrastructure for evidence-based policymaking;
  • A landscape scan that presents a detailed status of each of these building blocks; and
  • Recommendations to strengthen the infrastructure by (1) integrating multiple types of evidence into decision-making processes, (2) elevating evaluation and (3) focusing on revenue-neutral approaches to scaling the use of evidence.
The report is designed to be complimentary to the work of the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking, and was released on the same day that the Commission issued their report The Promise of Evidence-Based Policymaking. Both reports include recommendations for strengthening the evidence-building capacity within the federal government.

Social and Emotional Learning: Thought Leaderssel_thought
Development is Relational... A Thought Leader Conversation with Search Institute CEO Kent Pekel
Free Conference Call
1:30-2:30 pm EDT, September 20, 2017 

We all know that young people are more successful when they not only have academic knowledge, but also the social and emotional skills and mindsets needed to navigate life, college and work.

But how much do we really understand about what it takes to build competence and confidence? How much is youth success dependent not on what they are taught but how they are treated? Few organizations understand the importance of adult support better than the Search Institute, the creators of the Developmental Assets Framework.

Join Karen Pittman as she spends an hour with Kent Pekel, President and CEO of the Search Institute, to learn more about the Developmental Relationships Framework, a powerful new tool the Search Institute is using to help all adults - teachers, youth workers and most importantly families - understand and focus their actions to contribute to youth success.

Equity in Higher Educationequity
Resilience is not Enough: Equity Matters in Higher Education
Blog by Jo Ann Paanio, Policy & Advocacy Associate, The Forum for Youth Investment

This blog is the third in a series of junior Forum for Youth Investment staff and internssharing their perspectives and engaging with the Forum's Changing the Odds concepts.

Roll call, check. Additional enrollments, check. Syllabus review, check. Course and textbook requirements, check. The first day of the semester would then typically begin with a simple quiz consisting of 10 true or false statements: "Al"l men are created equal." "Everyone has a voice." "Stereotypes do not matter." The list goes on. This "pop quiz" was my way of getting students in my political science class to share their reactions to these accepted truths.
 
Every time I listen to students' responses, I get a surging feeling of admiration. Many had grown up in destitute neighborhoods and were simultaneously enrolled in school while juggling full-time jobs to provide for their families. Some had parents who had escaped war-torn countries making the ultimate sacrifice in pursuit of the American dream. Others had found themselves immersed in books happy to leave behind their former lives in the foster care system. And those who had escaped these challenges still felt the pressure of being the first in the family to attend college. Though they each differed in their journey, every student's path was emboldened by one word: resilience.
 
First Language is Not English (FLNE)flne
I Came Here to Learn 
A recent study published by the Center for Promise (a collaboration between
America's Promise Alliance and Boston University School of Education)  titled, "I  Came Here to Learn," highlights the realities of students whose First Language is Not English (FLNE).
 
While these young people do not fit into the English Language Learner (ELL) category in school, language still proves a barrier, rather than a bridge, to the resources they require. In order to understand the specific challenges FLNE students face, we must work to ensure these students have equitable access to the resources and relationships they need to succeed in life.
 

Stay Connected
7064 Eastern Ave., NW | Washington, DC 20012 | 202.207.3333