UPCOMING AYPF EVENTS
Webinar – From Discipline to Dialogue: Engaging Student Voice (Tuesday, December 16)
AYPF EVENT DETAILS
How do opportunities for dialogue between teachers and students change school discipline? During this webinar, AYPF will present key themes from our recently published blog series, “From Discipline to Dialogue: Changing the Conversation about Classroom Discipline.” AYPF Program Associate and blog series author Erin Russ will host the event, and co-presenters include Dr. Anne Gregory, Associate Professor at Rutgers University, who will discuss research on teacher-student relationships in the context of discipline, and Vickie Shoap, Restorative Justice Specialist with Fairfax County Public Schools.
AYPF PUBLICATIONS AND RESOURCES
Better Together: A Resource Directory for Afterschool System Builders AYPF is proud to present our comprehensive directory that identifies over 50 organizations offering resources and tools on afterschool system building. We recognize it is difficult to know and stay on top of the ever-evolving list of national organizations and their work, thus we have attempted to catalog the leading afterschool tools, information, and resources.
Using Research Evidence in Education (Webinar Recording) How does research penetrate education, from the federal level to states, districts, and schools? Researchers and editors Kara Finnigan and Alan Daly set out to answer this question along with other contributing scholars, policymakers, and practitioners in their new book, Using Research Evidence in Education: From the Schoolhouse Door to Capitol Hill. The American Youth Policy Forum hosted a webinar featuring Finnigan and Daly as they discussed key findings from their book about the uses of research in education policy and practice.
Using Student Surveys for Teacher Professional Development (Denver, CO Study Tour Brief) This study tour examined the use of student voice in the continuous improvement of teaching and learning. While many schools, districts, and states include academic performance measures and periodic peer/principal observation as data used to improve upon teaching practices, few take into account the observations of the students themselves. Participants also learned about the role of higher education in this endeavor and talked about policy implications of integrating student surveys into teacher evaluations and the weight which surveys have been given in teacher evaluations.
Increasing Graduation Rates: The Continuing Story of CUNY’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) (Forum Brief) AYPF and MDRC teamed up to share promising results and best practices from CUNY’s ASAP (Accelerated Study in Associate Programs) initiative. CUNY ASAP includes full-time enrollment in target majors block scheduled first-year courses, consolidated-schedule cohort course-taking by major, financial resources, intrusive and mandatory advisement, winter and summer course taking, a student-success seminar, career services, and tutoring.
Creating Post-Secondary Opportunities for Youth in Transition from Foster Care (Discussion Group Summary) The American Youth Policy Forum convened representatives from research, policy, and practice at the federal, state, and local levels to discuss the challenges and opportunities of serving youth in transition from foster care. Topics included the role of sustainable social capital, permanency supports, and postsecondary opportunities.
Forum For Thought Blog The Forum for Thought blog is operated by the American Youth Policy Forum, and highlights diverse points of view and information from the intersection of policy, practice and research. Some recent posts include:
- A student-centered reading list from Communications Associate George Knowles
- Executive Director Betsy Brand’s take on how afterschool resources contribute to college and career-readiness
- A two-part blog series on understanding the homeless youth population, their challenges after high school, and what options are available for them by Policy Research Assistant Garet Fryar.
- Program Associate Erin Russ’ take on creating postsecondary opportunities for foster care youth
Ready for Success Blog The Ready for Success Blog, operated by College and Career Readiness and Success Center at the American Institutes of Research, provides practitioners and policymakers with many posts related to college and career readiness. Topics span the field of strategies which help prepare students for postsecondary education and beyond, including accelerated learning; dropout prevention and recovery; increased learning time; and federal, state, and local policy initiatives to name a few. AYPF’s recent contributions include AYPF Policy Research Assistant Garet Fryar’s two-part blog series on a webinar on competency-based education.
Click here to view all AYPF publications
Click here to find all briefs and reports
RECOMMENDED READING AND RESOURCES
Check these out – recommended reading from the AYPF staff:
Campaign for Youth Our Youth, Our Economy, Our Future: A Road Map for Investing in the Nation’s Talent, The Campaign for Youth recently updated Our Youth, Our Economy, Our Future: A Road Map for Investing in the Nation’s Talent, a strategy that offers a set of recommendations to help an estimated 6.7 million young people ages 16-24 who are unattached to school or work return to education or engage in a career. Twenty percent of our youth do not graduate from high school, and youth and young adults ages 16-24 face an unemployment rate more than twice the overall unemployment rate. Helping disconnected youth access postsecondary education and the workforce is the best solution to persistent poverty and income inequality and to meeting our workforce needs. Comprehensive investments—made now—will reconnect these young adults, securing their futures and those of their families, their communities, and the nation as a whole. The strategy offers seven overarching ways to bring these recommendations to reality. Read the strategy document and join us in advocating for action to help millions of needy young people.
Students at the Center, a Jobs for the Future Project Equity in Competency Education: Realizing the Potential, Overcoming the Obstacles Equity is both a central goal and fundamental value of competency education. Competency-based approaches are designed to promote equity by preventing students from falling behind or staying behind. In practice, however, poorly implemented competency-based programs could inadvertently increase inequity—in opportunities and in outcomes. The second paper of Students at the Center’s Competency Education Research Series examines equity concerns in competency education through the lens of family income, exploring the effects and implications, as well as proposing potential mitigations.
New America Millennials Rising New America, Young Invincibles, and the Roosevelt Campus Network convened a cross-cutting policy symposium to explore the unique set of challenges facing the Millennial generation. The Great Recession has changed the economic landscape in fundamental ways, and with it, the pathways that Millennials have to get ahead. The panel explored where the jobs of the 21st century are being generated and how that impacts who is likely to succeed and who is in danger of falling behind. This page also presents a set of resources and videos that documented the symposium proceedings.
University of Chicago CCSR Looking Forward to High School and College: Middle Grade Indicators of Readiness in Chicago Public Schools This report follows approximately 20,000 Chicago Public Schools students as they transition from elementary to high school. It is designed to help answer questions about which markers should be used to gauge whether students are ready to succeed in high school and beyond, and also considers the performance levels students need to reach in middle school to have a reasonable chance of succeeding in high school.
Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study (CalYOUTH): Early Findings from the Child Welfare Worker Survey This report presents findings from the Child Welfare Worker Survey of the California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study (CalYOUTH). CalYOUTH is an evaluation of the impact of the California Fostering Connections to Success Act on outcomes during the transition to adulthood for foster youth.
