UPCOMING AYPF EVENTS
Webinar – Building Pathways to Postsecondary Education for Youth Involved in the Justice System, Wednesday, November 6th, 2013 1:00-2:30 p.m.
For young people involved in the justice system, navigating a pathway into and through postsecondary education and the workforce is often met with a range of barriers including social stigmatization arising from court involvement, lack of access to resources and services, low expectations of educational success, lack of employment opportunities, probation and parole requirements that do not support postsecondary goals, and gaps in academic attainment and college readiness.
This webinar will feature a discussion of NYEC’s recent report “Promoting Postsecondary Success of Court-Involved Youth: Lessons from the NYEC Postsecondary Success Pilot” and include presentations from profiled programs. Speakers will include Yelena Nemoy, National Youth Employment Coalition; Sophia Morel, Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES); and others to be announced.
Capitol Hill Forum – The Use of Research in the Common Core State Standards, Monday, December 16th, 2013 12:00-1:30 p.m.
State education agencies and school districts across the country are in the midst of major changes, as they align their work with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Their decisions will have far-reaching implications for instruction, and it is important that they be informed by high-quality research. However, educators and policymakers do not always bring research to their decisions. Constraints on the decision-making process itself–financial, logistical, or political–sometimes make the careful consideration of research difficult. At other times, policymakers may feel that existing research is not suited to their context or that the gap between theory and practice is too wide. To help sort out these issues, the William T. Grant Foundation has sponsored several studies to track how research is accessed, interpreted, and used to inform policy discourse and practice. This forum will highlight how these studies can illuminate and strengthen the use of research in implementing the Common Core State Standards. Dr. Lorraine McDonnell, University of California, Santa Barbara, will discuss how research was integrated with other types of evidence in developing the Common Core State Standards, and what the CCSS experience suggests for how research might be more effectively used in policy deliberations. Dr. Sandra Alberti, Director of State and District Partnerships and Professional Development, Student Achievement Partners, will share her experience working alongside states and districts to align their work to the Common Core using evidence-based strategies. Last, we will hear from a school district that is currently aligning its work to the Common Core. Nancy Gannon, Executive Director of the Office for Academic Quality in the New York City Department of Education will speak about how the department integrated research into selecting Common Core supports for teachers and schools.
AYPF PUBLICATIONS AND RESOURCES
Issue Brief: Understanding Accelerated Learning Across Secondary and Postsecondary Education
Prepared by the American Youth Policy Forum, this brief from the College and Career Readiness and Success Center catalogs accelerated learning options that are currently being implemented in schools and highlights efforts made both within and across secondary and postsecondary education. An education system that is responsive to the needs of all students must provide students opportunities to move through secondary and postsecondary education at an individualized pace that meets their needs. Accelerated learning serves as a promising tool to provide such opportunities to students.
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.
Recently AYPF has provided several contributions to the Ready for Success Blog, including a post summarizing a webinar discussing comprehensive strategies for youth sponsored by the White House.
Click here to find all briefs and reports
Click here to view all AYPF publications
RECOMMENDED READING AND RESOURCES
Check these out – recommended reading from the AYPF staff
Year 3 of Implementing the Common Core State Standards: State Education Agencies’ Views on Postsecondary Involvement Center on Education Policy
This report, based on a spring 2013 survey of state education agency officials who oversee K-12 education in Common Core-adopting states, describes states’ perceptions about the variety of ways in which they are collaborating with their state’s postsecondary institutions to prepare for and implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Other topics covered in the report include the role of postsecondary institutions in providing professional development and preparation for current and future educators under the new standards and postsecondary review and use of the CCSS and aligned assessments.
Staying On Track: Testing Higher Achievement’s Long-Term Impact on Academic Outcomes and High School Choice MDRC
In 2006, Public/Private Ventures began a comprehensive multiyear evaluation of Higher Achievement’s impact. This brief, distributed by MDRC, summarizes findings from the four-year random assignment study of an out-of-school-time program for 952 middle-schoolers. Students in the program did better on standardized tests and were more likely to attend private high schools.
The Linked Learning Advantage: Using Linked Learning to Implement the Common Core State Standards Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education
This brief examines how Linked Learning, an innovative approach to high school reform, offers an advantage to teachers, schools, and districts implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Both the CCSS and Linked Learning seek to prepare students for college and career by connecting learning in the classroom with real-world applications outside the school. Practitioners, administrators, parents, policymakers, and others can use this brief as a guide to understanding the parallels between the CCSS and Linked Learning and to discover strategic approaches for combining the CCSS and Linked Learning to design high-quality, relevant, 21st century instruction for all students.
Implementation of the Common Core State Standards: A Transition Guide for School-level Leaders The Aspen Institute, Education First, Insight Education Group, Student Achievement Partners, Targeted Leadership Consulting
This guide is an action-planning tool for school leadership teams to help ensure the many interconnected components of CCSS implementation take hold. Built around seven indicators of a high-quality transition, the guide provides specific high-impact actions, measures and tools for school leaders and includes three vignettes to illustrate how the indicators appear in day-to-day practice.
Connected by 25: A Plan for Investing in the Social, Emotional and Physical Well-Being of Older Youth in Foster CareYouth Transition Funders Group Foster Care Work Group
Social, emotional, and physical well-being is critical for young people to form and connect with networks of families, friends, and communities that support their transitions to adulthood. However, many older youth and young adults who experience the child welfare system face social and emotional challenges stemming from abuse, neglect, and trauma and separation from their family and culture. This publication seeks to leverage and advance new and emerging interest within and outside the federal government and research and advocacy communities to better understand and support social, emotional, and physical well-being for older youth in foster care. This investment agenda calls for a series of coordinated investments by public and private funders in improving practice, policy and advocacy efforts, community supports, cross-systems collaboration, and research and evaluation.
Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies OECD
The Survey of Adult Skills is an international survey conducted in 33 countries as part of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). It measures the key cognitive and workplace skills needed for individuals to participate in society and for economies to prosper. The evidence from this Survey may be used to help countries better understand how education and training systems can nurture these skills. Educators, policy makers and labour economists will use this information to develop economic, education and social policies that will continue to enhance the skills of adults.
The American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF), a nonprofit, nonpartisan professional development organization based in Washington, DC, provides learning opportunities for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers working on youth and education issues at the national, state, and local levels.
AYPF events and publications are made possible by a consortium of philanthropic foundations: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, William T. Grant Foundation, The Wallace Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and others.
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