UPCOMING AYPF EVENTS
Webinar – Career Pathways: From Ideas to Action, Tools for States (Wednesday, February 10, 2016)
Webinar – How Research Evidence Informs Foster Youth Medication Policies (Monday, February 22, 2016)
AYPF EVENT DETAILS
This forum will highlight approaches to thinking more broadly about accountability, moving away from a focus on assessments and considering recommendations from a recent Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE) report. Linda Darling-Hammond, President and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute and lead author of the SCOPE report, will provide an overview of the report and set the context for the remainder of the forum series. Paul Leather, Deputy Commissioner of Education at the New Hampshire Department of Education, will then highlight that state’s receipt of an accountability waiver under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and how they are implementing a new competency-based system that combines state and local performance assessments to supplement state tests
In order to ensure that students are adequately prepared for college and career and that the education they receive is well-aligned to the needs of the labor market, states and districts across the country are working to provide multiple educational pathways to better meet the needs of students, employers, and the economy as a whole. This webinar will describe the value of career pathway systems, provide leading examples of states and districts doing this work, and will introduce the CCRS Center’s new Career Pathways Module, which provides tools and resources for the development and implementation of a career pathways system.
This webinar will focus on how mid-level policymakers in state child welfare agencies acquire, interpret, and use research evidence to develop policies regarding the use of medications for youth in foster care with the goal of improving their life and health outcomes. Presenters include: Laurel K. Leslie, M.D., MPH, Vice President of Research, American Board of Pediatrics; Thomas Mackie, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Department of Health Systems and Policy at Rutgers School of Public Health; Christopher Bellonci, M.D., Associate Professor, Tufts University School of Medicine; Debra Lancaster, Director, Office of Strategic Development, New Jersey Department of Children and Families
2016 SUMMER AND FALL INTERNSHIPS
AYPF is currently hiring for both our summer and fall internship positions. Duties include:
- Working with program staff to collect data for briefing papers, fact sheets, and publications.
- Researching promising practices to help identify potential programs to highlight in publications, forums, and study tours.
- Tracking and analyzing effective youth policies and practices in states and districts.
- Assisting with communications to key contacts on Capitol Hill.
Internships at AYPF are substantive, structured, and interns are integral members of our team. For more details about the position and how to apply, please visit our employment page.
AYPF PUBLICATIONS AND RESOURCES
Forum Brief — How Research Evidence Informs Foster Youth Medication Policies
For vulnerable children, including those in foster care, behavioral health medications and services offered by the child welfare system are a crucial component of their development. This system, which in 2011 served 6.2 million children in the United States, is responsible for services tied to youth well-being, including the use of psychotropic medications for emotional and behavioral problems. However, knowledge of research about recommended practices for appropriate use of medications varies greatly among child welfare professionals. The ways in which research evidence is used differs across states and communities.
This forum, based on research by Laurel Leslie and Thomas Mackie, Vice President of Research at the American Board of Pediatrics, will focus on how mid-level policymakers in state child welfare agencies acquire, interpret, and use research evidence to develop policies regarding the use of medications for youth in foster care with the goal of improving their life and health outcomes. Responding to the dramatic increase in the use of these medications in recent years, the federal government mandated that all child welfare agencies develop plans to review and manage behavioral health services for youth. Presenters at this forum will explore various state and local responses to the federal charge – particularly in New Jersey’s Department of Children and Families.
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.
- Promoting postsecondary access and success of first-generation college students through counseling and advising. Read our three-part series on the role of counselors, peers, and other innovations that help students transition to and through college.
- How do we ensure that equity is addressed when implementing and growing programs at the intersection of afterschool and competency-based education asks Program Associate Jenna Tomasello.
- Digital Communications Associate George Knowles shares the trends to watch in 2016.
- Can discipline policies promote student learning? Read Policy Research Assistant Zach Malter’s thoughts.
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:
Community College Research Center (CCRC), the Aspen Institute, and the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) Research Center Tracking Transfer: New Measures of Institutional and State Effectiveness in Helping Community College Students Attain Bachelor’s Degrees
The report introduces five metrics on the effectiveness of two- and four-year institutions in enabling degree-seeking community college students to transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree. It draws on National Student Clearinghouse data on more than 700,000 students who entered community college in fall 2007 and tracks their progress for six years.
Jobs for the Future Deeper Teaching, Deeper Learning Research Series
This paper provides a close, detailed description of “deeper teaching,” referring to the kinds of instructional strategies and moment-by-moment teaching decisions that enable students to learn deeply and describes the kinds of early-career guidance and supports that teachers will need in order to understand what deeper teaching entails and put it into practice. The paper is part of a larger series available online.
UChicago Consortium on School Reform Teacher Evaluation in Chicago Differences in Observation and Value-Added Scores by Teacher, Student, and School Characteristic
This report finds teachers with the lowest scores on the REACH Students teacher evaluation system are overrepresented in schools serving the most disadvantaged students, while teachers with the highest observation scores are underrepresented in these schools.
Impaq International Recruitment, Outreach, and Engagement of Disconnected Young Adults under WIOA Lessons Learned from the Evaluation of the Linking Innovation Knowledge Employment (@LIKE) Program.
This issue brief describes the unique and intensive recruitment, outreach, and engagement strategies of the Linking Innovation, Knowledge, and Employment (@LIKE) program based in Southern California, which serves disconnected young adults, age 18 to 24. It explains what worked best in outreach, recruitment, and engagement of disconnected young adults. This is the first of three issue briefs on innovative aspects of the @LIKE program that can help programs implement WIOA requirements.
