AYPF IS HIRING
Senior Policy Associate
The American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) is seeking a Senior Policy Associate to join our team. The Senior Policy Associate will manage, conceive, and organize learning events for national and state policymakers for a range of education, youth, and workforce policy issues. This will entail formulating the broad concept of events, identifying potential topics and speakers for the events, conducting research on effective and innovative programs and policies, interfacing with the speakers or presenters to help design the content of the events, developing and organizing the events (with the support of the AYPF operations team), and conducting follow-up activities. The Senior Policy Associate will also write a range of reports, summaries, and other documents for dissemination to various audiences. A full job description and online application are available at https://www.aypf.org/about/employment-opportunities/.
Spring and Summer 2018 Research/Policy Intern
AYPF interns are an integral part of the team and engage in a variety of activities, including researching and analyzing data, writing fact sheets and summaries, and planning and helping to organize briefings on Capitol Hill. The application process is rolling. For more details, please visit our employment page at https://www.aypf.org/about/employment-opportunities/.
UPCOMING AYPF EVENTS
Capitol Hill Forum: Employer-Driven Innovations in CTE: Promise, Practice, & Opportunities for Policy (Friday, October 20, 2017 from 12:00-1:30pm ET)
In partnership with MDRC, this forum will present leading research on CTE and analysis of the evolving workforce needs which have influenced the development of innovative CTE strategies. Presenters will share both an overview of the research and innovative strategies in CTE at both the secondary and postsecondary levels that have strong employer partners and are informed by research. Presenters include Mary Visher, Senior Associate, MDRC; Van Ton-Quinlivan, Vice Chancellor, Workforce & Digital Futures, California Community Colleges; Stanley S. Litow, President Emeritus, IBM International Foundation and Vice President Emeritus, IBM Corporate Citizenship; and Cate Swinburn, President, YouthForce NOLA.
Webinar: Key Teaching and Learning Shifts for Personalized Learning: Preparing for Success (Monday, October 23, 2017 from 4:00-5:15 ET)
This webinar will focus on the key teaching and learning shifts that occur in successful personalized learning settings over time, including how these shifts can help improve students’ college and career readiness. Participants will learn about the specific skills teachers and students use in many personalized learning settings, the key shifts in instructional planning and delivery, and the ways in which personalized learning settings can help students develop transferable skills and competencies over time. This webinar will feature both national experts and local leaders from districts implementing personalized learning approaches. Presenters include Catherine Jacques, Researcher, American Institutes for Research; Mark Williams, Technical Advisor, Center on Innovations in Learning; Sam Redding, Senior Learning Specialist, Center on Innovations in Learning; Kevin Erickson, Director, KM Perform (Kettle Moraine, Wisconsin) & Vice President of Instructional Design, Epiphany Learning; and Rebecca Snyder, English Teacher (Greater Latrobe Senior High School, Latrobe, Pennsylvania) & former Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year.
Capitol Hill Forum: Remake Learning: A Networked Approach to Education for the 21st Century (Monday, November 6, 2017 from 12:00-1:30pm ET)
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the surrounding areas, an innovative and collaborative approach to learning is growing and flourishing. A network of more than 250 schools, universities, libraries, startups, nonprofits, museums, and others, Remake Learning works to ignite engaging and relevant learning opportunities for every student — opportunities that leverage technology, art, and the learning sciences to help young people thrive amid unprecedented social and technological change. Presenters will describe and discuss this unique community approach to innovative learning and share results from a ten-year impact evaluation. Presenters include Gregg Behr, Executive Director, Grable Foundation, and lead partner of Remake Learning Network;Bart Rocco, Superintendent, Elizabeth Forward School District; Jane Werner, Executive Director, Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh; and Mary Murrin, Social Investment Team Lead, Chevron.
Capitol Hill Forum: Pathways to Prosperity: Preparing Youth for 21st Century Careers (Friday, December 1, 2017 from 12:00-1:30pm ET)
In 2012, Jobs for the Future and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, in collaboration with states and regions across the country, launched the Pathways to Prosperity Network to reimagine how the education system – from K-12 through college – partners with employers and prepares youth for postsecondary success. This forum will explore main themes from a new book, Learning for Careers: The Pathways to Prosperity Network, highlight how key actors in Delaware, a Pathways to Prosperity state, worked together to develop and implement a coherent strategic career pathways plan, and discuss how Delaware state leadership and prominent organizations also played a critical role. Speakers will share insights about how two education institutions and the employer community came together to create meaningful career pathways that cut across secondary and postsecondary education and are linked to growth areas in the state’s economy. Speakers include Dr. Susan Bunting, Delaware Secretary of Education; Dr. Mark Brainard, President, Delaware Technical Community College; Nancy Hoffman, Senior Advisor, Jobs for the Future;Gary Stockbridge, President, Delmarva Power Region for Exelon Corporation; and Robert Schwartz, Senior Research Fellow, Harvard Graduate School of Education.
AYPF RESOURCES AND PUBLICATIONS
Policy Brief: Social and Emotional Learning and Traditionally Underserved Populations
This brief includes a review of the current state of research and practice in social and emotional learning (SEL) for three traditionally underserved student groups: students with disabilities, English language learners, and justice-involved youth. The brief identifies patterns of social and emotional development, as well as existing programs that successfully align resources across systems to enhance this development. Lastly, it explores potential policy levers for using SEL to better prepare these populations of students for success in school and life.
Policy Brief: Supporting Pathways to Long-Term Success for Systems-Involved Youth: Lessons Learned
This brief is a compilation of lessons learned from AYPF’s last two years of work focused specifically on systems-involved youth. Following a discussion about the education and workforce barriers these youth face, their outcomes, and the policies that affect them, this brief is organized into three key lessons that AYPF has identified as critical for promoting pathways to postsecondary education, training, and careers for youth involved in the juvenile justice system and/or youth in foster care. Drawing upon research-supported best practices of community-based programs from around the country, these lessons include: 1) Leveraging authentic youth voice; 2) Providing youth with a diversity of comprehensive supports and transitional services and; 3) Strategically aligning youth-serving systems and policies.
Fact Sheet: Education and Workforce Related Policies Affecting Systems-Involved Youth
This fact sheet intends to inform researchers, policymakers, and practitioners of the federal legislation that governs systems-involved youth as well as highlight grant opportunities. This resource includes legislation and grants specifically focused on supporting secondary, postsecondary, and workforce success among youth involved in the juvenile justice and/or child welfare system.
Article, STEM Ready America: Career and College Exploration in Afterschool Programs in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
This article highlights the important role afterschool plays in preparing youth for college and careers in STEM fields, featuring the work of three high-quality STEM afterschool programs from across the country—Project Exploration, SHINE, and EVOLUTIONS. The article concludes with recommendations for program leaders to promote more STEM learning.
Webinar, Forum for Youth Investment co-hosted with AYPF: The Intersection of Afterschool and SEL for 21st Century Readiness
Building upon a session at the 2017 Ready By 21 National Meeting in Austin, TX, this webinar highlighted national research and best practices from around the country to explore the value of afterschool settings in cultivating SEL, the ways in which SEL can align with 21st century/employability skills over time, what SEL and employability skill building experiences look like in practice, and the ways in which SEL in afterschool settings aligns with other common community goals along the continuum of services for young people.
Please visit our YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/amyouthpolicyforum for video for clips of events, interviews and more.
- Senior Director Loretta Goodwin shares reflections and lessons on the importance of listening after attending a recent Hewlett Foundation meeting. Read More
- Policy Associate Jenna Tomasello highlights recent AYPF events and resources on supporting pathways to education and the workforce for systems-involved youth. Read More
- Policy Research Assistant Jesse Kannam dissects quotes from panelists at AYPF’s recent forum on Capitol Hill. Read More
- Senior Policy Associate Carinne Deeds posits that the skills gap may partially be a gap in communication. Read More
Click here to view all AYPF publications
Click here to view AYPF’s resource pages
RECOMMENDED READING AND RESOURCES
Check these out – recommended reading from the AYPF staff:
Council of Chief State School Officers & Jobs for the Future: Leadership Competencies for Learner-Centered Personalized Education
This resource serves as a first step in identifying the knowledge, skills, and dispositions leaders must master in order to build and sustain learner-centered, personalized schools and learning environments. The competencies in this resource describe and define what leaders need to know and be able to do in order to create transformative, student centered-learning communities.
American Institutes for Research: CBE 360 Survey Toolkit
This toolkit uses surveys from a recent AIR CBE study to provide a comprehensive picture of CBE implementation in six research-based core areas: learning targets, measurement of learning, instructional approaches and supports, assessment of learning, pacing and progression, and when and where learning takes place.
Jobs for the Future & Aspen Forum for Community Solutions: Creating Paths to Employment for Opportunity Youth Toolkit
This toolkit is designed to help community-based organizations, employers, and other key stakeholders work in partnership together to support career pathways for youth disconnected from both education and work.
National League of Cities: Lessons Learned: Mayoral Leadership for Juvenile Justice Reform
This document highlights mayoral leadership actions that have begun to produce results, thanks to an emphasis on evidence-informed, community-based accountability for young people who would otherwise enter the juvenile justice system. The document also introduces further opportunities for cities to see improvements in public safety, costs and outcomes.
Advance CTE: CTE Virtual Institute
The CTE Virtual Institute is a 7-module, web-based survey course designed for audiences that are new to the world of CTE (including state-level practitioners, policymakers, researchers and more). The course explores the history and current state of the field, dispels common myths, and encourages participants to recognize the role they play in supporting a high-quality CTE system.
Advance CTE: CTE on the Frontier: Connecting Rural Learners with the World of Work
This brief, the second in a series on rural CTE access and quality, explores ways to bring the physical experience of work-based learning and employer engagement directly to learners through simulated workplace experiences, innovative satellite campuses and mobile labs.
National League of Cities & Mayor Karen Best: Why America Should Invest in Afterschool and Summer Programs
In this blog, featured on NLC’s blog site Cities Speak, Mayor Karen Best of Branson, Missouri describes the importance of federal support for afterschool programs, and encourages state and local leaders to learn more about the opportunities that afterschool and summer programs provide for youth.
The Wallace Foundation, McClanahan Associates, & Research for Action: Raising the Barre & Stretching the Canvas: Implementing High-Quality Arts Programming in a National Youth Serving Organization
New from the Wallace Knowledge Center, Dr. Wendy S. McClanahan and Dr. Tracey A. Hartmann provide a comprehensive analysis of the Youth Arts Initiative at the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
The Forum for Youth Investment: 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, and includes recommendations for strengthening the evidence-building capacity within the federal government.
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: Andrus Family Fund, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, William T. Grant Foundation, The Wallace Foundation,William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and others.
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