Transcript THE AMERICAN DREAM - Forum for Youth Investment

HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION:
A KEY STEP Towards Ensuring that
Every Young Person is Ready
for College, Work & Life
Karen Pittman, Executive Director
The Forum for Youth Investment
May 2008
The American DREAM
All youth can be ready.
Every family and community
can be supportive.
Each leader can make a difference.
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
The American REALITY
Too Few Youth are Ready.
Only 4 in 10 are doing well.
Too Few Families and Communities are Supportive.
Fewer than 2 in 5 youth have the supports that they need.
Too Few Leaders are Making a Collective Difference.
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
The American DILEMMA
Fragmentation. Complacency. Low Expectations.
At a time when
“Failure is NOT an Option” and
(The Hope Foundation)
“Trying Hard is NOT Good Enough”
(Mark Friedman)
THE GAP BETWEEN
VISION AND REALITY
HAS TO BE CLOSED
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
Education attainment pipeline at age 26
Education
attainment
age
Only
30% of poor
8th graders pipeline
have someattype
of 26
post-secondary degree by
30% receive some type of
age 26 compared to more than half those living
in above poverty families.
post -secondary credential
Below
Below
150%
150% of
of
Federal
Federal
Poverty
Poverty
Level*
Level* in
in
th
th
88 grade
grade
67%
41%
11%
19%
7% AA
12% BA+
Complete
high
school
diploma
Above
Above
150%
150% of
of
Federal
Federal
Poverty
Poverty
Level*
Level* in
in
th
th
88 grade
grade
The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
Complete
GED
89%
* Federal Poverty Level (FPL) varies by household size. When t
Now, 150% of the FPL is $30,975 for a family of four.
** This data point has the greatest divergence among the 3 data
©
14%
Enroll in
post secondary
64% **
7%
Complete
credential/
license***
Complete
post secondary
degree
8%
45%
7% AA
38% BA+
he subjects of this data sample were in 8
th
grade in 1987, 150% of the FPL for a family of four was $17,415
sources used for this analysis. This represents a conservative
number with some datasets reporting up to 85%.
in 1987 dollars.
The
Ready by 21
Challenge:
Changing the Odds for Youth by
Changing the Way We Do Business
Change the odds
for youth
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
Change the landscape
of communities
Change the way
we do business
The
Ready by 21
Challenge:
Changing the Odds for Youth by
Changing the Way We Do Business
Change
the odds
High
School
for youth
Graduation
is a
powerful focal point
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
What
are
best
Change
thethe
landscape
of communities
strategies
to
improve the
numbers?
What can we do
now to change
the way
we do business?
Think Graduation & Beyond
High school graduation rates are an important focal point. But
there are three reasons NOT to establish high school
graduation as THE END GOAL:
• High school graduation is no longer an adequate end goal for
youth.
• High school graduation is no longer an adequate predictor of
workforce or college readiness.
• Increasing high school graduation rates without addressing the
educational needs of high school dropouts is only a partial
solution, especially in communities and among populations
with very high dropout rates.
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
WANTED: Fully Prepared, Fully Engaged Young People
Are they
ready?
Ready by 21™ Quality Counts Initiative
New Employer Survey Finds
Skills in Short Supply
– Are They Really Ready to Work? –
Employers ranked 20 skill areas in order of importance.
The top skills fell into five categories:
• Professionalism/Work Ethic
• Teamwork/Collaboration
• Oral Communications
• Ethics/Social Responsibility
• Reading Comprehension
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
Employers Find These Skills
in Short Supply
• 7 in 10 employers saw these skills as critical for entry-
level high school graduates
8 in 10 as critical for two-year college graduates,
more than 9 in 10 as critical for four-year graduates.
• Employers reported that 4 in 10 high school graduates
were deficient in these areas
Note: Only 1 in 4 of four-year college graduates
were highly qualified.
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
Too Few Young People are Ready
Researchers Gambone, Connell & Klem (2002) estimate that
only 4 in 10 are doing well in their early 20s.
22% are doing poorly in two life
areas and not well in any
• Productivity: High school diploma
or less, are unemployed, on welfare
• Health: Poor health, bad health
habits, unsupportive relationships
• Connectedness: Commit illegal
activity once a month
Doing Poorly
22%
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
43% are doing well in two life
areas and okay in one
• Productivity: Attend college, work
steadily
• Health: Good health, positive health
habits, healthy relationships
• Connectedness: Volunteer,
politically active, active in religious
institutions, active in community
In the Middle
35%
Doing Well
43%
We Know What it Takes
to Support Development
• The National Research Council reports that teens need:
• Physical and Psychological Safety
• Appropriate Structure
• Supportive Relationships
• Opportunities to Belong
• Positive Social Norms
• Support for Efficacy and Mattering
• Opportunities for Skill-Building
• Integration of Family, School and Community efforts
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
Do these Supports Really Make
a Difference? Even in Adolescence?
ABSOLUTELY
Gambone and colleagues
show that youth with
supportive relationships
as they enter high school
are 5 times more likely
to leave high school “ready”
than those with weak
relationships…
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
SOURCE: Finding Out What Matters for Youth:
Testing Key Links in a Community Action Framework for Youth Development
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
Youth with Supportive
Relationships
Youth with Unsupportive
Relationships
Ready by End of 12th Grade
Not Ready
Do these Supports Make
a Difference in Adulthood?
80
… and those
seniors who were
“ready” at the end
of high school were
more than 4 times
as likely to be
doing well as young
adults.
SOURCE: Finding Out What Matters for Youth:
Testing Key Links in a Community Action Framework for Youth Development
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Ready by 21
Not Ready by 21
Good Young Adult Outcomes
Poor Young Adult Outcomes
Providing These Supports
CAN Change the Odds
Gambone/Connell’s research suggests that if all young people got the
supports they needed in early adolescence, the picture could change…
from 4 in 10
doing well
to 7 in 10
doing well
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
A Surprising Percentage of Youth
Don’t Receive them… By Any Name
The NRC List
• Physical and Psychological Safety
• Appropriate Structure
• Supportive Relationships
• Opportunities to Belong
• Positive Social Norms
• Support for Efficacy
and Mattering
• Opportunities for Skill-Building
• Integration of Family, School and
Community Efforts
• Basic Services (implied)
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
The Five Promises
SAFE PLACES
CARING ADULTS
OPPORTUNITIES
TO HELP OTHERS
EFFECTIVE EDUCATION
HEALTHY START
One Third of 6-17 Year Olds
Lack the Supports They Need
• According to the America’s Promise Alliance National Promises
Survey, only 31% of 6-17 year olds have at least 4 of the 5
promises. 21% have 1 or none.
• The likelihood of having sufficient supports decreases with age:
• 37% of 6-11 year olds have at least 4 promises; 13% have 1 or none.
• Only 30% of 12-17 year olds have at least 4 promises;
25% have 1 or none.
13%
50%
37%
6 – 11 Years Old
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
45%
25%
30%
12 – 17 Years Old
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
WANTED: High Quality School and
Community Supports
It Takes More than School Reform
Educational Researcher Paul Hill, University of Washington,
author of It Takes a City:
.. the traditional boundaries between the public school
system’s responsibilities and those of other community
agencies are themselves part of the educational problem…
Hill asks: “How can [a] community use all its assets to
provide the best education for all our children?”
His answer:
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
Community education partnerships
Take Aim on the Big Picture
How are Young People Doing?
Pre-K
0–5
Ready for
College
LEARNING
Ready for
Work
WORKING
SchoolAge
6–10
Middle
School
11–14
High
School
15–18
Young
Adults
19–21+
THRIVING
Ready for
Life
CONNECTING
LEADING
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
High school graduation
influences adulthood and is
influenced by earlier progress.
Every Age, Every Setting Counts
Civic
Outcome
Social
Areas
Emotional
Physical
Vocational
Cognitive
20+
.
Ages
?
.
.
0
?
At its best, school only fills
a portion of developmental space
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
?
School
Morning
After
School
...
Times of Day
Night
Who is Responsible for the Rest?
• Families
• Peer Groups
• Schools and Training Organizations
• Higher Education
• Youth-Serving Organizations
• CBOs (Non-Profit Service Providers and Associations)
• Businesses (Jobs, Internships and Apprenticeships)
• Faith-Based Organizations
• Libraries, Parks, and Recreation Departments
• Community-Based Health and Social Service Agencies
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
Quality Counts Everywhere
The NRC List
• Physical and Psychological Safety
• Appropriate Structure
• Supportive Relationships
• Opportunities to Belong
• Positive Social Norms
• Support for Efficacy
and Mattering
• Opportunities for Skill-Building
• Integration of Family, School and
Community Efforts
• Basic Services (implied)
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
The Five Promises
SAFE PLACES
CARING ADULTS
OPPORTUNITIES
TO HELP OTHERS
EFFECTIVE EDUCATION
HEALTHY START
Identifying Common Definitions for Quality
Harmful
Minimal
Optimal
Physical and
Psychological
Safety
Physical and health dangers, fear, feeling of insecurity,
sexual and physical harassment, verbal abuse.
Safe and health-promoting facilities; practice that increases safe peer group
interaction and decreases unsafe or confrontational peer interactions.
Appropriate
Structure
Chaotic, disorganized, laissez-faire, rigid, overcontrolled,
autocratic.
Limit setting, clear and consistent rules and expectations, firm-enough
control, continuity and predictability, clear boundaries, and age-appropriate
monitoring.
Supportive
Relationships
Cold, distant, overcontrolling, ambiguous support,
untrustworthy, focused on winning, inattentive,
unresponsive, rejecting
Warmth, closeness, connectedness, good communications, caring, support,
guidance, secure attachment, responsiveness
Opportunities to
Belong
Exclusion, marginalization, intergroup conflict
Opportunities for meaningful inclusion, regardless of one’s gender,
ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disabilities; social inclusion, social
engagement and integration; opportunities for socio-cultural identity
formation; support for cultural and bicultural competence.
Positive Social
Norms
Normless, anomie, laissez-faire practices, antisocial and
amoral norms, norms that encourage violence, reckless
behavior consumerism, poor health practices; conformity
Rules of behavior, expectations, injunctions, ways of doing things, values
and morals, obligations for service
Support for
Efficacy and
Mattering
Unchallenging, overcontrolling, disempowering,
disabling. Practices that undermine includes motivation
and desire to learn, such a excessive focus on current
relative performance level rather than improvement
Youth-based, empowerment practices that support autonomy, making a
real difference in one’s community, and being taken seriously. Practice that
is enabling, responsibility granting, meaningful challenges. Practice that
focus on improvement rather than on relative current levels
Opportunities for
Skill Building
Practice that promotes bad physical habits and habits of
mind; practice that undermines school and learning.
Opportunities to learn physical, intellectual, psychological, emotional, and
social skills; exposure to intentional learning experiences; opportunities to
learn cultural.
Integration of
Family, School &
CommunityEfforts
Discordance, lack of communication, conflict
Concordance, coordination, and synergy among family, school, and
community
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
Putting Dropout Reduction Strategies in Context
Increase Opportunities, Supports and Incentives for Post-Secondary Ed and Work
Identify and
Leverage
Community
Supports for
Learning and
Work
Preparation
Address the
Needs of
Those Who
Have
Already
Dropped
Out
Reduce the Dropout Rate: The 10-Point Plan
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Support accurate graduation and dropout data
Establish early warning systems to support struggling students
Provide adult advocates and student supports.
Support parent engagement and individualized graduation plans.
Establish a rigorous college and work preparatory curriculum for high
school graduation.
6. Provide supports for struggling students to meet rigorous expectations.
7. Raise compulsory school age requirements under state laws.
8. Expand college level learning opportunities in high school.
9. Focus the research and disseminate best practices.
10. Make increasing high school graduation and college and workforce
readiness a national priority.
Consider Strategies That Help Young People Arrive in High School
Healthy, Safe and Ready To Succeed – Starting with Early Childhood.
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
What it Takes
Goals & Data
Stakeholders
Coordinated
Improvement
Strategies
Aligned Policies
& Resources
Public Demand
Youth & Family
engagement
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
The Forum for Youth Investment
www.forumfyi.org
Quality Counts
It Matters
Research shows that improved youth outcomes
requires program attendance and program quality.
It is Measureable
The core elements of program quality are both measurable
and consistent across a broad range of program types.
It is Malleable
Most programs can improve quality by undertaking
integrated assessment and improvement efforts.
It is Marketable
Decision-makers and providers will invest in improving
quality if they believe that it matters, is measurable and is
malleable given available resources.
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
Take Stock of Public and Private Community Supports
Using a Common Set of Performance Measures
NRC (5 Promises)
Safety (Safe Places)
Structure (Safe Places)
Relationships (Caring
Adults)
Skill Building (Effective
Education)
Efficacy (Opportunities
to Help Others)
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
Setting A
Setting B Setting C
(e.g. school)
(e.g. CBOs)
(e.g. rec ctrs)
Setting D Setting E
Alternative:
Learning to Focus Differently
Pre-K
0–5
Ready for
College
LEARNING
Ready for
Work
WORKING
SchoolAge
6–10
Middle
School
11–14
High
School
15–18
Young
Adults
19–21+
Shifting
Red to Yellow,
Yellow to
Green
THRIVING
Ready for
Life
CONNECTING
LEADING
Pre-K
0–5
Ready for
College
LEARNING
Ready for
Work
WORKING
THRIVING
Ready for
Life
CONNECTING
LEADING
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
SchoolAge
6–10
Middle
School
11–14
High
School
15–18
Young
Adults
19–21+
Change Formula
The Harvard Change Model suggests the likelihood of change increases
exponentially as any of these factors gets stronger.
But disconnected efforts may actually dissipate energy for change.
C=DxVxP
Change = Dissatisfaction x Vision x Plan
the more we focus (on narrow pieces of the “big picture”),
the more we fragment (the responses),
the more we fail (our children and youth).
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
Business as Usual
… See a Problem, Convene a Task Force, Create a Program…
Has Created a Tangle of Inefficiencies
Children’s Services in Los Angeles County
SOURCE:
Margaret Dunkle
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
From Core Principles
to Common Language and Expectations
Example Language
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
Changing the Way We Do Business
Think Differently
BIG PICTURE APPROACH
so that together we can
Act Differently
© The Forum for Youth Investment 2008
SET BIGGER GOALS
BE BETTER PARTNERS
USE BOLDER STRATEGIES