I’m among the 4.5 million viewers inspired by Brene Brown’s 2010 TED talk on vulnerability.  For those of us in the social sector who are part “story tellers” for a living, she describes stories as “data with a soul” and I LOVE that! For those who are parents or, as I am, leaders and practitioners in the youth development field, listen to her message to an adult audience about connectedness and worthiness …and then listen again to this same message as the groundwork we must together lay with young people so they can develop into whole, healthy, happy, connected human beings.

You can veiw the talk here:

http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html

In response to Jennifer Davis',Co-Founder and President of the National Center on Time and Learning, Podcast about the ELT (Expanded Learning Time) Movement. To listen to the Podcast, visit: http://www.developmentwithoutlimits.org/podcast/index.php

Needless to say, I listened with great interest to the recent podcast interview Eric Gurna conducted with Jennifer Davis, Co-founder of The National Center for Time and Learning.  How to maximize the value and impact of the current school day---much less a longer one—is complex.  If the answer was easy or obvious, it likely wouldn’t be an issue at all. 

So first, let me state categorically that the extended school day already exists, and has for years, in communities small and large across this country.  It exists in every school, in all kinds of neighborhoods, where there is a strong partnership (and often contractual relationship) between the school and its after school partner--- organizations like Camp Fire USA.  For children and youth who participate three or more days a week in before and after school programs, their day is eight to nine hours long!  What matters though is what happens in those programs and whether it measurably impacts the kids’ readiness and willingness to learn in the classroom; whether it measurably supports and engages their parents in the process and whether those kids most at risk for not staying in school begin to believe in and have real hope for a positive future for themselves.

Community partners, like Camp Fire, that provide quality before-school, afterschool and summer learning experiences are in constant communication with schools and teachers so they can enhance and supplement what is happening during the school day.  Rather than being at odds with schools, the collaboration between school and community partners is often what yields the tremendous outcomes experienced by quality afterschool programs.   In addition, the most effective community partners are equally adept at securing private and corporate program funding, United Way support and are active advocates for the cause we refer to as preparing youth for life now.

Research, observation and decades of experience tell us that there are at last three fundamental requirements for effective out of school programs.  One, they are curriculum based, led by trained and caring adults, and include a focus on academic enrichment, tutoring and mentoring; two, they ensure “youth voice”, are highly experiential and are ideally conducted in small groups and three, they include active participation in the arts and physical activity---preferably out of doors.  In fact, research indicates that youth should be exposed to the cultural arts no less than three hours a week and physical activity at least three days a week. 

Therefore, I hope we’ll actually take this conversation “out of the classroom” on occasion.  Further, I hope the day comes soon when it is accepted---and not just as a community by community “best practice”-- that the accountability for preparing our young people for graduation and the right post secondary experience doesn’t rest solely with our education system. It should start with the degree to which young people show up every day ready and willing to learn and educators ready and willing to help them in that process.   And that will only happen when parents and community partners, like Camp Fire and others, are at the table as part of the school year planning process, as Mr. Gurna and Ms. Davis discussed.

While I agree with Ms. Davis that accountability for what kids need to learn should be a mandate, Mr. Gurna raised an important point when he questioned whether there is too much emphasis on “high stakes testing”.  We agree that is a real and current danger—though we understand what drives it. If classroom educators are evaluated on a very narrow set of metrics--- often focused mainly on grade level reading and math---then they’ll adapt and simply “teach to the test”.  And how’s that working for us so far?

Camp Fire, and others, has long integrated the developmental asset research led by the late Peter Benson of the Search Institute into its program model. His findings, and new research commissioned by the Thrive Foundation for Youth, led to the concept of “sparks”. Youth, as young as age 10, understand the concept and 100% of high school students, when asked, could name at least one of theirs!   To reinforce one of the points Ms. Davis made during her interview, these findings make clear that every young person needs three Spark Champions: 1) family, 2) school and 3) community (faith institutions, youth organizations, etc.)  Acting together, these champions must commit themselves to helping young people find their sparks through engaged learning, creating caring and supportive environments and fully engaging parents and families.

Additional resources are needed to continue to serve the hundreds of thousands of children already thriving in afterschool programs and to address the needs of 18 million children that would be if they were available. There is no substantive evidence that merely extending the school day will have the intended long term impact but there is ample evidence that strong out of school programs, often led by community partners, have a measurable impact across a young person’s development. Therefore, let’s not redirect current afterschool funding available through 21st Century grants to fund a longer school day as currently defined in Washington. Instead, let’s maintain those funds as is and supplement them with even more private and public support.   Require parents and community partners, the experts in out of school time programs, and education systems, the experts in what kids need to learn, to create jointly the most favorable environment possible for young people.
   
Finally, Ms. Davis made an important observation that afterschool programs weren’t serving all the children in Boston that needed them.  She is absolutely right– the question is what is preventing those children from being in the programs because those findings will be helpful to us all.  In surveys of the afterschool field and parents, the largest barrier is cost and lack of transportation.  In our experience (and it would be echoed by other after school providers), children love the fact that their afterschool program is not school, is not graded and is a place where they don’t feel judged. Therefore, they actually come to love learning, trying new things and being with people totally unlike themselves.  We don’t know if creating a mandatory program will engage more of these youth or discourage them even more.  What we do know is that programs like Camp Fire offer proven methods for engaging our young people and putting them on the path for success.

Jim Clifton summed it best in his recent book, The Coming Jobs War:

“Gallup has found that kids drop out of school when they lose hope to graduate. …and when they aren’t caught in time, they don’t just drop out of school, they drop out of life.
….hope predicts academic success and graduation better than grades or test scores…

As a follow up to my last blog posting RE Mary Matalin's assertion that 13 year olds "don't have the capacity to understand complex issues..." as presented in Kony 2012. Well, last night I had dinner with good friends and their 13 year old daughter, Angela. She was expressing her concerns about whether youth are "heard" and taken seriously by adults. So I asked her if she'd seen Kony 2012... and of course she had, as had her friends. We talked about her reaction to it and it was pretty mature and thus pretty impressive. So I relayed M. Matalin's assertion and asked what she thought. Very quietly and very firmly, she had a great response. Bottom line...if young people are educated and informed about even the most difficult issues AND then we adults engage a conversation and listen to their ideas and reactions, we won't be disappointed too often. And we'll help them take another step towards a sense of community and effective citizenship.

Cheers Angela & all those other young people around just like her (oh, and a big cheer for her parents who listen and encourage her interest in the world around her)!

SHAME on Mary Matalin! In a discussion about Kony 2012, for stating just now on "This Week with George Stephanapoulos" that (and I quote) "....13 year olds don't have the capacity to...understand...the issues...." is she serious? What kind of message is that from a high profile individual (and mother!) for our youth? That because they are appalled by what this video reports that they are so because they somehow LACK THE CAPACITY (her words) to actually understand the "complexity" (her term) of murder & genocide? That kind of mindset ought to just motivate the rest of us even more to laser focus on encouraging & empowering youth to learn, care & take action. They believe they can change the world NOW.

As high tech communicators, we might want to dust off a low tech communication practice that served us well in days gone by—civility.  And to put the concept into current context, let’s consider civility in our political process. These days, there isn’t much around.  Disagreement is a fundamental fact of living a complex life within a society of complicated individuals.  And healthy disagreement among open minded people generally yields better results in the long term. Yet when did it become OK for disagreement to become nothing more than labeling, blaming, shouting and shaming? 

Another behavior that deserves more attention than it’s been getting lately is example-setting— the behaviors we exhibited when educating, parenting and interacting with kids.  What kind of example are we setting for the youth of our country when the politicians we’ve elected to lead us do nothing but screech at each other and fuss over issues most of us don’t care about, let alone consider worth a political “platform?”  No wonder young people aren’t engaged in the political process!  No, they’re not stupid or lazy or disinterested.  They’re just turned off by rancor that’s marauding as positive campaigning and governing. 

The message we’re sending our kids is that vehement, ugly arguments are the only “way to win”---or to “win our point”.  If you don’t come across as the toughest dog in the fight, you must be some kind of hen-pecked weakling.  Nonsense.  Compromise reached through an honest exchange of differing opinions is the way to a future we can all feel good about and proud of.  It was one of our nation’s most cherished founding principles.  If we continue to reward the blustering bullies we’ll scare off the decent facilitators of a common good.  We’ll also continue to scare off the youth that just possibly may have a fresh new willingness to engage in civil communication, “liking” each other through their disagreements.

Last blog, I talked about kids at hope and how, as caring adults, we need to provide the support and tools kids can count on. Since then, I’ve been alarmed and deeply saddened to read of the continuing repercussions of bullying.  Last month, a 10 year old girl hung herself in her closet (with a scarf) because the kids at school kept calling her a “slut.” What’s worse—she didn’t even know the meaning of the word and her mother didn’t understand the need to explain it to her.

Bullying isn’t new. But today’s easy access to instant communication creates a larger and far more dangerous “virtual playground”.   A quick snap of the camera posted on Facebook is a snap seen ‘round the world. And a FB posting or Tweet sent out of fun or innocence can take on a whole new meaning—not just with the person it’s sent to but to the hundreds or thousands to whom it can be immediately forwarded.

Of course, social media can “do good” as well.  Surprising, funny and inspirational posts unite and delight us.  Yet… what happens when a post turns ugly, when a singular happening becomes a quick way “to harm.” 

Answers?  I don’t have them all.  But I do know one thing.  Parents need to be less concerned about “invading their kids’ privacy” and more concerned about what they Tweet, text and post to Facebook—and what they receive in return. Every parent should require their kids to include them as “FB friends”.

And we MUST have a passion for action!  As caring adults we must seek out ways to counter the ugly trends that become so destructive. Parents need to approach this situation as, “I am not spying on you, I care about you and the things you are involved in.” Let’s open the dialogue with our kids and get to work.

January 23 – 27, 2011 is No Name Calling Week.  I encourage you to visit http://www.nonamecallingweek.org.

If we really want to prepare our youth for life – including academic success – we can’t expect everything to happen in the classroom.  Hitting the “success” benchmarks of higher graduation rates and improved math and reading scores are a big part of the narrative, but they don’t represent the full story.

We must become advocates of multi-faceted solutions instead of casting blame on simplistic, obvious realities.  Yes, in many communities, schools don’t always work; yet there are huge success stories in some of America’s poorest neighborhoods. Yes, generational poverty and lack of access drive low achievement; yet we can point to countless, successful adults who “came from nothing.” Yes, kids are turning to gangs; yet countless others are developing the internal assets they need such as social competency, positive identity and positive values and turning to those who will make constructive contributions to their lives.

There’s a “failure of our educational system” subtext.  It’s simply not the entire storyline.

According to Jim Clifton, Chairman Gallup Organization, “Gallup has found that kids drop out of school when they lose hope to graduate…and when they aren’t caught in time, they don’t just drop out of school, they drop out of life.  Hope predicts academic success and graduation better than grades or test scores.”

There’s no doubt parents need to hold their kids to boundaries and expectations and – most of all – spend more time with them.  If they don’t, their kids won’t have the hope they need.  Yet for every family without hope, there are thousands more getting it right.  We need to remember that fact and build from it.

And though poverty is clearly a distinguishing factor, evidence bears out (and kids report) that whether the home is $10 million or $10 thousand – what’s going on inside the house-- when the door is closed--- is where hope can be found, or found lacking.

We need to talk about hope. We need to believe in and galvanize around the power of hope. It makes a tangible difference in the lives of kids. Just ask them! Focusing on it may seem simplistic or even naive. Bringing it to life in the lives of our youth will take hard work and perseverance.