Working Together to Make Meaningful Parent Engagement

The goal of this webinar was to think through the roles of different education stakeholders in developing opportunities for parents from historically marginalized communities to meaningfully engage in school reform. Using her new book, A Cord of Three Strands, as a framework, Dr. Soo Hong from Wellesley College presented a new approach to parent engagement in… Read More ›

Starting Community-based Organizing Efforts Around Education

Lewis Finfer, the director of the Massachusetts Communities Action Network , and Camelle Scott-Mujahid, the director of Teach Our Children in New Haven, CT shared their experiences with education organizing. The goal of the webinar was for participants to get a better sense of what areas of work to prioritize in order to build organizing capacity,… Read More ›

Youth in Action Vimeo Channel

This Vimeo channel contains videos from Youth in Action’s Next Generation Media. Youth in Action is a Providence, Rhode Island based organization where youth share their stories, practice leadership, and create change in their communities. Topics covered include culturally relevant education, equity, mental health, and student activism. See a sample video here: Creating Culturally Relevant… Read More ›

Maine Department of Education

This website, Maine’s Department of Education, provides information about the state’s vision, goals, and core priorities. Maine’s website is well-organized and provides education information for a number of different audiences. It is worth taking a look at if you are interested in learning more about how a state might support a student-centered education system. Source… Read More ›

A Guide to Creating Teen-Adult Conversations in Your Community

This guide, from What Kids Can Do, is filled with sample panel discussions, interactive exercises, handouts, tips, resources, and readings to enable and empower communities interested in hosting public events/occasions where adults and young people can find common ground. Source Organization: What Kids Can Do and MetLife Foundation Visit the Resource

Student-Centered Learning and the Achievement Gap

The Nellie Mae Education Foundation President & CEO Nick Donohue talks about how student-centered learning can help close the achievement gap. Source Organization: The Nellie Mae Education Foundation VISIT THE RESOURCE

Student Voices: Improving Education for All Learners, 2013

Produced by CAPSS, representing Connecticut’s superintendents, and CAS, representing Connecticut’s principals, and featuring interviews with winners of the 1st Annual Student Voices in Education Contest. Source Organization: CT NextEd VISIT THE RESOURCE

10 Expectations for a Student-Centered Learning Environment

This video provides 10 expectations for a student-centered learning environment. We hear often of the “high expectations” schools must have of and for their students, yet we seldom hear of the expectations students have of their schools. Students’ expectations constitute the new “rules of engagement” in the relationship that young people want with their schools.… Read More ›

Preparing for the Future: Employer Perspectives on Work Readiness Skills

The UMass Donahue Institute recently collaborated with the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education (MBAE) on a project designed to inform educators and policy-makers about the work-readiness skills that employers expect of Massachusetts high school graduates, and to describe the skills and characteristics these corporations require for entry-level positions with potential for growth and advancement. Institute… Read More ›

Mentors that Matter

Who are the significant adults in the lives of teenagers, beyond the home and classroom? How do they reach out to youth, and why? In the first six months of 2007, youth across the nation gave their answers, as they interviewed, photographed, and publicly honored “Mentors That Matter” in four cities (Chicago, Providence, San Francisco,… Read More ›

Service Learning: Powerful Learning with Public Purpose

Day in and out, What Kids Can Do aims to spread a more capacious view of “what kids can do” when given the opportunities and supports they deserve-a vision that makes room for real-world problem solving, teamwork, character and citizenship, learning from mistakes, creativity, social justice, and contribution. Service learning, at its best, provides a… Read More ›