Discover how 40 states are using State Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) to shape education policy, track student readiness, and improve workforce outcomes. Explore real-world examples from Connecticut's P20 WIN, Indiana's Performance Management Hub, and Kentucky’s Center for Statistics, and learn why a national longitudinal database is the future of informed policymaking in education and beyond.

It's been 60 years since David P. Weikart founded the summer camp that inspired the Youth Program Quality Improvement (YPQI) approach, a signature of the Forum's Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality. From summer camp to now, Dr. Kim Robinson shares her reflections on the five critical ingredients that represent areas that adults can and should support for young people in all types of settings, at all times.

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is essential for young people to navigate the ever-increasing challenges of today's world. While many SEL programs and much of the research to date have focused on elementary school-aged children, more recent research shows that middle and high school-aged youth can also show substantial benefits from explicit opportunities for social and emotional development.

Introducing the Organizational Quality Assessment (OQA), a tool designed to assess policies, structures, and practices governing site-level implementation decisions.

Recently, the Forum's Katherine Plog Martinez spoke with Sergio Garcia, Senior Manager of Learning Systems at Big Thought Dallas, to learn more about how they have built a coordinated network focused on summer and how their learning from the summer space has supported their work to integrate other focus areas, most recently social emotional learning, into their organization and network. Below please find highlights of the conversation.

Broadband. What is it really, and why do broadband access and equity matter for young people, families, and communities? This blog accompanies the Forum’s primer to help policymakers, young people, and advocates understand the issues and recent developments, and strengthen equitable digital access for all young people.