Where, When and How Does Learning Happen?

How can schools and youth development organizations better align to increase their communities’ understanding of the importance of focusing on the whole learner? Broaden access to high-quality learning opportunities that support comprehensive development? Strengthen adult social and emotional learning practice?

Youth development leaders gathered recently in Washington, D.C. to address these questions and more. The event (link to live stream recording), convened by the Aspen Institute’s National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development (Commission), focused on the release of a new brief from its Youth Development Work Group (YDWG) offering insights and recommendations on these important topics.

The brief, “Building Partnerships: In Support of Where, When, and How Learning Happens,” authored by the Forum for Youth Investment’s Karen Pittman and Priscilla Little, presents a framework and a new powerful graphic for broadening our understanding of how, when and where students learn, both in and out of school and during the summer. The brief highlights examples from across the country of local partnerships that support youth, such as the Tacoma Whole Child Initiative and Denver’s cross-sector partnership of the Denver Afterschool Alliance and Denver Public Schools.