Ready News: May 20, 2019

A Thought Leader Conversation with Pam Cantor, MD
Free Conference Call
Tuesday, June 18
3:00-4:00 PM EDT

Skills and talents exist in a potential state in all children, and can be revealed and developed in the many environments in which children grow and learn – environments in which all children can become successful, no matter their individual starting points or what happens along the way.

Sharing this knowledge was a big part of the reason that Pamela Cantor, M.D., Founder and Senior Science Advisor of Turnaround for Children, helped to establish the Science of Learning and Development (SoLD) Initiative in 2017, a learning and action partnership among organizations committed to expanding the reach of 21st-century knowledge.

This session will explore the national ecosystem that is being created to ensure this knowledge increasingly supports innovations in practice and policy across the settings in which children grow and learn. Organizations including Turnaround for Children, American Institutes for Research, Learning Policy Institute, Populace, and Education Counsel, and now the Forum for Youth Investment, have joined forces in this effort.
This thought leader session will explore Dr. Cantor’s life and work, the Science of Learning and Development Initiative, and a new partnership between Turnaround for Children and the Forum to support children’s development and learning both inside and outside of school.

We invite you to watch this brief video to better understand Dr. Cantor’s work and the Science of Learning and Development Initiative.

Register now!

The Latest Opportunity Index Debuts
Free Event
Washington, D.C.
Thursday, June 13, 2019
8:30-11:30 AM EDT

Join the Forum’s Opportunity Nation at the release event for an exclusive look at the new findings of the recent Opportunity Index.

The Opportunity Index is an annual multidimensional snapshot of opportunity at the state and county levels. It provides data on all 50 states and the District of Columbia and 2,100 counties, covering 97 percent of the population. Each year we rank every state and grade counties on 20 indicators in four dimensions: the economy, education, health, and community life.

This new release includes disaggregated national data by race/ethnicity, which allows deeper examination of racial, ethnic and gender equity in opportunity.
The release event will be held on Thursday, June 13, 2019 at the Public Welfare Foundation’s True Reformer Building, 1200 U Street NW, Washington, DC from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Click here to register for the event.

#SparkSelfCare: Toolkit for a Collaborative Self-Care Conversations
What is self-care and what does it have to do with the advocacy work and activism that many of us take part in every day?

While we may not always intentionally practice it, taking care of our mental, emotional and physical health sets the foundation for how much energy we have to give to the world and the causes we are passionate about.

At the Forum’s SparkAction, we work with advocates, activists, allies and co-conspirators in social justice from all backgrounds and communities who are making the world a better place. The work is important, hard and often emotional. We can’t help but notice that nearly everyone has different ways to practice healing and care for themselves and their communities-and that many of us struggle to integrate it into our lives and our work.

We believe that everyone needs and deserves space to reflect, heal and nurture ourselves and our communities. That’s why we’re collaborating with our partners to launch a multi-faceted content series on self-care in all of its forms. In this series, we’ll use blog posts, video interviews, social media activations and more to explore and support self-care healing, trauma recovery and every day mental health. We invite insights from all changemakers-all ages, issues, backgrounds and communities-with a focus on centering the perspectives and ideas from young social justice leaders.

Learn more.

New Resources for Coaches to Support Social and Emotional Skills
What if coaches were measured not by wins and losses, but by the personal growth of their athletes? SCE recently launched new resources that explore the role youth sports can play in developing young people’s social and emotional skills.

Through a partnership with The Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program and National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development and guidance from a strategic advisory group of researchers, program providers, coaches, and athletes including young people, SCE commissioned the EASEL Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education to produce a white paper, “Coaching Social and Emotional Skills in Youth Sports,” which explains the evidence behind effective strategies youth coaches can use to build these skills in their young athletes.

Click here to check out the resources and watch the recording of the release event featuring former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

Solving the Performance Disconnect: How Family Engagement can Bridge the Gap Between Student Test Scores and Parent Perceptions of Success
Free Event
Washington, D.C. (event will also be livestreamed)
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
12:00 – 2:00 pm EDT

A recent research study released by Learning Heroes showed that nine in ten K-8 parents believe their child is on grade level, despite the fact that teachers report less than a third of their students show up prepared for grade-level work. We know parents deserve better – better information about their child’s performance and about their child’s school. This session hosted by the National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement will dive into why this disconnect exists and highlight innovative approaches that some school districts and non-profits are offering to give parents the information they need.

Attendees will learn about:

  • What parents and educators really think about current systems for reporting on student achievement
  • How school districts have incorporated deliberate, thoughtful parent engagement into the overhaul of their district-level report cards to make them more useful and accessible to parents
  • How to use a simple Family Worksheet to help parents engage in a more productive conversation with teachers about their child’s learning
  • The tools that one non-profit is providing to parents and educators to help them understand and make use of school quality data.

Register to attend in person or via livestream.