Ready News: December 14, 2021
December 14, 2021
Summer for All: Community Collaborations to Promote Access to Quality Summer Opportunities
Summer is a period of opportunity and concern when it comes to children and youth. However, a new report from the RAND Corporation commissioned by The Wallace Foundation shows that collaboration among community stakeholders can help identify and prioritize high-quality summer programming. The report, which focuses on the experiences of four cities, demonstrates that building successful summer networks requires a shared vision, strong leadership, coordinated action, funding for sustainability, and diagnostic data. The progress made and lessons learned in Boston, Dallas, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C. can serve as a roadmap for communities across the country.
Revisions to Key Weikart Center Resources at the Forum
The Forum for Youth Investment’s Weikart Center has recently revised some of its most referenced resources. Understanding the Youth Program Quality Intervention, Self-Assessment Using the Youth Program Quality Assessment, and External Assessment Using the Youth Program Quality Assessment have been updated to reflect the latest insights, language, and thinking about this work and a more approachable look and feel. Whether you are new to the Youth Program Quality Intervention or have been implementing it in your networks for years, we hope that you’ll find these resources supportive and valuable for your teams.
Changing the Odds Remix Podcast
The Changing the Odds Remix podcast elevates new ways of thinking, seeing, and acting on truths parents know and research confirms: Learning happens everywhere. Relationships and experiences drive development. All young people have potential. Opportunities are inequitable. Schools cannot do this alone.
Supported by the Readiness Projects, the inaugural season of the Changing the Odds Remix podcast features compelling voices, including youth leaders, sharing what makes learning meaningful and why partnerships are essential.
Listen Now to “Episode 1 – Empowering Students Beyond the Classroom” – Featuring David Adams, CEO of Urban Assembly, and Gizzelle Gonzales, a Senior at the Urban Academy School for Collaborative Healthcare.
Changing the Odds Remix is Karen Pittman’s newest contribution to the thriving youth field. In each of the first two podcast seasons, Karen will interview youth and adult leaders who are creating meaningful learning experiences in and beyond schools. Each episode gets behind the scenes on how, where, when, and with whom learning is intentionally shaped with emphasis on equitable outcomes.
Student Voice and State Leadership: North Dakota’s Student Cabinet
Hunt Institute Webinar
December 14, 3:30 PM ET
Students sit at the center of education, yet there’s often little opportunity for students to speak directly to the leaders shaping the policies impacting them. Not so in North Dakota, where Superintendent Kirsten Baesler considers her student cabinet one of the greatest influencers in her career. Hear how the cabinet came to be, how it works, and why it’s so important from the leader and students involved.
2022 National Community Schools and Family Engagement Conference
Event Hosted by the Institute for Educational Leadership
June 1-3, 2022
Los Angeles, California
The Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) will host the 2022 National Community Schools and Family Engagement Conference, with the theme Uniting for Every Child’s Opportunity, both a reminder and a call to action. At this conference, over 3,000 participants will engage in a plethora of learning and networking opportunities designed to increase their knowledge of community schools and family engagement and sharpen their skillsets to lead collaboratively and implement effective strategies.
This event invites those serving in the education eco-system:
- parent and youth leaders
- school and district leaders
- community organizers and union activists
- elected officials
- community school coordinators and initiative leaders
- education, justice and health system professionals
- early childhood educators
- university partners
- disability advocates
- researchers