DOCUMENT RESUME ED 478 259 EA 032 632 Lewis, Anne, Ed. AUTHOR Shaping the Future of American Youth: Youth Policy in the TITLE 21st Century. American Youth Policy Forum, Washington, DC. INSTITUTION Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Flint, MI.; William T. Grant SPONS AGENCY Foundation, New York, NY.; Carnegie Corp. of New York, NY.; Ford Foundation, New York, NY.; Ford Motor Co., Dearborn, MI.; Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.; General Electric Foundation, Ossining, NY.; George Gund Foundation, Cleveland, OH.; Kellogg Foundation, Battle Creek, MI.; KnowledgeWorks Foundation, Cincinnati, OH.; McKnight Foundation, Minneapolis, MN.; Surdna Foundation, Inc., New York, NY. ISBN-1-887031-78-2 ISBN 2003-00-00 PUB DATE NOTE 92p AVAILABLE FROM American Youth Policy Forum, 1836 Jefferson Place N.W., Washington, DC 20036 ($8). Tel: 202-775-9731; Fax: 202 -775- 9733; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.aypf.org. For full text: http://www.aypf.org/publications/shaping_future_youth.pdf. Collected Works Opinion Papers (120) General (020) PUB TYPE Speeches /Meeting Papers (150) EDRS Price MF01/PC04 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE Academic Standards; Accountability; Adolescents; Citizenship DESCRIPTORS Education; Disadvantaged Youth; Educational Change; Educational Improvement; Educational Trends; Elementary Secondary Education; Futures (of Society); High Risk Students; Secondary School Students; Service Learning; Student Behavior; *Student Needs; Student Volunteers; *Student Welfare; Youth; Youth Employment; *Youth Opportunities; *Youth Problems ABSTRACT This volume contains 14 essays and commentaries on youth development penned by educators, policymakers, and leaders of youth development organizations. The papers, written to commemorate 10 years of American Youth Policy Forum's service, were originally presented at a forum in Washington, D.C., in January 2003. Following are the papers: "Genesis and Retrospective" (Samuel Halperin); "High School Reform: Common Standards, Flexible Pathways" (Robert B. Schwartz); "Choices Within a Strong Academic Framework" (Gene Bottoms); "The Fading Promise of Standards-Based Reform" (Warren Simmons); "Another Argument for Higher Academic Expectations" (John F. Jennings); "New Pathways to Civic Renewal" (Alan Casey and Michael Brown); "First: Grow Service-Learning" (James Kielsmeier); "Service as a Strategy for Youth Development" (Shirley Sagawa); "Flip the Script: Self-Sufficiency and Fulfillment for All" (Dorothy Stoneman); "Opportunities to Build Supporting Structures" (Karen Hein); "Making Sure There Are No Cracks" (Andrew B. Hahn); "Building One System for Youth Development and Opportunity" (Hilary Pennington); "Dismantling the Schools- to-Prison Pipeline" (Christine Sturgis); and "Putting the Will Behind the Vision" (Wendy D. Puriefoy). (WFA) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. N 00 Shaping the Future of 4.4 American Youth: Youth Policy in the 21st Century U.S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research end Improvement PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS CENTER (ERIC) BEEN GRANTED BY p/This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. 6 rilli-1°E-)e LA/ Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES document do not necessarily represent INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) official OERI position or policy. 1 BRIDGING YOUTH POLICY, PRACTICE AND RESEARCH AMERICAN YOUTH POLICY FORUM 2 LEST COPY AVAILABLE American Youth Policy Forum Bridging Youth Policy, Practice and Research The American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) is a nonprofit professional development organization based in Washington, DC. Our mission is to bridge policy, practice and research by providing nonpartisan learning opportunities for professionals working on youth policy issues at the national, state and local levels. Our goal is to enable policymakers and their aides to be more effective in their profes- sional duties and of greater serviceto Congress, the Executive Branch, state legisla- tures, governors and national organizationsin the development, enactment, and imple- mentation of sound policies affecting our nation's young people. We believe that know- ing more about youth issuesboth intellectually and experientiallywill help these busy professionals to formulate better policies and perform their jobs more effectively. AYPF does not lobby or take positions on pending legislation. Rather, we work to develop better communication, greater understanding and enhanced trust among these professionals, and to create a climate that will result in constructive action for the bene- fit of the nation's young people and their families and communities. Each year, AYPF conducts 35 to 45 learning events (forums, discussion groups and field trips) and develops policy reports disseminated nationally. For more information about these activities and other publications, visit our website at www.aypf.org Funders AYPF events and policy reports are made possible by the support of a consortium of philanthropic foundations: Carnegie Corporation of New York, Ford Foundation, Ford Motor Company Fund, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, General Electric Fund, William T. Grant Foundation, George Gund Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, KnowledgeWorks Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Charles S. Mott Foundation, Surdna Foundation, and others. The views reflected in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funders. Copyright' American Youth Policy Forum, Washington, DC, 2003. This publication is copyrighted but may be quoted without permission, providing the source is identified as: American Youth Policy Forum. Shaping the Future of American Youth: Youth Policy in the 21"Centuty. Washington, DC, 2003. Reproduction of any portion of this report for commercial sale is prohibited. For additional copies of this publication, see back cover, or visit our website, www.aypf.org ISBN #1-887031-78-2. THIS REPORT WAS SUPPORTED BY THE WILLIAM T. GRANT AND THE CHARLES S. MOTT FOUNDATIONS. FU"CO X _10\ CDF 2JL-u-L:\ L fc\UCLM '17C)C0 JY/ o hs ailzq Cengarru toad] PcD[IncF &me IkelMis9 amenican Mourn Polllicy POT= 2003 4 UmbUs og Conaenqz GENESIS AND RETROSPECTIVE, Samuel Halperin i PART I: HIGH SCHOOL REFORM: COMMON STANDARDS, FLEXIBLE PATHWAYS, Robert B. Schwartz 1 Choices Within a Strong Academic Framework, Gene Bottoms 8 The Fading Promise of Standards-Based Reforms, Warren Simmons 11 Another Argument for Higher Academic Expectations, John F. Jennings 16 PART II: NEW PATHWAYS TO CIVIC RENEWAL, Alan Khazei and Michael Brown 19 First: Grow Service-Learning, James Kielsmeier 32 Service as a Strategy for Youth Development, Shirley Sagawa 35 PART III: FLIP THE SCRIPT: SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND FULFILLMENT FOR ALL, Dorothy Stoneman 41 Opportunities to Build Supporting Structures, Karen Hein 49 Making Sure There Are No Cracks, Andrew B. Hahn 54 PART IV: BUILDING ONE SYSTEM FOR YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND OPPORTUNITY, Hilary Pennington 59 Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline, Christine Sturgis 49'1 I (eci Putting the Will Behind the Vision, Wendy D. Puriefoy 13- AUTHORS AND COMMENTATORS 77 PUBLICATIONS OF THE AMERICAN YOUTH POLICY FORUM 81 5 anniversaries are especially appropriate occasions for reflectionreflection on where we have been and, more important, where we wish to go. In that spirit, the American Youth Policy and shakers," men and women who labor both Forum (AYPF) decided to celebrate its Tenth hard and effectively to improve the life chances of Anniversary in January 2003 by inviting 14 of America's young people in a society that so much America's leading experts on youth affairs ana- needs their youthful talents and enthusiasm. Each lysts, activists, advocates, institution-builders author also played an important role in AYPF's to write the essays and commentaries in this volume. successful development since our founding in These leaders accepted our challenge to step back They mentored us, shared their projects 1993. from the press of their fully committed working with us, set examples of personal and profession- days and reconsider the development of their par- al excellence, and inspired us to grow AYPF into ticular field of youth affairs over the past decade, a vibrant, flexible and optimistic vehicle for the take a leap into the future, and sketch their per- continuing professional development of workers sonal hopes and visions for a positive and creative in the youth policy community. As AYPF rededi- future for American youth in the decade ahead.* cates itself to a new decade of service to the youth policy community continuing our mission of The authors were not chosen by accident. bridging youth policy, practice and researchwe Each is among the United States' leading "movers look to them again for wise counsel and guidance. *These papers and commentaries, written to commemorate ten years of the American Youth Policy Forum's service to the youth policy community, were originally presented at four forums on Capitol Hill, January 10, 17, 24, 31, 2003. Briefs on these forums may be found at www.aypforgiforumbriefs/briefs.htm i 6 American Youth Policy Forum ii 'goy gas ilooft MIEURCDOGYECTME2 Uhe COlta®Ma nterest in youth policy and practice flourished in the United States in the 1980s and '90s, con- tinuing into the 21st Century. Acting through their governments, foundations and civic institutions, Americans gave greater prominence and priority than ever before to the self-evident, if often ignored, proposition that the talents and well-being of American youth will determine the future vitality of the American society and economy. Americans turned first and foremost to the measures to ensure positive learning outcomes for There, some 69 all students, not just some. nation's schools and colleges. million students and an education workforce of Several issues frame the education debate at over 9 million faculty and support staff labor to the turn of the new century: that large and imper- educate coming generations. Although previous sonal schools need to become smaller, providing decades of opinion polls found most Americans the support of mini-communities; that because relatively contented with their schools, a new every student requires knowledge and skills at a wave of urgency about the value and necessity of higher level than ever before, it is intolerable for early learning and pre-K-12 education reform any school or school district to fail to educate any swept the nation. Politicians, media, parents and segment of its population; that schools need to employers seemed to agree that our schools were encourage more innovation and choice as they not good enough to prepare young people for the accommodate an amazingly simultaneously challenges of a globally interdependent, economi- diverse student body, often educationally and cally competitive, culturally diverse world coping socially at risk; and that new attention to raising with multiple scientific and technological revolu- the quality of the teaching profession must tions. become an urgent national priority. A century earlier, less than ten percent of our these things, as How to accomplish all youth had earned a high school diploma, but by required by the landmark, bipartisan No Child Left the year 2000 two or more years of postsecondary Behind Act (NCLB), promises years of construc- education were becoming essential to economic tive struggle, contentious debate and occasional and social success in the new century. Second backsliding. But philosophical commitment to the only to issues of health care, education became the overarching goals of NCLB seems near-universal, highest domestic concern of the electorate. At as all four of the essays in Part I clearly demon- every level of government, funding for education strate. Families, too, dug deeper into their increased. own pockets to support everything from preschool Along with a strong focus on school reform education, home schooling and private schools to and academic achievement, the public has more postsecondary and graduate education. recently encouraged and supported youth in their efforts to engage in service in their schools and While disagreements persist about what stu- communities. Volunteerism and service to others dents need to know and be able to do, almost have long been basic values of the American peo- everywhere the mantra of education reform is Scouting, 4-H, Boys and Girls Clubs and ple. repeated: higher expectations for student effort, thousands of secular and religious manifestations higher standards for both student and teacher aca- of the basic civic values have engaged millions of demic performance, assessments geared to more youth in every generation. challenging curricula, and public accountability 7 Shaping the Future of American Youth: Youth Policy in the 21st Century iii Beginning in 1990, however, under both community-based nonprofit organizations, reli- Republican and Democratic national administra- gious and voluntary societies, and foundations attempted a bewildering array of piecemeal tions, service and volunteerism joined schooling as major expressions of American youth policy In some cases, the incidence of these "fixes." and practice. youth problems did, in fact, AmeriCorps funding fueled an decline. The expansion of civic inventions: City declineswhether due to the piecemeal interven- Year, YouthBuild, Teach for America, Public Allies, tions, to an improved economy in the 1990s which service and conservation corps, and dozens of oth- reduced the poverty correlated with many prob- The lems, or to a general spread of enlightenment Corporation for ers. National and Community Service, along with foundation fund- among youth themselves about the self-destruc- tive consequences of their behavioral choices ing, encouraged a blossoming of service-learning and civic engagement in the nation's schools and continue to be the subject of vigorous, often ideo- colleges, tying real-world experience to deeper logical, dispute. understanding of students' academic curricula. Beyond dispute, however, is the fact that many After the tragedy of September 11, 2001, a new American youth at the dawn of the 21St Century, surge of patriotism combined with traditional val- especially those in large urban centers, faced ues induced calls for even greater service opportu- unacceptably high dropout rates that have barely nities. These include a doubling of enrollments in budged in three decades, with unemployment and the Peace Corps, expansion of domestic service homelessness rising sharply once again with the programs and possible new opportunities for serv- 2000-2003 downturn in the economy. More trou- ice stimulated by the U.S. Freedom Corps. bling for the future of some two and one-half mil- Altogether, this was a decade of remarkable lion "disconnected" youth is the absence of any social invention and set the stage for service to consistent and concerted national policy or pro- become, as some had long urged, a central rite of gram to prepare out-of-school youth to achieve passage and development on the road to responsi- economic self-sufficiency, let alone fulfill their ble adulthood. The essays in Part II of this vol- human potential. ume call for deeper commitments to national and Attempting to fill the void created by the pub- community service and demonstrate considerable lic's relative lack of interest in the condition of new thought and energy for the tasks ahead. out-of-school and disconnected youth were a host Despite these growing public expressions of community-based efforts to reclaim young peo- about the promise and potential contributions of ple: service and conservation corps, local affiliates American youth, concern continued of to be YouthBuildUSA, Center STRIVE, for expressed about the negative behaviors exhibited Employment Training (CET), Opportunities by some of our youth and how to most effectively Industrialization Centers (OIC) and hundreds of help them avoid risky behaviors and make a suc- small, usually struggling, service providers. As cessful transition from adolescence to responsible the 20th Century concluded, there was mounting and productive adulthood. evidence that such scattered, mostly homegrown, efforts were demonstrating increasing effective- Drug, alcohol and tobacco abuse, crime and ness in reclaiming youth for educational, employ- delinquency, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted ment and social success. diseases, teen unemployment and school dropouts remained serious concerns of taxpayers and poli- The 1990s were also marked by the relatively cymakers. In response, all levels of government, rapid spread of a philosophical perspective called American Youth Policy Forum iv Neither schools, nor any other institution or "youth development." To its proponents and prac- program, can by themselves meet the range of titioners, youth development means paying atten- tion to, and investing in, the strengths of youth as services, opportunities and interests that an effec- tive youth-centered, customer-friendly strategy resources, considering ways to anticipate and pre- Only a broad-based coalition of requires. vent problems that blight young lives and provid- local and community-based providers working in ing the supports and opportunities that young peo- concert can provide for the full range of health, ple need to blossom into competent, confident and To quote one wise observation, caring adults. safety, mental health, recreation, workforce prepa- ration and civic engagement needs of young youth need not only to be "problem-free but also Even with the growth in the 1990s of fully prepared" to take up their roles as skilled people. workers, strong family members, lifelong learners "one-stop" service centers of various types and the concentration of resources and services and contributing members of a democratic com- in Schooling and all aspects of out-of- Empowerment Zones and Youth Opportunity munity. Grant neighborhoods under the school timeincluding informal education, work- Workforce force and career development, service, recreation, Investment Act, very considerable realignment of youth leadership and youth voicemust work programs and resources is essential. That is the argument of the essays in PART IV: "Building together to break down the isolated silos of adult- One System Youth Development and for created interventions in the lives of young people. How to build a culture that is profoundly respect- Opportunity." ful of youth and that simultaneously, provides By the 21s' Century it was clear that genuine effective workforce development skills and social system building was more a question of the pub- supports for youth to become both self-sufficient lic's attitudes about our youth than one solely of and self-fulfilled is the focus of the essays in Part organizational or bureaucratic architecture and III. engineering. Building One System requires holis- tic thinking that "leaves no youth behind," that Over the decades of the 1990s, the conviction emerged and took strong root that youth have a refuses to permit large numbers of our youth to languish in prisons and jails, or find only menial multitude of needs and issues that cannot be effec- tively addressed by single strategies pursued by work that respects neither their humanity nor their any one of society's social subsystems or by any desire to be actors, not merely subjects, in deter- single program. Successful intervention requires mining their place in society. Youth advocates and genuine partnerships that address the multiple practitioners agreed that a comprehensive and just needs of young people. Also essential are inter- system would mediary mechanisms that bridge separate, often guarantee every young person full access to competing, institutional missions and turf so as to high quality options after completing high connect and concentrate resources, knowledge school, including postsecondary education and and talent. opportunities to earn family-sustaining wages; enable every youth to grow as a responsible, contributing citizen to the community and the nation; offer multiple opportunities for development of all the interests and abilities of young people; 9 Shaping the Future of American Youth: Youth Policy in the 21s' Century Taken together, the essays offer a vision of a provide all young people, not just some, mutu- ally-supportive networks of services and better America in which every young person opportunities that develop competence and would be able to contribute energy, enthusiasm and talent to the creation of "a more perfect lead to self-fulfillment. Union." Visionary goals, the authors and com- The essays in PART IV explore the implica- mentators remind us, require action, a massive tions of these lofty goals set amidst the social mobilization of public will and, especially, coura- trends at the turn of the 21" Century. They are geous leadership at every level of society. That thoughtful guides to how recent trends might "more perfect Union" is within our reach. influence the nation's policies for education Working together as partners, youth and adults reform, service and volunteerism, youth develop- can make it happen. ment, and comprehensive and effective system building in the future. Samuel Halperin Founder and Senior Fellow 10