Pathway to Successful Young Adulthood

The Pathway to Successful Young Adulthood assembles a wealth of findings from research, practice, theory, and policy about what it takes to improve the lives of children, youth and families, particularly those living in tough neighborhoods. By laying out a comprehensive, coherent array of actions, the Pathway informs efforts to improve community conditions within supportive policy and funding contexts. The Pathways framework does not promote a single formula or program. Rather, our emphasis is on acting strategically across disciplines, systems, and jurisdictions to increase the number of young people who make a successful transition to young adulthood. The Pathway provides a starting point to guide choices made by community coalitions, services providers, researchers, funders, and policymakers to achieve desired outcomes for young people and their families

Aspirations to Achievement: Men of Color and Community Colleges

This report focuses on understanding the experiences of Latino and Black males at community colleges. Directed to community college educators, the report offers strategies colleges should consider as they work to strengthen those experiences so they lead to better outcomes. The report provides actionable, practical information based on analyses of data that have been gathered during two years, on opinions from experts in the field, as well as on results from students, faculty, and staff focus groups

Promising Practices and Unfinished Business: Fostering Equity and Excellence for Black and Latino Males

Boston Public Schools (BPS) commissioned companion studies as part of its efforts to address achievement gaps for Black and Latino males. The first study revealed the increasing diversity of Black and Latino males and stark opportunity gaps throughout the system that contribute in large part to wide attainment gaps for these students. We hypothesized that in schools doing comparatively better with Black or Latino males than their counterparts, educators would be strategically and comprehensively implementing evidence-based cultural, structural, and instructional practices tailored to meet their the needs and aspirations of these students. Through qualitative case studies of four schools, we identified several cross-cutting themes that provide the district and school leaders with some positive news about effective practices found in all good schools: strong school cultures, professional collaboration, differentiated instruction, and, in the elementary schools, family engagement. While we observed pockets of best practices specific to Black and Latino male education, we also brought to light unfinished business, in that none of the four case study schools had an intentional and comprehensive schoolwide approach to educating Black and Latino males. This lack of intentionality resulted in a paucity of evidence that the school administration and faculty as a whole: (a) know and value students' cultural and linguistic backgrounds; (b) adopt explicit and responsive approaches to race and gender; and (c) develop and implement a comprehensive approach to culturally responsive curriculum and instruction. We posit that lack of knowledge, intentionality, and coherence impedes further progress in educating Black and Latino males, and has implications for educators in schools, for staff members in community partner organizations, and for family members of BPS students

Being Black Is Not a Risk Factor: A Strengths-Based Look at the State of the Black Child

Including nine essays from experts and five "points of proof" organization case studies, this publication challenges the prevailing discourse about black children and intends to facilitate a conversation around strengths, assets, and resilience. It addresses the needs of policymakers, advocates, principals, teachers, parents, and others

The Impact of After-School Programs That Promote Personal and Social Skills

The first of several reports to come from CASEL's major meta-analysisproject. Conducted in collaboration with Joseph Durlak of Loyola Universityand funded by the W.T. Grant Foundation, this first report describes thestrong positive effects after-school programs can have, and the conditionsneeded to realize these benefits

Acculturation and Asian Values as Moderators of the Relationship between Endorsement of Positive Asian Stereotypes and Asian\u27s Subjective Overachievement, Psychological Distress, Well-being, and Attitudes toward Help Seeking: An Analysis of the Model Minority Myth

Stereotypes associated with Asian Americans are often positive as Asian Americans are viewed as the “model minority” group, with few problems. Endorsement of these stereotypes or belief in the Model Minority Stereotype might contribute to Asian American’s psychosocial distress and their attitudes toward seeking mental health services. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between endorsement of positive Asian stereotypes and subjective overachievement, psychological distress, well-being, and attitudes toward help seeking among 291 Asian Americans. In addition, it examined the potential moderating roles of endorsement of Asian stereotypes in relation to self, acculturation, and adherence to Asian values in the relationship between endorsement of positive Asian stereotypes and subjective overachievement, psychological distress, well-being, and attitudes toward help seeking. Results indicated that higher levels of endorsement of positive Asian stereotypes were related to greater subjective overachievement, more somatic complaints, higher levels of psychological distress, and less favorable attitudes toward help seeking. Endorsement of positive Asian stereotypes was not related to well-being. In addition there was no evidence for the moderating roles of endorsement of positive Asian stereotypes about self, acculturation, and adherence to Asian values, except in the case of somatic symptoms. These results indicated that acculturation to the U.S. moderated the relationship between endorsement of positive Asian stereotypes and somatic complaints, with significant risk being associated with low acculturation to the U.S