We are currently engaged in the following projects. You may also find our recent and selected Publications.
A grant from the Jacobs Foundation in Switzerland has made it possible for us to form action research partnerships with selected programs in
Latin America as a means of learning how to build new institutions that
support low-income youth in becoming productive workers, nurturing
family members, and active citizens. Such institutions are needed
because of "structural lag", the mismatch between changing
developmental trajectories and conventional social institutions.
Adulthood is defined by the assumption of social roles, not by
physiological change. In the information age, assuming adult roles
poses one set of challenges for youth who are able to acquire higher
education and another for youth who have neither advanced education nor
access to good jobs. New institutions are needed to supplement families
and schools as supportive contexts for the transition to adulthood,
especially for the poor, who may assume adult roles prematurely.
Examples of such institutions include contemporary German
apprenticeship and YouthBuild, which provides job training, education,
leadership training, and social support to low-income youth who
rehabilitate housing in their communities. Both build emerging adults'
human and social capital and give them a sense of purpose and agency.
The greatest failings of American schools are visited on the most disadvantaged. Schools serving predominantly middle class neighborhoods range from adequate to excellent. Even adequate schools are exceptional in low-income communities. Yet some exceptional schools succeed in educating young people from poor families, including underrepresented minorities. We are exploring how they do what they do. Our approach is to get inside effective high schools to reveal what makes them work. Ultimately, the question we try to answer is, “How can all high schools become good schools for all youth?” One component of this project is forming partnerships with effective schools to strengthen science education.
Adult mentoring is a powerful factor in youth development and a successful transition to adulthood. Most mentoring relationships occur naturally between youth and adults who are in their social networks: family friends, teachers, coaches, and workplace supervisors. Mentoring programs can effectively synthesize such natural relationships, but they have proved more effective for younger children than for high-school-age youth. We have made the case that the best way to provide mentors for older youth is to engage them in goal-directed activities with caring adults, such as work and community. We are conducting preliminary studies to try to learn more about how natural mentoring relationships form and what makes them thrive. As a step toward fostering natural mentoring, we engaged youth in getting adults to tell them their Life Stories and produced materials for teachers and students.
