RESOURCES FOR CHANGE AND IMPACT

Writings

New Book Features ASP Leadership’s Vision for Youth and Workforce Development

ASP President and CEO Chris Street and Gabrielle Kurlander have contributed their expertise to a groundbreaking new book exploring the future of youth development. Their chapter, “Non-Artificial Authentic Intelligence: Creating Ecosystems of Development for Young People Outside of School (OST) and in the World of Work,” appears in Built for More: The Role of OST in Preparing Youth for the Future of Work.

Released in June 2024 by Information Age Publishing, this essential volume is part of the publisher’s respected Current Issues series. The book brings together leading voices in youth development to explore innovative practices and policies shaping the future of out-of-school time programs.

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“With the release of the eighth installment, Built for More, we turn our attention to the ways in which OST programs and activities can foster economic empowerment with young people, not just for their first job, but for a life of career opportunities for which we don’t yet know the names…All Stars is uniquely positioned to address this challenge in innovative and exciting ways, and it is actively designing better models for afterschool programs and reimagining the very nature of education. With their 21st-century skills focus, they create a seamless and transformative experience for young people, preparing them for success in the workplace of the future.”

Byron Sanders

ASP’s White papers addressing the policy implications of our work

Achievement Gap or Development Gap? “Outliers” and Outsiders Reconsider an Old Problem, Lenora Fulani, Ph.D. and Gabrielle L. Kurlander (2009)

“Historically, education has been seen as – and has been – the singular pathway out of poverty and into the middle class. And while it continues to be the case that individuals can and sometimes do succeed through education, for the mass of poor kids of color, public education – as it is currently construed and constructed – is failing…We are not facing an achievement gap. If that’s all that was going on, we would simply have to close it. No, we are facing something more serious. It is a development gap…Unless and until we accept and understand this, educators and policymakers will focus on the achievement gap to no avail.”

Let’s Pretend: A Special Report on Solving the Educational Crisis, Lenora Fulani, Ph.D. and Fred Newman, Ph.D. (2011)

“Here is an idea for solving the education crisis in America. What if all the kids currently failing in school pretended to be good learners? What if all the adults – teachers, principals, administrators, parents – played along and pretended that the kids were school achievers, heading for college? What if this national “ensemble” pretended this was the case day after day, classroom after classroom, school district after school district? We believe that if such a national “performance” were created, the education crisis in America would be over.”

The Development Line: A Special Report on Solving the Poverty Crisis in America, Lenora Fulani, Ph.D. (2013)

“The term development is often used in two ways. One is economic development. The other is psychological development, largely understood as an individual process that begins and ends in childhood. The Development Line shares a new understanding of human development, which has emerged from a three-decade experiment of creating growth environments that engage and reorganize the lack of development in poor communities of color.”

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