Youth Development Insight

By Margo Herman The simplistic answer to the question is that a high-quality youth program provides an environment conducive to developing social and emotional skills. Yet simplistic does not reflect the depth of the question. Researchers are immersed in defining the compatibility and the distinction in these two key areas of youth work practice. And practitioners naturally want to know more about how we will measure these outcomes and if measures for both SEL and program quality will be compatible.

By Margo Herman "Cultural resiliency is what we call the competencies acquired through diverse life experiences, which then become the foundation from which students can develop essential 21st century skills: innovation, adaptability, critical analysis, cross-cultural communication, and teamwork." -- E3 - Education, Excellence, Equity This quote set the context for our Oct. 2 public symposium on social and emotional learning Dr. JuanCarlos Arauz of E3 spent two days with us challenging our thinking about SEL, sharing his talent and his research that bridges academic assessment with culturally responsive teaching. The cultural resilience content he presented refined my thinking about integrating social emotional learning into my youth development work. One nugget that still has me pondering is defining youth engagement strategies that reflect cultural resilience. JuanCarlos suggests that to best support young people, we need to slow down to understand and assess a yo...

By Margo Herman When were you last captivated by youth voice on stage? Last month three young people blew a spark into my work when they spoke about the ways that social and emotional skills have helped them. They spoke at the Children & Youth Issue Briefing to more than 1,000 people who came to think and learn about: Minnesota's innovative efforts to address key challenges and close the opportunity gap Issues affecting children and youth looking ahead to the 2014 legislative session Minnesota young people's experiences and perspective on the opportunity gap In my work on the social and emotional learning initiative (SEL), my colleagues and I get immersed in research, develop resources and provide learning opportunities focused on moving SEL from research into action. During the panel, led by University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler, I saw SEL skills live and on stage, articulated beautifully by this youth panel. The three students spoke candidly about th...

By Margo Herman Recently, the Extension Center for Youth Development launched a three-year initiative to explore social emotional learning (SEL) and its role in positive youth development. Colleagues of mine have blogged about the importance of SEL, the need to build understanding around common language and measures , and why the time is right to try and make a difference in how we think about, assess, and work to improve policy and practice. This week, I ask you to think about the following important question: HOW do out-of-school time programs help youth acquire these skills? A New York Times article on Sept. 11, 2013 "Can Emotional Intelligence Be Taught?" was the second most emailed article for the paper that day. The author states "noncognitive skills -- attributes like self-restraint, persistence and self-awareness -- might actually be better predictors of a person's life trajectory than standard academic measures". Based on extensive resea...

By Margo Herman What is coaching? The variety of contexts and definitions people have for it is surprising. Coaching has surfaced in a surprising number of conversations in the past few weeks: A colleague shared how she sees coaching as guiding employees on performance plans for poor performance. I recently coached colleagues toward high-quality youth programming by using the Discovery Process, following a YPQA observation at a 4-H youth camp. This week, at a county fair judging event, I coached a staff member on the Youth Program Quality Assessment "YPQA on a Stick" tool. We are planning a professional development session for the Collaborative Leadership Fellows cohort next month in Rochester for fellows to learn how to coach and be coached for personal growth and goal setting. A program conference planning team that I am on is considering including a coaching workshop under the theme "balancing professional and personal life." The following defin...

By Margo Herman How are we preparing our youth in terms of social and emotional growth? Daniel Goleman , one of the emotional intelligence gurus of our day, calls this educating the whole student by "bringing together mind and heart". Goleman speaks about the journey of bringing intelligence to emotion and keeping distressing emotions in check. Emotional intelligence is: Being self aware Being socially aware Being able to manage feelings Having empathy for and awareness of others Being able to bring this awareness into relationship skills, as illustrated by Jean Hammink's emotional intelligence model These are life skills for all people, young and old. But how do youth workers go about intentionally nurturing these competencies? I learned more about this recently when I attended the Building a Grad Nation Summit 2013 in Washington D.C., put on by America's Promise Alliance . The summit focused on the potential we have to impact the achievement gap in ...

By Margo Herman As key partners of the Next Generation Youth Work Coalition explored the next phase of this organization last week in Dallas, it's a prime time for the broader youth development field to be aware of this important organization. Its purpose is to bring together individuals and organizations dedicated to developing a strong, diverse after-school and youth development workforce that is stable, prepared, supported and committed to the well being and empowerment of children and youth. We want your opinion on our proposed action plan. Next Gen partners (nearly 3100 now) have three primary roles: "Provide thought leadership around cutting-edge practices, research and policy. Generating lively discussion and exchange of ideas about the field of youth work. Sharing resources to inform and educate youth work professionals. (You can sign up to receive our monthly newsletter for more information.) Last week 50 people attended the opening session of the Next...

By Margo Herman The newest resource postings on the Next Gen home page indicate that there is momentum toward professionalizing the field of youth work with core competencies, ethics, and certifications. I am hearing a variety of reactions to this trend. Some believe it holds great promise for advancing our field because it validates our knowledge base, values our impact, and provides a measure of quality assurance. Others are hesitant or alarmed by the potential for reduced flexibility as a more formal structure develops rules and regulations that may inadvertently pose a barrier to high quality youth work. In the fall of 2010 the University of Minnesota Extension Youth Work Institute piloted a new 15-hour workshop called Leadership Matters . Twenty-two youth work supervisors and managers delved into the complexities of youth work supervision and leadership. One segment of the workshop examined core competencies , certifications and core knowledge. One particular activity ...