Youth Development Insight

By Deborah Moore Should youth programs focus on academics? If so, how much? This ongoing debate has a new twist, with the emerging Common Core State Standards , now adopted by 46 states. The Common Core sets standards for what students in K-12 should master in math and English language arts to be college- and career-ready, and are expected to be implemented in 2014-15 in each state. In a recent Forum for Youth Investment article, Devaney and Yohalem explain that the standards "emphasize higher-order thinking skills, that is, they focus more on demonstrating understanding of content and analyzing written materials rather than memorizing specific content." They also question what they may mean for youth programs. Undoubtedly, practitioners and leaders in youth work should explore and consider the Common Core standards as a policy force that will affect the youth we work with every day. And as Devaney and Yohalem note, there are a number of networks and coalitions in ...

By Hui-Hui Wang If you asked a science educator to describe the essence of science education, the answer very likely would be "inquiry" -- how a scientist (or anyone) goes about finding the answer to a question. So it is surprising that the word "inquiry" does not appear at all in a new policy document that will set standards for science education in the US for years to come. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is now under review nationally , and you are invited to read and comment through January 29. It is being developed by the National Research Council , the National Science Teachers Association , the American Association for the Advancement of Science , and Achieve , the facilitator. Inquiry was a central element of science education as defined by the predecessor to NGSS, the National Science Education Standards , published in 1996. But now, the hottest topic among science educators is the NGSS. One of the biggest questions is where inquiry i...