Youth Development Insight

By Kate Walker In my role as editor for the Journal of Youth Development (JYD), I read a lot of great articles. JYD is designed to bridge applied research and practice. In other words, it addresses issues and features studies and practices that have implications for those working with and on behalf of young people in youth-serving organizations and the intermediaries that support them. However, many of those folks don’t have time to read journal articles. Allow me to highlight a few important JYD publications that you may have missed (from most recent): Silence is Not an Option: Oral History of Race in Youth Development Through the Words of Esteemed Black Scholars . The study of race has been silenced in many areas of science including youth development research. Harris and Outley synthesize an antiracist agenda from the perspectives of six Black scholars: Tabbye Chavous, Michael Cunningham, Davido Dupree, Leoandra Onnie Rogers, Stephanie Rowley, and Robert Sellers. Youth Programs Are...

By Kate Walker Have you seen the streaming Apple TV series Ted Lasso ? It’s a beloved comedy about an American football coach who gets hired to lead a struggling professional soccer team in England. Mostly it’s about how Ted leads his team, on and off the field. I am a huge fan of this unexpectedly heartwarming show, and in it I find lessons for effective youth development practice and for supporting social emotional learning with young people. “Be a goldfish.” According to Ted, a goldfish is the happiest animal in the world because it has a 10-second memory. He encourages his players not to dwell on their mistakes, but to learn from them and move on. Scholars in our field call this a growth mindset . “Believe!” Ted mounted a sign with this motto in the locker room. It represents his optimistic, can-do attitude. When asked if he believes in ghosts Ted quipped, “I do. But more importantly, I believe they need to believe in themselves.” Youth programs can help young people d...

By Kate Walker Youth development researchers strive to contribute to the field’s knowledge base, influence practitioners' decision-making and improve outcomes for young people. Translational research aims to put science to use . Likewise, many youth development practitioners seek to ground their daily work in sound information, best practices and the latest innovations. So why is there a disconnect between researchers and practitioners? Practitioners rarely read peer-reviewed journal articles. Why? Most journals are hard to access and too expensive outside of academia. Even articles in free, open-access journals can be tedious to read, hard to digest and challenging for time-crunched practitioners to meaningfully translate to their everyday practice. Most research articles aren’t designed or written to meet practitioners’ needs. Researchers are rewarded (i.e., published, tenured) for original ideas, not applicable ones. They emphasize their rigorous methods to demonstra...

By Kate Walker While we often talk about "bridging research and practice," too often that bridge is a one-way street aimed at getting practitioners to recognize and use the research being conducted. But if we want more research-based practice, we need to engage in more practice-based research. We need more  research aimed at understanding effective practice from the practitioners' perspective , as they experience and enact it. We need research that is wholly committed to generating useful information that can inform and improve daily practice.

Rather than delivering a separate SEL curriculum, a recent issue of Social Policy Report proposes that schools integrate the teaching and reinforcement of social and emotional learning (SEL) skills into educators' daily interactions and practices. Using a food metaphor, the authors describe this as a shift "from a focus on packaged, branded product (curriculum) to the essential ingredients like vitamins and minerals (essential and beneficial strategies)." I think a strategies approach is more in sync with how SEL ought to be framed in out-of-school settings as well. Blending techniques So what are some of the "essential ingredients" for promoting SEL? The report outlines four strategies for integrating SEL into daily practice: Routines - Routines that promote SEL skills like emotional regulation (e.g., "Stop and Stay Cool," a three-step process for staying in control of emotions) and conflict resolution (e.g., the "Peace Path," a proc...

In my experience, most youth work professionals are constantly scrutinizing their own work. But how willing are we to allow others to do so? Could coaching be a key to developing satisfaction for professionals in our field? In a recent report, Dana Fusco explores "the tension between a trial-by-fire approach to training [of youth work professionals] versus the overtraining that can lead to the 'anesthesia of the expert' or the loss of the 'heart.'" She concludes that knowledge and knowing are positioned "not as end products but as processes within the learning journey that require ongoing visitation." I found an interesting complement to Dana's report in an article in the New Yorker , where surgeon Atul Gawande explores the use of coaches in professional fields, after realizing that while many professional athletes use coaches to help them be the best that they can be, doctors don't. As Gawande discovers, coaching as a concept for amateur...

It's old news that youth workers have trouble finding accessible, relevant journal articles that speak to their practice issues. It's no surprise that youth workers pursuing scholarship on youth development practice have trouble identifying outlets for their publications. Now, somebody has quantified the dearth. A new integrative review of literature on youth development research in the Journal of Youth Development (see page 20) found that between 2001 and 2010, only 13% of the articles in five top-tier journals on youth and adolescence could be categorized as positive youth development research. If we include the online Journal of Youth Development itself, which focuses on bridging research and practice, the figure jumps (not too high) to 19%. The analysis included these six journals: Journal of Research on Adolescence Journal of Adolescence Journal of Adolescent Research Youth & Society Journal of Youth and Adolescence Journal of Youth Development Robert...

Happy birthday to camping! Over the past 150 years of organized camping in the United States, we as a field have done a good job of transforming camping into an educational experience in outdoor group living with measurable positive outcomes. Research shows that a well planned youth camp improves self-esteem, environmental awareness, peer relationships, and has other measurable positive outcomes . However, we often leave these outcomes at camp, and fail to build upon it. By thinking of camp as a stand-alone, situational learning experience, we miss an opportunity to capitalize on the gain. How can we make the most of what we work so hard to achieve at camp? As anyone who has been to summer camp knows, the camp experience can be a rich and memorable one. These can be profound experiences for youth, producing lasting memories. Research shows numerous positive outcomes for youth who participate in organized camping opportunities . Among them are: Self-esteem Peer relationships Indep...

By Deborah Moore What's wrong with praising youth? Actually, there's quite a bit wrong with it. Countless research in the past 30 years shows overwhelming evidence that praising youth can harm their development. For example, in 1998, Mueller & Dweck wrote that praising intelligence can undermine their motivation and performance . While it may seem counter-intuitive and even downright unfriendly, the research is clear. Praise leads to unhealthy attitudes and behaviors in youth. When we praise young people, it gives them the message that we -- adults -- are the judge of what comprises a good job. It does not allow youth to explore whether they think what they did was good and why. Praise takes the center of focus and control from youth and puts it back in the hands of adults. The effects are surprisingly negative for youth: shorter task persistence, more eye checking with the teacher, a focus on maintaining their own image, a shut down in challenges, less self-motivat...