Practice Q&A: Complimenting, Not Replicating, Schools

By Sam Piha

Youth workers face a variety of challenges and dilemmas, as they work with a diverse group of young people. We collected a number of questions from youth workers and promised to engage experts and field leaders for their answers. Below are some of the questions we received and the answers that we sought out from field leaders, content experts and innovative practitioners. If you want to submit your own question, click here.

This blog is part 4 of our Q&A series. See part 1 here, part 2 here and part 3 here. Stay tuned as we continue to explore questions from youth workers. (Note: we know that there are many answers to any question. Below, we offer some well-thought-out answers that we received. Because schools and agencies may have specific policies, we recommend that youth workers share their questions with their immediate supervisor. At the bottom we provide a brief bio about the respondent.)

Q: How do we best support our young people in SEL when educators are focusing solely on academic loss during the shelter-in-place and distance learning not reaching those who don't have the technology to participate? - Youth Worker, serving youth 5-11, Humboldt County, CA

Katie Brackenridge,
Turnaround for Children

A: I think youth developers have an incredibly important role to play on several levels. Let's start with relationships - your relationships (or ability to create relationships) with youth and families are likely to be stronger than the districts. In many cases, districts have had trouble even finding the students who haven't connected with distance learning. It would be really helpful and smart for after school and summer providers to offer their support to districts in finding those students. You may be more successful than district staff because of your in-depth knowledge about young people in your programs, their friend networks, their families and other places and people in the community they may be reaching out to for help.

Similarly, you may already know family members in a way that district staff don't. And even if you don't already have relationships with specific students and families, you may be better equipped to reach out because of your network of relationships with other young people and your connections in the community. Most importantly, this service would be helpful to the families that have been excluded by distance learning. It would also be a strategic way to demonstrate your value as a district partner.

The second role that youth developers can play is supporting the social and emotional needs of young people. This is a completely crazy and stressful time for everyone, and particularly for young people who are in unstable or unsafe environments. As a youth developer, you probably already know which young people from your program need help right now and will need additional support to re-acclimate to the expectations of the school environment. Students who come back to school having experienced trauma - and there will be many - will not be able to sit down and focus on learning. We know that from the science of learning and development - specifically, the fact that the parts of our brains that manage emotions, concentration and learning are interconnected. That's why it's so hard to focus under stress - as many of us have been experiencing. Caring, supportive adults can help calm students' brains so that they are ready for learning. You can do this with all the youth development strategies you already have in your toolbox - for example, one-on-one check-ins with students; safe, supportive environments for peer connections; mindfulness practices; and physical activity.

I'll leave you with those two ideas, though there are many more. This blog on the BOOST Collaborative website provides some more of the science grounding related to youth development practice. You may also want to direct district staff to research reports on the SoLD Alliance website to ground them in the science of learning and development.

- Katie Brackenridge, 

Turnaround for Children

Source: Wings for Kids

Q: How do we make sure organizational practices in schools support our expanded learning program staff, recognizing that we are often better equipped and available to promote healthy youth development? - Youth Worker, serving youth 5-11, Humboldt County, CA
A: It seems like the youth development field has been mulling over this question forever... and yet, getting schools to acknowledge the value of afterschool programs and partner effectively is still really challenging. There are many different answers and resources for thinking intentionally and strategically about school/after school partnerships. Here, for example, are a link to a video about partnerships and a set of case studies about partnerships from the California Afterschool Network. Other state afterschool networks, the National Afterschool Association and many other intermediary organizations will also have guides, reports and videos for partnerships.

When I was an afterschool site coordinator, my most important asset was relationships - all across the school. Of course, making sure the principal knows what you're doing and how it supports their school priorities is critical. But, it's also important that every teacher is pleased with your work, and sees how it also supports their goals for students. This is a one-on-one strategy between your staff and teachers, and also a school-wide strategy requiring the site coordinator's participation in school staff, school site council, PTA and other meetings. And of course, you can't ever forget staff who clean the school, work in the front office, drive the buses and other essential supporting roles in the school. If they like your staff and your program, they can make sure it runs smoothly and help resolve any hiccups - the opposite, of course, is also true.

- Katie Brackenridge, 

Turnaround for Children

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Katie Brackenridge joined Turnaround for Children in 2019 as a Partnership Director. Katie has worked in and with schools, school districts and community organizations for her entire career. Before becoming a consultant, Katie was the Vice President of Programs at the Partnership for Children & Youth (PCY). Katie’s work is grounded in her nine-year experience as Co-Executive Director for the Jamestown Community Center, a grassroots youth organization in the Mission District of San Francisco.

Re-Opening Afterschool: Priorities and Practice

By Sam Piha

We know that young people missed a lot of classroom learning time when schools were closed due to the COVID-19 crisis. We also know that afterschool programs will likely be pressured to help make up for this classroom time that was lost. Afterschool programs may feel pressured to make up for these missed instructional minutes by doubling down on academics. But we know that afterschool programs have something much more important to offer. High quality afterschool programs specialize in positive relationships, safe and supportive environments, and engaging activities. All of these rejuvenating experiences will be essential to get students’ brains re-balanced and ready for learning after an incredibly disruptive spring and summer. We can anticipate that the transition to learning will be particularly hard for students who may be coming from unstable or stressful environments. Afterschool programs can play a vital role in supporting learning and well-being by focusing on their core areas of expertise and experience.

Katie Brackenridge (L) and Dr. Deborah Moroney (R)

On May 18, 2020 we sponsored a webinar entitled, COVID-19 Era- Afterschool’s Whole Child Approach featuring Katie Brackenridge (Turnaround for Children) and Deborah Moroney (AIR). You can view a recording of the webinar here. 

Katie offered Turnaround for Children's “3-R’s Framework” (Relationships, Routines, Resilience) to describe how we should prioritize our work when we re-open afterschool programs. Below she offered relevant practice examples:

Relationships: For example-

• Learn about your students’ lives
• Talk to students one- on- one
• Check-in with families
• Run morning meetings/ advisories
• Loop teachers for more than one year

Routines: For example-

• Co-create and practice norms and routines
• Keep it simple- clear instructions, written signs and non-verbal signals
• Model ways to organize and prioritize tasks 

Resilience: For example-

• Liberally spread oxytocin with smiles, hugs and laughs
• Be attuned to individual students’ emotions and reactions
• Use mindfulness, journaling, movement to calm the brain

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• COVID-19: Phase 2 Restart and Recovery
• Policy Recommendations to Support Social, Emotional and Academic Development: Fostering Connectedness in the Pandemic Era
• Recovering and Renewal: Principles for Advancing Public Education Post-Crisis
• Blueprint for Back to School
• An Initial Guide to Leveraging the Power of SEL as You Prepare to Re-Open and Renew Your School Community

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MORE ABOUT...

Katie Brackenridge joined Turnaround for Children in 2019 as a Partnership Director. Katie has worked in and with schools, school districts and community organizations for her entire career. Before becoming a consultant, Katie was the Vice President of Programs at the Partnership for Children & Youth (PCY). Katie’s work is grounded in her nine-year experience as Co-Executive Director for the Jamestown Community Center, a grassroots youth organization in the Mission District of San Francisco.

Dr. Deborah Moroney is the Managing Director, American Institutes of Research (AIR). She specializes in bridging research and practice, having worked as a staff member for out-of-school programs early in her career. She's written practitioner and organizational guides; co-authored the fourth edition of Beyond the Bell®, A Toolkit for Creating High-Quality Afterschool and Expanded Learning Programs, a seminal afterschool resource. Presently, Dr. Moroney serves as the principal investigator on national studies of afterschool initiatives.

Supporting the Whole Child in Afterschool

By Sam Piha

Katie Brackenridge

(Note: The COVID-19 pandemic has been very disruptive to afterschool providers and we will cover this topic ongoing. However, as afterschool leaders plan for Summer and next Fall, we will also offer posts that advances thinking for the afterschool movement.)

Katie Brackenridge is a long- time pioneer and advocate for afterschool learning opportunities which promote positive youth development. She recently joined Turnaround for Children, and we interviewed her regarding their Developing the Whole Child project. Below are some of her responses.

Q: Can you say something about Turnaround for Children. 

A: Turnaround for Children was founded immediately after the 9/11 attacks in New York City. Our founder, Dr. Pamela Cantor, was commissioned by the NYC Board of Education to assess the impact of the attacks on the city’s public school students. She found that 68% of the children observed were experiencing trauma that impaired their school functioning. But, the trauma was not related to the attacks, rather it was from their on-going experience of adversity and stress from growing up in poverty.

This realization led Dr. Cantor to initiate a set of supports in New York City that involved intensive mental health services for students in schools in high poverty communities. Turnaround for Children has since expanded beyond New York City to schools and school districts in Washington DC, Chicago, Tulsa and the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a member of the Science of Learning and Development (SoLD) Alliance, which includes the Learning Policy Institute, the Forum for Youth Investment, the American Institutes for Research, Education Counsel and Populace.

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Katie Brackenridge will be joined by Dr. Deborah Moroney (AIR) to host a webinar on COVID-19 Era- Afterschool's Whole Child Approach.

To learn more and to register, click here.

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Q: Regarding your work on the Developing the Whole Child project, can you cite the main takeaways of the brain science that undergirds the work?

A: I’ve been working in the youth development field for a very long time. As a young after school educator, I figured out quickly that having good relationships with students made my job easier and more enjoyable for everyone. In my thirties, I was involved in all the great San Francisco work that you, Sam, were leading with the Community Network for Youth Development where I learned the research backing for positive relationships and supportive environments.

From the science, I’ve now learned that relationships and environments are important because that’s how our brains are wired. You can find a full description in this article and in this video on the SoLD Alliance website. The key takeaways are:

• The brain develops in response to our context - the experiences, relationships and environments that surround us.
• This process happens over our lifetime, not just in early childhood as previously thought.
• The fact that context matters so much is both an opportunity and a vulnerability.
• Negative contexts - with ongoing and unbuffered adversity, trauma and stress - can be seriously damaging to children’s brains and bodies. This is the biological consequence of too much cortisol and adrenaline over extended periods of time.
• On the upside, oxytocin (the “love” hormone) is a powerful counterbalance to cortisol and adrenaline. Oxytocin is released as a result of positive relationships and experiences. This is why you feel good when someone smiles at, compliments, or hugs you.
• Children experiencing toxic stress are primed to respond quickly to perceived threats and danger. This instinctual response often shows up in classrooms and youth programs as misbehavior, inability to focus and difficulty learning.

This science provides the biological rationale for the positive relationships and safe, supportive environments that researchers and practitioners have found to be so important and effective.

Q: Can you cite the primary essentials for the Developing the Whole Child framework that supports all aspects of child development?

A: Youth developers will see the immediate parallels to expanded learning quality standards and the principles of Learning in Afterschool and Summer from Temescal Associates.

Turnaround’s Vision for Student Success takes the Blue Wheel into practice for schools (and possibly youth development organizations) by defining resources and tools at the educator, classroom and school level, all supported by strong leadership and shared ownership. The Turnaround wheel looks like this:

For each of the components of the Vision for Student Success (VSSS), Turnaround has professional development resources and practice toolkits. The “Whole Child Inventory” allows staff to self- assess their current strategies, structures and practices against criteria in each component of the VSSS.

Q: The concepts represented in your blue wheel are very similar to earlier research on youth development, the features of quality afterschool programs, the YPQA, etc. What do you think are the added benefits of the Whole Child wheel? 

A: What’s exciting to me is that this framework and the science of learning are a strong and concrete affirmation of the youth program quality standards, in place across the country. They provide further call to action for school systems and youth development organizations to work together to provide more consistency and coherence in young people’s experiences.

YD Guide 2.0

The frameworks and related tools provide some new and more specific approaches for some of youth development’s tried and true practices. Turnaround, for example, has taken the concept of relationships and further defined - based on research - the exact characteristics that need to be in place for a relationship to be developmental and therefore impactful. These characteristics include emotional attachment, reciprocity, joint activity and balance of power. The message is not different from youth development principles, but provides a level of detail based in science that can help practitioners be more intentional.

Turnaround also names the specific skills and mindsets (the Building Blocks for Learning) that young people need to succeed. Executive Functions, for example, are the skills that everyone needs to get things done and include remembering what you’re supposed to do, keeping yourself on task and being flexible when things change or don’t work out. These Executive Functions are particularly challenging for young people who experience adversity because they require high functioning of our pre-frontal cortex (regulation) and hippocampus (learning and memory) and not as much from the amygdala (reactions and emotion). Teachers and youth developers can help students build Executive Functions by teaching them to use tools (ie: calendars, check lists, breathing) and structures (ie: visual reminders, quiet spaces) that help them succeed academically and in all kinds of tasks. This additional information and the way it is translated into practices can help educators, including youth developers, be more intentional and individualized in their support for students.

Q: Does your organization offer any tools or resources that will help afterschool program leaders implement practices that support the development of the whole child?

A: Turnaround is primarily focused on K-12 education, but, clearly the science of learning and development is relevant to the youth development field. Many of the tools and resources could be easily adapted for youth development leaders and practitioners. The Forum for Youth Investment is a member of the SoLD Alliance and is intentionally working to ensure that the perspectives and strengths of the youth development field are understood and leveraged as the momentum around the science of learning and development builds. The science of learning and development is a significant asset to after school and summer programs, particularly those that are hoping to align more closely with the school day. The science clearly validates youth development practice and supports the building of authentic partnerships for student skills and success.

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Katie Brackenridge joined Turnaround for Children in 2019 as a Partnership Director. Katie has worked in and with schools, school districts and community organizations for her entire career. Most recently, she was an independent consultant focused on improving learning conditions and social-emotional supports for young people through public school systems. Before becoming a consultant, Katie was the Vice President of Programs at the Partnership for Children & Youth (PCY), a nonprofit intermediary organization focused on improving practice and policy for after-school and summer programs in public schools and affordable housing. Katie’s work is grounded in her nine-year experience as Co-Executive Director for the Jamestown Community Center, a grassroots youth organization in the Mission District of San Francisco.