What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery - Part 2

By Sam Piha

In Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery, author Kathleen Cushman captures the voices of young people who explain what it takes to get really good at something. After reviewing our Learning in Afterschool position statement and seeing the alignment with her work, Ms. Cushman agreed to be interviewed on this blog. See an earlier posting for Part 1 of this interview. (A more complete bio can be found below.)

Q: What do you see as a role for afterschool programs in supporting motivation and mastery?

A: Many kids tell me that their afterschool programs give them more opportunities and supports than they get from any other source. A good afterschool program can open doors to the world of arts and culture, athletics, and the kind of projects that really catch the imagination and draw kids into curiosity and learning. Just as important, it can bring youth together with institutions and accomplished people in their community, enlarging the network of support they can call on as they approach the challenges of becoming adults.

Q: Does the experience of motivated learning and mastery outside of the classroom transfer in any way to young people’s engagement in school or planning for their future?

A: Absolutely! So much of what kids work to master on their own time gives them practice in the key habits they need in school or planning for their future. Some of these are “habits of mind,” like asking good questions, breaking down problems, or considering other views. Others are work habits, such as collaboration or persistence.

These are the very same habits that experts use in every field. They are absolutely critical to success in college and beyond. It’s important for all of us adults—not just school teachers—to notice and point them out as we see these habits developing in kids, anytime and anywhere. As we do, we are sending young people the message that they, too, can successfully navigate the path to mastery.

Kathleen Cushman

Q: There are those that say that young people who are behind in school and who score low on standardized tests, particularly those children that are low-income and of color, cannot afford the time it takes to experience mastery outside of the academic disciplines. What is your view of this?

A: I believe exactly the opposite. A test score can only take a narrow snapshot of a young person’s experience, earned knowledge, and strengths. In fact, those who have struggled against the obstacles of poverty and discrimination bring enormous assets to the work of learning. It is the adult’s job to talk with young people respectfully about what they know and can do and to identify those assets in their stories. From there, we can coach them in applying those strengths in other areas. We can help them acquire a mindset that respects the power of practice to build mastery in any field they choose.

Q: Can you speak about the Learning in Afterschool learning principles and the degree to which you believe we should live by these principles in afterschool programs? And why?

A: Your core learning principles set forth a picture of active, collaborative, meaningful  learning that supports young people in practicing habits of mind and work that will last them a lifetime.  Solidly based in research, these principles are the same ones that we see in the best schools in the nation. They underscore the “anytime, anywhere” nature of learning. And they remind us that schools and communities must work as partners. All our young people must have rich opportunities to use their minds well, crossing cultural and political divides to help solve the problems that confront us all.

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Kathleen Cushman is the author of Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery and many other books about the lives and learning of youth. A co-founder of the nonprofit What Kids Can Do (WKCD), she collaborates with young people around the nation to bring forward their voices and visions. She lives in New York City.

What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery - Part 1

By Sam Piha

In Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery, author Kathleen Cushman captures the voices of young people who explain what it takes to get really good at something. After reviewing our Learning in Afterschool position statement and seeing the alignment with her work, Ms. Cushman agreed to be interviewed on this blog. (A more complete bio can be found below.)

Q: In conducting research on learning, what did you learn about what motivates young people?

A: Just as with us adults, their first sparks of interest come from lots of different sources. They might admire something that they see someone else doing, for example. It could be the activity itself—or it could be the desire to be with (or be like) the person they admire—that makes them want to do that thing, too.

Still, our wishes don’t turn into the motivation to try something unless another key factor is present. To turn that spark of interest into a fire, young people have to expect that they can do that thing, if they try. They need someone to encourage them to mess around with it a bit, explore its possibilities, take those first shaky steps without fear of humiliation.

Opportunity and encouragement are the key supports that adults can provide to help young people develop the skills and strengths that will help them thrive at home, in school, and in later life. Just giving kids the chance to watch accomplished people do things opens doors of opportunity. And if we follow up by providing a supportive situation where they can try such things themselves, we create a magical combination.

Q: Why is it important for young people to have the experience of being really good at something? Is this what you mean by mastery?

Kathleen Cushman

A: It’s not so much “being good at something” that I’m interested in—it’s the process that we go through when we’re “getting good at something.” That’s why the Practice Project I conducted for What Kids Can Do began with asking almost 200 ordinary young people from all kinds of backgrounds, “What does it take to get really good at something?”

We looked at the many things that they could already do well—making music, making robots, even making it safely home through a rough neighborhood. And we discovered that “getting good” has certain common elements that always show up, no matter what knowledge and skills you’re working on.

Q: What did you learn about the process for kids to actually master something?

A: Whether kids are learning how to skateboard or how to speak a foreign language, they’ll have to try it again and again before getting it right. They’ll have a lot of frustrating moments along the way. And if they have someone coaching them step by step . . . if each step is not too easy, but not unrealistically hard . . . and if they stick it out and keep practicing—they will feel the satisfaction of mastering a challenge.

The wonderful thing about that? Learning is never finished. They can use the process again and again, in everything they try. Mastery is a lifelong journey, not a goal—and its habits start young.

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Kathleen Cushman is the author of Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery and many other books about the lives and learning of youth. A co-founder of the nonprofit What Kids Can Do (WKCD), she collaborates with young people around the nation to bring forward their voices and visions. She lives in New York City.

Summer Program that Boosts Engagement Gets Results

Robotic clubs are one way to boost young people's
interest in math and science.

By Sam Piha

Baltimore public schools recently issued the results of their summer program offered in 2010. The summer program was wildly successful in attracting and retaining students - attendance increased by 3,000 over last year, with middle school enrollment climbing from 300 to 2,000 and boasting an 85% attendance rate.


Summer students also showed dramatic academic gains."In the new program, elementary school students noted double-digit percentage-point gains in language arts and math tests taken at the beginning and end of the summer; more than 60 percent of middle-schoolers who participated in newly created summer programs retained or gained skills; and more high-schoolers passed their high school assessment courses," wrote Erica Green in The Baltimore Sun.


So what made the difference in the success of the 2010 summer program? (The answer would come as no surprise to those who support the Learning in Afterschool principles.) They moved from a "remedial, punitive model, to highlighting the importance of enrichment," said Ashley Stewart, senior director of community initiatives for the National Summer Learning Association. Enrichment included robotics, forensics, and sports. Stewart said many districts' summer programs suffer because they don't understand that "when you create a program that provides academic rigor with things that are fun and engaging, you have a captive audience." 

To learn more and view the complete article, click here.

Jennifer Peck Appointed Director of Transition Team; Sam Piha Honored with High School Innovator Award

By Michael Funk

Jennifer Peck

Congratulations to Partnership for Children and Youth Executive Director Jennifer Peck, who begins the New Year as Director of the Transition Advisory Team for Tom Torlakson, newly-elected California State Superintendent of Public Instruction. When Mr. Torlakson served in the California legislature, he was a strong advocate for afterschool. Mr. Torlakson’s Transition Advisory Team is a bipartisan group of educators, and labor, business and community leaders that will provide strategic advice on key issues impacting California students, schools, school districts and the California Department of Education.

Jennifer is on part-time leave to the Superintendent’s office for the next few months. She is uniquely positioned to provide specific recommendations on afterschool and summer programs, as well as on community schools.
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Sam Piha

Congratulations also to Sam Piha, co-director of the Learning in Afterschool project, for receiving the Step Up High School Afterschool Innovator Award in Leadership and Vision. This award was given by the California Afterschool Network and recognized Sam for his vision and leadership in promoting the potential of high school afterschool programs and his efforts to build program quality statewide. To view Sam’s award poster, click here. 

21st Century Learning Skills and Learning in Afterschool: Interview with author Bernie Trilling - Part 2

By Sam Piha
Bernie Trilling is the co-author of "21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times" and former global director of the Oracle Education Foundation. A more complete bio follows this interview.

Mr. Trilling's book introduces a framework for 21st Century learning that maps out the skills needed to survive and thrive in a complex and connected world. To read more about or purchase this book, click here.

Q: What do you see as the role and the unique advantages of afterschool programs to support these skills today?

A: Afterschool programs have the freedom to provide young people the time to pursue their passions and explore their interests in a deep way. “Going deep” in a learning project, and becoming a respected expert among your friends can provide levels of self-confidence and pride that can literally change a person’s life course!

Bernie Trilling

Q: There are those who claim that young people who are behind academically, particularly those children that are low income and of color, cannot afford time spent in developing these 21st century skills. How do you respond?

A: Oftentimes it is the lack of opportunity to build these skills through deeper learning experiences focused on something personally relevant that contributes to low academic performance. There are so many examples of previously unmotivated and academically unengaged students becoming higher achievers once they’ve experienced learning that actively supports them in mastering something meaningful. If you successfully climb one big mountain, it’s easier to tackle others with confidence.

Q: What can afterschool programs do to improve their efforts to help youth develop 21st century learning skills? Are there specific learning and teaching strategies you would recommend?

A: I would recommend the “project learning bi-cycle” approach outlined in the 21st Century Skills book, which focuses on providing good supports and guidance for each stage of the project cycle – Define, Plan, Do and Review. There are challenges in managing collaborative learning projects as well, but the rewards are huge, and the opportunities to develop critical and creative skills, individually and as a team, are priceless.

Q: How do afterschool programs communicate the importance of these skills with school personnel who are under great pressure to raise literacy and math test scores? How do we avoid the “either-or” argument? 

A: I’m a big fan of “both/and” in education, and more importantly, the appropriate mix of learning experiences for each learner at their particular stage of development – personalizing learning as much as possible. Afterschool programs are the perfect complement to in-school programs because they really can focus on learning “beyond the 3R’s”; building personal motivation, engagement and confidence; and help young people gain the important 21st century skills needed for success in learning and life.

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Bernie Trilling is a 21st century learning expert, advisor, author, and the former global director of the Oracle Education Foundation, where he directed the development of education strategies, partnerships, and services for the Foundation and its ThinkQuest programs. He has served as Board Member of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and co-chaired the committee that developed the highly regarded “rainbow” learning framework. He has written dozens of articles for educational journals and magazines and is a featured speaker at numerous educational conferences.

21st Century Learning Skills and Learning in Afterschool: Interview with author Bernie Trilling - Part 1

By Sam Piha 
Bernie Trilling is the co-author of "21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times" and former global director of the Oracle Education Foundation. A more complete bio follows this interview. 

Mr. Trilling's book introduces a framework for 21st Century learning that maps out the skills needed to survive and thrive in a complex and connected world. To read more about or purchase this book, click here. 


Q: Why are the 21st century learning skills that you discuss in your book important to young people’s development? 
A: There are at least three good reasons that the skills detailed in the book are so important to young people’s development:

1) These are the proven skills that lead to success in learning, in work, and in family and community life – problem-solving, communicating clearly, working together collaboratively, using technology to find reliable information and to communicate with others, coming up with creative ideas and solutions – these are the core skills we all need to thrive in our complex and challenging times.

2) These skills help us answer questions we care about, help us creatively solve everyday problems, and help motivate us to explore and learn new things everyday, making learning meaningful, relevant, deep, memorable, and when working well on a good project with your friends, a whole lot of fun!

3) These skills help us apply what we learn to the real world, helping us tackle the big challenges of our times – getting a good education and a job with a decent income, living peacefully with others that have different ideas and values, doing what we can to solve our environmental and energy problems, and the list goes on. We really need compassionate, creative and critical thinkers and doers these days!


Q: How do the Learning in Afterschool learning principles correspond to the 21st century learning skills? 
A:The five Learning in Afterschool principles are perfectly aligned with a 21st century learning approach – active, meaningful, collaborative learning projects that provide opportunities to expand one’s horizons and master important knowledge and skills – this is the heart of 21st century learning.
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Bernie Trilling is a 21st century learning expert, advisor, author, and the former global director of the Oracle Education Foundation, where he directed the development of education strategies, partnerships, and services for the Foundation and its ThinkQuest programs. He has served as Board Member of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and co-chaired the committee that developed the highly regarded “rainbow” learning framework. He has written dozens of articles for educational journals and magazines and is a featured speaker at numerous educational conferences.

Sunset Neighborhood Beacon Center Toolkit Aligns with LIA Learning Principles

By Sam Piha


Program leaders at the Sunset Neighborhood Beacon Center (San Francisco, CA) learned early on that if they were going to successfully enlist the ongoing participation of their middle school youth, the program activities needed to be active, project-based, socially centered, and meaningful to the youth. They also knew that they needed to use "education speak" in communicating the value of their program to the administration and teachers of A.P. Giannini Middle School. Their learnings were beautifully captured in their publication, The Best of Both Worlds: Aligning Afterschool Programs with Youth Development Principles and Academic Standards.


This program toolkit outlines lesson plans from seven of their most popular project-based learning clubs, complete with a listing of the academic standards that each club addresses. It also provides planning templates to help others design their afterschool activities. While they are not referenced specifically, one can see how the Learning in Afterschool learning principles are artfully applied within this program. 


We highly recommend that you check out this publication. Staff training on how to design standards-based clubs are also available. 

Sen. Barbara Boxer named co-chair of Senate's Afterschool Caucus

Sen. Barbara Boxer

By Sam Piha 
California's U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer has been named co-chair of the Senate's Afterschool Caucus. "As co-chair of the Afterschool Caucus, I will keep fighting to increase funding for vital afterschool programs because too many children still come home to empty houses in the afternoon and too many families cannot afford to pay for afterschool care," Boxer said in a statement.


Click here for a full blog post from the Beyond School blog that discusses Senator Boxer's afterschool leadership role (EdWeek). 

21st Century Learning Skills and Mastery

By Sam Piha


On December 29, 2010, KQED radio featured a forum on 21st Century Learning Skills: creativity, innovation, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. We believe that afterschool programs have a unique role in developing these skills.

The forum speakers discussed the importance of developing these skills in order to prepare young people for the modern workplace. They also spoke of the importance of helping young people develop a sense of mastery. 

"If you could help someone master one thing, whatever that one thing is - needlepoint or skate boarding or video editing - being at the top of the mountain gives them the opportunity to see what it’s like to get to the top of the mountain. We always say at Pixar and DreamWorks, if you give me someone who has mastered something, we can help them master almost anything else....because every kid is different, having a full range of different pathways to different mountains is absolutely critical to having the broad dimensional workforce." - Randy Nelson, Head of Artistic Development and Training at DreamWorks Animation and former Dean of Pixar University. 

To listen to the comments of Randy Nelson, Bernie Trilling, author of "21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times," and Miguel Salinas, senior manager of Adobe Youth Voices, click here. 

Serving the Needs of Latino Youth: Part 2

By Sam Piha

Below is a continuation of an interview with Pilar O'Cadiz on serving the needs of Latino youth in afterschool programs. We abbreviated the interview answers for the blog, but you can read the complete interview by clicking here. For a listing of curriculum and resources that Pilar has recommended for afterschool leaders serving Latino youth, click here. A more complete bio of Pilar follows this interview. 

Q: What advice can you give to afterschool program leaders who want to better serve the needs of their Latino youth and their families

Pilar O'Cadiz

A: Talk to them, hire from their community so staff can communicate with Latino parents and understand their cultural background, appreciate their cultural knowledge, and know how to bring it into the afterschool program as an asset and resource for effectively implementing a culturally competent youth development approach. Make their history and knowledge part of the curriculum by having students interview their family members, document their oral histories, gather the artifacts of their culture, learn about their origins, the geography of their immigrant journey, and the narrative of their story. Use an interdisciplinary approach that takes from the universe of academic knowledge, concepts, tools and strategies for recording, organizing, and analyzing the everyday experiences, and rich histories of your students and their families.

They will then find greater purpose in learning to read and write, doing math and studying geography and history. They will see themselves reflected in the curriculum more than ever before; and you will be surprised how powerful that is for many immigrant children who often are implicitly or explicitly made to feel “alien” through curriculum practices that make no reference to who they are and where they come from, and far too often disparage them. 

I recall, for example, how my 7th grade teacher announced at the beginning of our World History course, how we would skip the chapter on Latin American ancient civilizations as “that chapter is not important,” and go straight to studying about the Greeks. I knew this was wrong, but I was afraid to protest. Fortunately, I was able to overcome that trauma when I ran an afterschool program in the early 1990s in Boyle Heights, a Latino immigrant enclave east of downtown Los Angeles. There, we (students, parents and UCLA undergraduates) all dove into an exploration of our historical heritage, family histories and community reality using art as an expressive vehicle (O'Cadiz, 2003). That was redemption! This experience solidified my faith in afterschool as an alternative educational space that can help shape the learning experiences of Latino and other so called minority, at-risk youth, by shifting from a deficit paradigm to a focus on our assets.

Q: Do Latino youth have unique needs that we should be aware of in afterschool? What role is afterschool uniquely positioned to take on to address the needs of these youth? 

A: I think Latino youth have many of the same needs of all youth: to be respected, nurtured, and intellectually challenged, to be creative and physically active, to be lovingly guided toward independence while developing a healthy sense of self and civic consciousness, to navigate and actively take part in an increasingly technological and global society. 

Despite the fact that Latino youth now represent the majority of students in California public schools, they still experience discrimination from the dominant mainstream society. Afterschool programs need to highlight contemporary and historical leaders, scientists and artists from our immensely diverse communities for Latino youth to recognize role models they can look up to, and bring them face to face with their community leaders through field trips to museums, concerts and visits with elected officials, professionals, artists and community activists. In this way, afterschool has an essential role as a “transformative space” (Noam, 2004) for immigrant youth and their families to embrace their humanity, navigate the broader society with confidence, and assert their citizenship.

The afterschool space should be one where Latino youth can express their unique identities and interests and take on leadership roles—especially through arts-based curriculum and service learning. Afterschool programs can allow Latino youth to explore beyond the barrio boundaries. This is particularly important since many Latino and immigrant families hesitate to leave the haven of their enclave, and often lack the means of transportation, economic resources and social network to offer their children experiences outside the community. 

Q: What role should afterschool assume for assisting ELL youth?

A: Make it safe to speak Spanish. Provide examples of the benefits of bilingualism by keeping adults (young and older) that are fluent in both languages in their midst. Give them plenty of opportunity to speak English, through collaborative group work, and performance [art, music, plays, singing, poetry readings etc.]. Make literacy an integral part of the afterschool program culture and curriculum. Always be reading, writing, speaking without judgment for accents or a loss of words or use of Spanglish. Provide the peer and adult mentorship that will allow English Language Learners to learn English well, without feeling shame for their Spanish ability. Promote bilingualism as a valuable asset.

Q: Which of the Learning in Afterschool principles do you deem relevant to Latino youth? 

A: They are all relevant. None are more so than others. I would only emphasize that as educators we need to recognize that culture and politics matter. There is no education without culture and there is no apolitical education, as Freire (1970) asserts. Either we work to replicate limiting, and even oppressive, conditions for learners or we create experiences that empower them to fully realize their potential as individuals and to engage in transformative action that promotes justice and equity. I think that the LIA principles are essential to guaranteeing an education for freedom and for fully realizing the promise of all students and that of our great nation of immigrants. 

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A first generation Mexican American, Maria del Pilar O’Cadiz completed her MA in Latin American Studies along with an M.Ed. in Curriculum, Administration, and Teaching at UCLA, where she earned a doctorate in 1996. In 2000, she became executive director of the California After School Project (CASP) at the University of California, Irvine and later at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, working in partnership with the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) providing trainings and technical assistance for after school programs across Los Angeles County. She currently works as a Project Scientist at the University of California, Irvine in the Department of Education. 

Senate To Vote on 21st CCLC and Role of Community Organizations

By Sam Piha

After much feedback from the field, the Senate is poised to vote on increasing funding for 21^st CCLCs. They have also required partnerships with community organizations on the use of 21^st CCLC funds to expand the school day – a concern that was discussed in prior posts on this blog. Use this link to get a full summary on this language from the Afterschool Alliance. You can click here.