Foundations for Young Adult Success: A Developmental Framework Jenny Nagaoka University of Chicago Consortium on School Research uchicago.consortium.edu @UChiConsortium

What Do We Mean by Young Adult Success? EQUITY ACCESS

Project Goals Bring together the best research, theory, and practice knowledge on youth development. Organize the contributions of researchers, policymakers, and practitioners around a common language and set of objectives. Articulate the foundational elements youth need for a successful transition into young adulthood. Describe when key windows open for development of these foundational elements. Highlight how adults can promote positive development of the foundations of success. Will be making these more concrete in terms of the problems we are attempting to address Takes into account that youth experiences occur in and across multiple settings

Foundations for Young Adult Success

The Role of Agency, Competencies, and Integrated Identity Agency is taking an active role in shaping and managing one’s chosen path rather than being at the mercy of external forces. Integrated Identity means having a consistent sense of who one is across time and across multiple social identities (e.g., race/ethnicity, profession, culture, gender, religion). Agency is about both believing and knowing how to act upon the goals you set for yourself, but ALSO knowing that you have influence on your world – that you don’t necessarily have to accept the status quo but can have an influence on changing some of the inequities that exist. Competencies appear in frameworks all over, and that’s necessarily so. We actually began by focusing on noncognitive factors, but ultimately just couldn’t ignore the critical importance of building competencies. These are higher-level skills that are combined and applied to particular situations. There are both more generally accepted competencies – such as 21st century competencies of collaboration, communication, etc. – and others that are content- or job-specific, like the competencies requires to be a successful nurse or lawyer.

The Role of Agency, Competencies, and Integrated Identity Competencies are the abilities that enable people to effectively perform roles, complete complex tasks, or achieve specific objectives to achieve success. And integrated identity – as youth grow up, they are trying on different identities, figuring out who they are. Ultimately, a young adult will be more poised for success if they’ve at least begun to integrate the various “selves” they have identified over time. This is really about figuring out a core sense of self. That doesn’t mean that you don’t have nuances to your identity in different situations or settings. For example, your identity with your friends might be different than your identity with your family. But at some point, it helps to identify who you are at the core.

Key Factors Build on a Set of Four Foundational Components Components both support the development of each other and of the key factors, and contribute directly to success in young adulthood No one component alone is sufficient (e.g., no silver bullets) Components are malleable, grow over time, and serve as leverage points for supporting development Components have dimensions which involve the self, others, and the world.

What are the Foundational Components that Underlie the Development of the three Key Factors? Self-Regulation Mindsets Knowledge & Skills Values Components both support the development of key factors and contribute directly to success in young adulthood No one component alone is sufficient (e.g., no silver bullets) Components are malleable, grow over time, and serve as leverage points for supporting development Components are developed and expressed in multiple spheres: within self, in relation to others, and within the more global context of society

The role of context versus individual While we are focusing on how individual youth develop over time, we sought to also pay attention to the role that context plays in that development. In a very Bronfenbrenner-type of way, this visual represents the layers of context that influence how youth are supported in their development and the experiences and opportunities available to youth.

Developing the Key Factors and Foundational Components Learning is a process of both: Building neural connections in the brain Developing understanding in the mind Children/youth need opportunities to practice, practice, practice Act and have varied experiences Make meaning of experiences Build relationships Throughout our work, we found that what we know about development has been known for decades! BUT, newer work in neuroscience has confirmed our beliefs and helped us understand what this looks like in the brain. In order to learn, people need the opportunity to engage in a practice over and over again – having repeated experiences strengthens the neural connections in the brain. But learning also requires an aspect of thinking and interpreting – understanding for it to be integrated into who someone is.

Youth Learn and Grow through Developmental Experiences Developmental Relationships

Foundations for Young Adult Success Development is: always happening everywhere multifaceted and interconnected Youth need opportunities to have and reflect upon a range of experiences and social interactions. Development is facilitated by strong, supportive, and sustained relationships with adults and peers. Adult practices are more effective when intentional, developmental, and focused on key factors that matter How can we best measure it for different purposes?  outcomes versus processes

Thank you! Report, infographic, and executive summary are available for download at consortium.uchicago.edu and wallacefoundation.org Contact info: Jenny Nagaoka jkn@uchicago.edu