
Check out the latest from our staff in our Forum For Thought
Equitable Pathways to Opportunities for Young People
February 3, 2023AYPF Youth Policy Consultants share insights on creating equitable pathways to opportunities for youth.
Looking Back & Looking Ahead
January 6, 2023AYPF’s Executive Director Stephanie McGencey looks back and looks ahead to the coming months for AYPF.
- Show all
- Accountability
- COVID-19 Response
- 21st Century Community Learning Centers
- English Language Learners
- Assessment
- Research-practice partnerships
- Alternative Education
- College and Career Readiness in OST
- Carl D. Perkins Act
- Equity
- Deeper Learning
- First-Generation College Students
- Data Management
- Afterschool and Out-of-School Time Learning
- Intermediaries
- Career Pathways
- Justice-Involved Youth
- Educator Preparation and Professional Development
- OST System Building
- College and Career Readiness and Success
- Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
- Reengagement
- Deeper Learning
- Research Evidence in Policymaking
- Opportunity Youth
- Wraparound Supports
- Postsecondary Education
- Higher Education Act (HEA)
- Personalized Learning
- School and Community Partnerships
- Service Learning
- Skill Development
- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
- Learning and Teaching Strategies
- Rural Populations
- Skill Development
- Social and Emotional Learning
- State-Level Policies
- Social and Emotional Learning
- Youth Experiencing Homelessness
- System Strategies and Approaches
- Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)
- Youth Populations
- Youth in Foster Care
- STEM
- Work-Based Learning
- Policies & Legislation
- Youth with (Dis)abilities
- Youth Leadership and Voice
Creating the “Win-Win” for Schools and Employers: Lessons from Los Angeles
May 2, 2016Jenna Tomasello, Policy AssociatePart of what it takes to ensure students are college and career ready is to provide students with hands-on, workplace learnin…
Top 5 Lessons from Miami: Career Pathways in Action
April 27, 2016By Carinne Deeds and Zachary MalterOn May 31st and April 1st, 2016, AYPF staff and a group of congressional staff and national education leaders visited Miami …
It’s Time to Suspend Out of School Suspensions
April 11, 2016Christopher Lemos, Research/Policy InternSomething alarming has been happening in a number of Kentucky public schools over the past school year. Elementary su…
Soft Skills: Anything but Soft
March 30, 2016Carinne Deeds, AYPF Senior Policy AssociateI recently stumbled upon Andy Calkins’ 2015 blog post on the outdated terms “non-cognitive” and “soft skills.” The …
Never Too Early for Career Counseling
March 22, 2016George Knowles, Digital Communications AssociateWhen I was in high school, it was very clear that being accepted to a high-quality, four-year college wa…
The Big Secret of Culturally Relevant Teaching
March 15, 2016Zachary Malter, Policy Research AssociateWhat can after-school programs teach people about more traditional educational settings? Recently AYPF examined how c…
ESSA and Diversity: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back?
March 7, 2016Jenna Tomasello, Policy AssociateThis post is part four in our Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) blog series. When President Obama signed the Every Student Su…
Betsy Brand: Highly Valued Skills for Good Jobs and Implications for Education
February 3, 2016Betsy Brand, Executive DirectorWhat are the skills needed for high value, high wage, high growth jobs? A great report by the Center on Education and the Workf…
Educational Equity: A Long Way to Go
January 27, 2016Jenna Tomasello, Program AssociateOur nation is the most diverse it has ever been. According to population projections released by the Census Bureau, the Unit…
Three Education Trends to Watch in 2016
January 12, 2016George Knowles, Digital Communications AssociateThe reauthorization of the ESEA won't be the only hot issue for education policy in 2016. The following are AY…
Equity, Afterschool, and Competency-Based Learning
January 4, 2016Jenna Tomasello, Program AssociateAs students learn and develop valuable skills and competencies for college, careers, and beyond both in and out of school, i…
Advising Strategies for Supporting First-Generation College Students: Can Technology Replace Counselors and Peers? (Part 3)
December 21, 2015Jennifer Brown Lerner, Deputy DirectorAccording to research by Pew, 84% of all Americans use the internet and 97% of those ages 18-29 are online regularly. Th…
Advising Strategies for Supporting First-Generation College Students: How Can Peers Help? (Part 2)
December 16, 2015Carinne Deeds, Program AssociateAs the first in my family to go to college, I entered the application process with an endless amount of questions. Where shoul…
Advising Strategies for Supporting First-Generation College Students: The Role of Traditional Counseling (Part 1)
December 14, 2015Jenna Tomasello, Program Associate“You’re just not college material.” That was what a high school counselor told my mother after she expressed interest in goi…
Emily Morgan: Keeping Young Adults Connected and Supported
December 7, 2015A growing body of research on brain development has shown that the boundary between adolescence and adulthood is not a fixed point, but can extend well into an…
Revisiting Youth Apprenticeships
November 30, 2015George Knowles, Digital Communications AssociateFor youth who are struggling to find employment, the job market can seem like a bleak place. As of July 2015, …
George Knowles: Families Help Build Lifelong Learners
November 16, 2015George Knowles, Digital Communications AssociateOne of the most important lessons my father ever taught me was that learning wasn’t just a means to an end, it…
Betsy Brand: Making Afterschool Available for All
November 2, 2015Betsy Brand, Executive DirectorAs a sign of the importance of afterschool, over one million Americans recently rallied to advocate for afterschool programs th…
Creating Opportunities for Opportunity Youth
October 26, 2015Carinne Deeds, Program AssociateLast week in Milwaukee, I had the opportunity to hear Mayor Tom Barrett discuss the importance of an afterschool system as par…
How Competency-based Learning and Afterschool Can Work Together
October 20, 2015Words matter. This idea is not new, but it is especially critical when we talk about defining what we mean by college- and career-readiness. Creating a common …