Two teacher educators offer several activities for youth to examine representations of adolescence by writing poetry, studying social media, and analyzing young adult literature through a youth lens.

This Program and Practice article provides a comprehensive overview of a university-school mentoring program specifically designed to address the school-to-prison pipeline by supporting youth in a disciplinary alternative school setting. The purpose of this article is to offer a detailed description of the program's structure, components, and…

The Barr Foundation's Engage New England (ENE) initiative was an effort to catalyze high school innovation by developing exemplary schools that support the success of students who are off track to graduate. Grounded in the tenets of positive youth development, the ENE initiative provided grants and technical assistance to support new or redesigned…

In an interview, educator and psychologist Thomas Armstrong says that schools need to do a better job of speaking to--rather than resisting or crushing--adolescents' neurological development. "Essentially, the curriculum in high school needs to be more affective," he argues. "It needs to be more engaging in terms of humor, vitality,…

While parental involvement is often seen as a cornerstone in high school students' success, too much involvement can be problematic. Often teachers feel caught between supporting students' personal growth and parental expectations of students' academic achievement. Certain practices can be developed and implemented at a classroom and school level…

Coaches have the possibility to shape their athletes' experiences in sport and build a strong skillset, particularly the growth of mental toughness. It is important for athletes to develop the mental and physical components needed to overcome obstacles and maintain consistency. This article provides strategies for high school coaches to implement…

For gifted girls, the journey toward self-actualization can be particularly challenging during adolescence. To better support gifted adolescent girls, this article explores a contemporary framework for understanding smart girls of the 21st century: Kerr and McKay's beehive of smart girls. Kerr and McKay's typology highlights how different…

Like all teens, students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) go through puberty. During this transitional time, their bodies will go through changes that can be disorienting. Given that adolescents with ASD may have a need for sameness and routine, the changes associated with puberty can be difficult. Teachers and parents can support students by…

Using the water molecule as a metaphor, Marilyn Doerr presents a study of a Montessori high school that combines the elements of Montessori with International Baccalaureate (IB) and other institutions in the surrounding community that enrich the experience of the students. The pedagogy of the high school, she explains, must be based on an…

The purpose of this article is to familiarize teachers with the concept of executive functioning and to provide them with a collection of strategies that they can use to help support middle and high school students with planning, organization, task-initiation, and impulse control.

When school communities are troubled by violence, or threats of violence, at the hands of young people, educators have an opportunity to learn about aggression and adolescent identity development. A disturbing threat incident provides the point of departure for this principal's reflection on how high school curriculum can better meet the identity…

Australia's Northern Territory is twice the size of Texas, with only 230,000 people living in its enormous space. About half reside in the capital Darwin in the tropical far north; the next biggest town with a population of 25,000 people is Alice Springs, 1600 kilometers south in the central desert. Some 70,000 Indigenous people form 30% of the…

The new "Common Core State Standards" (CCSS) (NGACBP & CCSSO, 2010) require teachers to prepare all learners, including adolescent English learners (ELs), to develop academic literacy practices. This article describes an instructional intervention in an urban public high school using the genre-based "Reading to Learn" (Rose…

The role of community in child and adolescent development is emerging as a significant area of theoretical inquiry, research, and application. This article describes the development and utilization of a comprehensive community change effort designed to increase the attention of all community members toward strengthening core developmental…

This article highlights the limitations of our current educational system in terms of vocational learning and highlights the role that vocational learning can play in supporting youth development and improving youth outcomes. It discusses the role that nonschool settings can play in supporting vocational learning and suggests strategies to improve…