June 2016
new research
 

Research-practice partnerships have the potential to support holistic strategies that involve collaborative bodies taking an ecological view of children and youth. This white paper presents four examples drawn from our experience conducting research in research-practice partnerships and describes how integrated data approaches can bridge institutional silos and deepen relations among youth-serving organizations.


A new white paper proposes a framework for defining and implementing a system of integrated student supports that provides equitable access to college and career readiness via Linked Learning pathways in high schools. This framework emphasizes the central commitment of the Linked Learning approach to challenge prevailing stratification in the American high school, and to prepare all students for college and career. 
  
Aim High is designed to prevent summer academic slide by providing middle school students from low-income families a program that blends academic and enriching activities such as sports, art, and drama. This brief presents findings from an implementation study of Aim High that examined students' and teachers' experiences with the program and identifies key elements and conditions that bring about desired program outcomes.

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Summer is a time full of promise, offering young people the potential for enriching, creative, educational activities, and a break from the school-year routine. Yet, we know that summer experiences and opportunities for children and youth vary wildly. 
by Jamila Henderson
 

The Gardner Center's youth sector perspective is important when we think about the effects of institutional and structural racism in which historical policies and practices at the systems level have had implications at the setting and individual levels.
 

This reading list, generated by staff at the Gardner Center, honors our shared belief in the power and potential of youth and communities. For your summer reading, we offer 16 titles across genres by writers whose words have contributed to our own continuous learning and self-renewal, and energize us in our work.
fond farewell

CONGRATS, PRUDENCE!

The Gardner Center bids a fond farewell to our faculty director Prudence Carter as she takes up her new post as dean of UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Education on June 30. Prudence joined the Gardner Center in September 2013, succeeding our founding director Milbrey McLaughlin. The alignment of Prudence's interests in creating ecosystems of community support to close the opportunity gap meshed strategically with the Gardner Center's youth development mandate and deep community relationships, and helped to position the center for the future. We are grateful for Prudence's leadership over the past three years and, while we will miss her, we couldn't be more proud of her as she assumes her appointment at Cal. Congratulations, Prudence!