What skills and attributes will allow young people to succeed in the new global economy? This volume addresses the question by examining the topic of twenty-first century learning.

Twenty-first century learning frames an increasingly relevant and vital national conversation about what young people need in order to achieve: critical thinking, problem-solving, innovation, and communication skills.

The chapters in this volume provide a broad scope of perspectives - from business leaders, educators, researchers, youth workers, and students - on the need, opportunity,...

This volume examines how developmental issues facing older youth impact their crossover into early adulthood, and investigates innovative strategies being employed to better meet the needs of these youth. Implications for policymakers and funders in taking the support of older youth to scale are also considered in this volume.

There is a growing concern that young people are reaching the age of eighteen unprepared for the primary challenge of young adulthood: successfully joining the workforce or continuing on to higher education or vocational training. In order to see outcomes improve for...

The transition from care to independent living has become a recent focus for research given the poor outcomes that have been documented to date. This issue will present multiple perspectives on this problematic issue, examining outcomes and offering a critique of traditional approaches while at the same time outlining promising developments in programming both in the United States and internationally. Practices that build competence will be highlighted, given the need to prepare these youth for successful transitions into independent living.

It has been well established that significant...

This volume summarizes the community school experiences of the Children's Aid Society and Beacons in New York City and other places; university assisted models in Philadelphia; school system generated community schools in Chicago; communitywide councils in Evansville, Indiana, and Portland, Oregon; and Boston's Full-Service Schools Roundtable. The efforts of the Public Education Network to build public will for collaboration and California's statewide Healthy Start Initiaitve show how it is possible to expand the concepts over larger areas, and the Coalition for Community Schools provides the...

This issue on Youth Leadership raises important questions regarding this often overlooked subject, including: What exactly is youth leadership? Is it different from adult leadership? How does it relate to productive youth development? Can it be taught? If so, what are the best and worst practices?

As academics and professionals working with youth pursue a focus on positive psychology and youth development, the topic of youth leadership represents an intriguing frontier of inquiry. The notion of leadership moves beyond mere resilience; it implies an exceptional level of competency...

New technologies are playing an important role in the lives of young people. From mobile phones to social media sites, from video games to virtual worlds, young people are immersed in a technologically rich environment, in a participatory culturue where they are not only consuming content, but also producing it and sharing it with others.

People learn better when givien opportunities to create their own projects. The growing fields of the learning sciences and educational technologies have long acknowledged this. Over the past four decades, new tools and approaches have been designed and...

It's not all -fun and games.- A growing body of research suggests that recreation activities can be powerful development contexts when they are properly framed and intentionally designed. This volume highlights much of that research, and the articles that follow provide ample evidence that well-framed recreation activities and contexts can provide a range of positive developmental outcomes.

Editors Lawrence R. Allen and Robert J. Barcelona draw on their own work in human and youth development and have assembled contributing authors who explore the important of meaningful recreation and...

Take a cutting edge look at the civic engagement of young people. Increasingly recognized as an important feature of democratic functioning in communities, it has also become clear that the civic domain is indispensable as a context for understanding human development processes. This volume proposes the following central theses in relation to youth civic development:

• It is rooted in the realities of young people's everyday lives.
• It is collectively constructed.
• It raises questions about the principles, values, and relationships that bind people together in...

Learn about the kinds of learning tools and experiences that are most likely to foster a positive and engaged sense of purpose for diverse groups of youth. This groundbreaking research is among the first in recent years to explicitly address the supports of youth purpose and construct youth purpose interventions. Presenting the current state of the field on instructing for youth purpose, it's a valuable resource for researchers, teachers, and policymakers who are interested in promoting positive youth development.

This is the 132^nd volume of New Directions for Youth...

In partnership with the National AfterSchool Association, we are happy to introduce this supplemental issue. Whereby each issue of New Directions for Youth Development usually presents research on one topic, this special issue was open to article submissions that could address any topic of youth development and after-school education. Interestingly, the majority of the papers we received clustered around the topic of youth programming and offer a window into the innovations of this fast growing field of study. We welcome any feedback.