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"Where Do We Go Next?" explores three interconnected areas of young people's lives that have been particularly salient over the past year and are fundamental to supporting their learning and growth in the future. Those three areas are young people's sense of wellbeing, including their mental health and relationships; their opportunities to learn about race and racism in school and how that affects the ways they understand and engage with the world around them; and their plans for after high school and sense of readiness for pursuing those plans.

The State of Youth Employment is the second segment of a research series focused on understanding the experiences, assets, and conditions that shape young people's career development. Finding a Way Forward--a 2020 exploratory study based on interviews with young people across the country--yielded several findings about how young people experience entry to and growth within the world of work. Insights included how young people conceptualized becoming ready for work, the connections and support that facilitate their professional development, and the inseparable relationships between their professional and personal lives. The State of Youth Employment builds upon that qualitative study to explore the state of young people within the workforce in this current moment in history. This publication aims to elevate young people's work and career experiences over the past year to inform youth-centered policy, practice, and economic recovery efforts moving forward. [For "Finding a Way Forward: Young People's Experiences Navigating the World of Work," see ED610277.]

"What Drives Learning: Young People's Perspectives on the Importance of Relationships, Belonging, and Agency" is the third publication in the How Learning Happens research series. Together with "All of Who I Am" (see ED606338) and "The State of Young People during COVID-19," (see ED606305), this report places adolescents' experiences and perspectives at the center of an urgent national conversation about prioritizing young people's social, emotional, and cognitive development. Based on findings from a nationally representative survey of 3,300 high school students, "What Drives Learning" highlights the effect that supportive relationships, a sense of belonging, and feelings of agency can have on students' self-reported engagement and learning in school. [Support for this research was provided by Sanford Programs at National University System.]

The novel virus caused by COVID-19 has disrupted life across the country and led to nationwide school closures. In the midst of this disruption and uncertainty, young people, teachers, parents, and other youth-serving professionals are working in new and creative ways to support young people's education. In the interest of understanding how young people are doing in the midst of this crisis, the Center for Promise at America's Promise Alliance conducted a nationally representative survey of youth across the country (N=3,300; 14.4% black, 25.3% Latinx, 49.4% white, 5.7% Asian, 3.8% multi-racial; 50.5% male, 48.5% female, 1% non-binary). This appendix provides a demographic summary of the young people surveyed, each survey question asked, along with how young people responded. [For the main report, see ED606305.]

The public health crisis created by the spread of COVID-19 has disrupted day-to-day rhythms across the United States, including an extended closure of school buildings. Myriad news sources and emerging research are reporting on the deep and disparate effects that are reverberating from these closures. But how do young people themselves perceive the impact so far on their learning and their lives? To answer this question, the Center for Promise at America's Promise Alliance collected data from a nationally representative survey of 3,300 young people, aged 13-19, that was conducted as part of the "How Learning Happens" initiative. Respondents were asked a series of questions about their social, emotional, and academic experiences across both school and out-of-school-time learning settings, including a set of questions related to their specific experiences since being out of school as a result of COVID-19. At the time of the survey administration, a two-week period during late April and early May 2020, two-thirds of respondents had been out of school for more than four weeks. This research brief offers a snapshot of young people's self-reported: (1) Participation in online learning; (2) Connections to peers, adults at school, and their school community; (3) Top-of-mind concerns; and (4) Indicators of health and wellbeing. Findings suggest that students are experiencing a collective trauma, and that they and their families would benefit from immediate and ongoing support for basic needs, physical and mental health, and learning opportunities. Without that support, this moment in time is likely to have lasting negative effects for this cohort of high school students. [This research received additional funding from Sanford Programs at National University System. For the appendix to this report, see ED606306.]

This is the executive summary for the report, "Finding a Way Forward: Young People's Experiences Navigating the World of Work." It presents findings from a new qualitative study that explores specific questions about work and careers from the perspectives of 65 young adult participants in five career pathways programs across the country. This qualitative report provides a glimpse into their perceptions of their career journeys amidst today's changing employment landscape. [For the full report, see ED610277.]

Over the past several years, a growing consensus has emerged across a range of disciplines--including brain science, developmental psychology, and education research--about how learning happens. The latest science now aligns with what educators, youth-supporting adults, parents, and caregivers have known for a long time: successful learning requires an integrated approach to social, emotional, and cognitive development. Historically, both research and educational practice have treated social, emotional, and cognitive development as discrete areas. Yet over the past few decades, advances across disciplines in developmental science have contributed to a more integrated understanding of development. This new understanding makes clear that social, emotional, and cognitive dimensions not only happen in conjunction with one another but are highly interdependent and mutually reinforcing. A 2019 report, "From a Nation at Risk to a Nation at Hope," from the National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development played a vital role in advancing this consensus. The Commission engaged 200 scientists, educators, policymakers, and groups of young people and parents in its deliberations. Its work to synthesize existing and emerging research, build scientific agreement, and consider evidence-based implications for practice has accelerated an essential national conversation about how to help many more young people--particularly those who have been ill-served by current systems--succeed in school, work, and life. This report, "All of Who I Am," describes young people's responses and considers how their insights contribute to knowledge about integrated approaches to social, emotional, and cognitive development. [For "From a Nation at Risk to a Nation at Hope: Recommendations from the National Commission on Social, Emotional, & Academic Development," see ED606337. Additional funding from the Sanford Programs at National University System.]

Leaving school without graduating presents a significant challenge for young people and for society as a whole. One way communities and school systems are responding to this challenge is with coordinated efforts to re-engage young people in ways that make it more likely for them to earn a diploma. Re-engagement efforts vary across the country but typically involve identifying young people who have, or are at risk of leaving school before graduating, sharing existing re-enrollment options with them, supporting their re-entry into an appropriate educational setting, and providing supports to propel them toward graduation and, ultimately, success in adult life. To understand the barriers and supports to re-engagement and subsequent academic success in Tucson, Arizona, the Center for Promise spoke directly with Tucson youth who are re-engaging with their education. The Center sought to understand why the youth disengaged from their education, why some youth re-engaged while others did not, what factors contributed to or deterred this re-engagement, and what factors contributed to their persistence through high school graduation. Insights from these youth illustrate the vast challenges they face as well as the supports that can help put young people back onto positive educational pathways.

Relationships matter. What seems to be a simple truth continues to present a challenge--and significant opportunity--for those who work with youth. Research has repeatedly shown that positive relationships are an important catalyst for success, but often there's a gap between the relationships young people say they need and the relationships that are available to them. As many communities and schools are actively trying to re-engage young people who have left school, these relationships, both in and out of school, assume a greater importance. To date, however, relatively little research has focused on the caring adults in the re-engagement context. In the first report in this series, "I'm Going Back: The Re-engagement Experiences of Tucson Youth," Center for Promise researchers spoke with youth about the multiple barriers and factors in their lives that contributed to their decisions either to leave or to persist through high school. As a companion to this study, the Center for Promise sought the perspective of adults who work with these youth. Through interviews with fourteen adults focused on re-engagement across Tucson, the authors found that they share commonalities in how they approach their work. [For "I'm Going Back: The Re-Engagement Experiences of Tucson Youth," see ED592591.]

Many teachers do not receive the support necessary to simultaneously teach and respond appropriately to challenging student behavior. The systems in place are often purely reactive and lack a preventative component to address challenging behavior. The Center for Promise examined exclusionary discipline in Minnesota by speaking with young people who had experienced it. Across all groups, participants explained how their experiences with disciplinary interventions led them to disconnect from school. Specifically, the interventions often did not address the root causes of their behavior, made them feel unvalued and unwelcome, and disrupted their learning. Participants expressed a desire to engage in school and succeed but overwhelmingly found that their schools' disciplinary practices inhibited their ability to do so. They wanted to go to school in a safe environment, be treated fairly, and experience care and support from school personnel. Often, however, they felt that discipline was inconsistent, they were negatively labeled based on their race and other factors, and they were not given the chance to explain their perspective or advocate for themselves. Their stories illuminate the need for improved culture and climate in their schools.

Youth whose First Language is Not English (FLNE)--an umbrella term that includes English Learners (ELs), youth who have reached English proficiency, and other nonnative English speakers who have never been enrolled in a formal EL program (see Figure 1)--represent the fastest growing segment of the United States public school population. Despite evidence that FLNE students display high levels of optimism and motivation for academic advancement, they continue to have lower achievement and lower graduation rates than the national average. One in five students in Massachusetts is classified as 'First Language Not English' (FLNE). Therefore, a deeper understanding of both the diversity within this population and of young people's lived experience will help schools, districts, and the state provide the most appropriate and effective programs and policies to support them in reaching high school graduation and beyond. The study described in this report used a mixed-methods approach to answer the research questions. The Center for Promise used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to gain a fuller picture of the lives of FLNE students than could be gained from using only one method. Through statistical analyses of statewide student-level data for more than 13,000 FLNE students, as well as group interviews with 24 Latinxi young people in five cities throughout Massachusetts, the authors hoped to begin to answer these three questions: (1) What distinct groups within the FLNE student population exist, as defined by clusters of characteristics (e.g., grades, age and EL status); (2) Are some groups more likely to graduate high school than others: and (3) From the perspective of Latinx young people, what are the experiences and factors that contribute to their school persistence or choice to leave? Pursuing answers to the research questions through two distinct, robust approaches produced both lessons learned and new questions to pursue. Overall, the results offer a story that complicates the traditional narrative about FLNE youth in the United States. For instance, the research team found that: (1) There are highs and lows; (2) The journey is complicated; and (3) They came here to learn. Understanding the complexity of young people's experiences, including the factors that appear to drive differences in academic performance for FLNE students, can aid policymakers and practitioners in designing, implementing, and dedicating resources to interventions and supports to help all FLNE students graduate.