Foundations for Young Adult Success: A Developmental Framework

Amid growing recognition that strong academic skills alone are not enough for young people to become successful adults, this comprehensive report offers wide-ranging evidence to show what young people need to develop from preschool to young adulthood to succeed in college and career, have healthy relationships, be engaged citizens, and make wise choices. It concludes that rich experiences combining action and reflection help children develop a set of critical skills, attitudes, and behaviors. And it suggests that policies should aim to ensure that all children have consistent, supportive relationships and an abundance of these developmental experiences through activities inside and outside of school.

CAMILLE A. FARRINGTON is a Senior Research Associate at the UChicago Consortium. Her work focuses on policy and practice in urban high school reform, particularly classroom instruction and assessment, academic rigor, and academic failure. JENNY NAGAOKA is the Deputy Director of the UChicago Consortium. Her current work uses linked quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the relationship among high school preparation, college choice, and postsecondary outcomes for CPS students. STACY B. EHRLICH was a Senior Research Analyst at UChicago Consortium on Chicago School Research. She is a developmental psychologist with expertise in the areas of children's early conceptual development. Ehrlich led the development of the early childhood education research agenda at UChicago Consortium. RYAN D. HEATH is a research assistant at the UChicago Consortium, and a doctoral student in the School of Social Service Administration (SSA) at the University of Chicago. Previously, Ryan facilitated a variety of school and community-based youth development and experiential education programs. The University of Chicago Consortium on School Research (UChicago Consortium) builds the capacity for school reform by conducting research that identifies what matters for student success and school improvement. Created in 1990, UChicago Consortium conducts research of high technical quality that can inform and assess policy and practice in the Chicago Public Schools. UChicago Consortium studies also have informed broader national movements in public education. UChicago Consortium encourages the use of research in policy action and improvement of practice but does not argue for particular policies or programs. Rather, UChicago Consortium helps to build capacity for school reform by identifying what matters for student success and school improvement, creating critical indicators to chart progress, and conducting theory-driven evaluation to identify how programs and policies are working.