Youth Development

Project Reentry expands and supplements services offered through the Department of Justice Affairs to recently released youth offenders. Services include academic, employability, life, and occupational skills training. EDC provides technical assistance to the project that focuses on program design issues. EDC assesses curriculum provided by partnering institutions, researches and reports on best practices of similar projects, and provides recommendations for program modification based upon surveys of participants and community stakeholders.

The FunWorks is a digital library of career exploration resources for youth ages 11 to 15. The FunWorks provides “real world” experiences and uses children’s current interests and passions, such as music and sports, to help them explore exciting future careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The site was designed for and by children—over 300 young people have participated in the design and launch of this one-of-a-kind collection from the initial concept to design, usability testing, and launch.

EDC works with staff from the Jacob Burns Film Center (JBFC) to conduct evaluation planning for the See Hear Feel Film curriculum, which is designed to provide third grade students with an understanding of film and of themselves as creative beings, and is implemented in both in-school and out-of-school settings. EDC’s work focuses on clarifying student and teacher outcomes and determining indicators to measure change.

Global Kids has asked CCT to serve as the program evaluator and Global Kids’ formative research partner for the Playing 4 Keeps program. Global Kids have developed an innovative curriculum for engaging traditionally underserved youth in the development and dissemination of online games, called Playing 4 Keeps (P4K). The P4K games are designed by the program’s youth participants to educate their peers around the world about important social issues.

Developed by Breakthrough Games, ICED (“I Can End Deportation”) is a single-player, downloadable video game that explores immigration challenges facing an immigrant teen living in an urban setting. As they traverse the city, players confront a series of ethical dilemmas that reflect the tenuous position immigrants occupy in American society. These dilemmas require players to decide between “civic-minded choices” and “remaining quiet” in order to avoid engagement with the law. Through the game, players learn facts about U.S.

EDC in collaboration with partners in education, youth media and business, is creating a youth-produced, Web-based media series and companion educator materials on science and engineering careers, targeting girls from underserved groups (minority populations, youth of low socioeconomic status and those with disabilities). The Girls Communicating Career Connections (GC3) project’s media series—short video segments produced by middle school aged girls—will capture the inquiry-based learning experiences of girls, as they investigate what it means to be a scientist or engineer.

Building on our previous collaboration to track assessments of 21st century skills (Assess21), the Partnership for 21st Century Skills has engaged CCT to develop a series of online resources to help states understand and support the teaching, learning and assessment of 21st century skills. We are also identifying state-level resources that address key educational components needed to bring those skills into the classroom.

Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, Mass., has contracted with CSE to conduct the preliminary research for and the evaluation of its new Massachusetts Technician Education Collaboration (Mass-TEC). Mass-TEC, a three-year project funded by the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education program, intends to increase the number of skilled technicians in central Massachusetts to support regional employers’ high-end engineering and manufacturing operations.