Adolescence and Education

The Adolescence and Education series examines the central inquiry: How do we conceptualize and approach equity-oriented positive youth development today – in theory and in practice? By positive youth development (PYD) we mean the prosocial approach that intentionally recognizes and leverages youth’s assets to organize programs, services, and supports to maximize their development. PYD can occur in afterschool programs, community organizations, families, peer relationships, and/or within interventions in schools. Recognizing that positive youth development is both an approach and a set of outcomes (Redd et al., 2020), this series systematically explores how youth serving organizations, programs, and interventions infuse equity into their approach to and design for youth participation. This series joins other research on PYD programs across the nation that have “[enhanced] their ability to better engage diverse communities with equity and inclusion at the fore” (Fields, 2020, p. 171). Topics of interest include: social capital youth development, assets, community-based approaches to youth work, digital media and learning, civic engagement and civic literacy in early adolescence, evidence-based and speculative design of non-formal learning settings such as out-of-school library, museum, arts, or youth organizing settings.