When students believe in their ability to learn and are equipped with effective problem-solving strategies, they work harder, persist longer, and achieve at higher levels.
When educators believe in students’ ability to learn, they engage their students in more rigorous tasks and create classrooms where all feel they belong, and all are challenged and supported.
Summer- & School-Start
AYD summer- and school-start programs help students develop the habits of mind and actions associated with success in school and the workplace, and have daily opportunities to apply new learning to challenging problems in mathematics. Programs are available for upper elementary, middle school, and rising Algebra I students.
School-Year
School-Year AYD works during advisory, homeroom, and after-school programs for students in grades 8-10. It helps them explicitly connect these new skills for learning to their areas of struggle in school and to problem-solving in math and science.
Educator’s Course
Educator Academic Youth Development is a professional development experience that empowers faculty teams, site and district leaders, counselors, and other staff with knowledge and meaningful and manageable practices that support learning for all students.
Academic Youth Development (AYD)
AYD connects students’ social and emotional learning (SEL) to challenges in school. More students succeed in school, career, and life when they learn skills that support their social and emotional development and then explicitly connect those skills to their academic learning.
This suite of programs translates the latest research on student mindset, motivation, learning, and persistence into practical classroom strategies and tools that can be enacted every day, in every classroom, to produce a lasting impact on every student.
Hover over a program to learn more.
Integrating SEL with challenging mathematics
Academic Youth Development connects students’ learning with foundational mathematics content. Students apply new skills to real-world problem-solving in areas of mathematics that are essential to their grade-level achievement. They learn and refine proven strategies for mathematics success, and collaborate with peers to analyze and understand problem situations, develop conjectures, and describe their thinking.
Enhancing teaching and learning, in school or from home
Academic Youth Development can be facilitated remotely or in-person to build safe and positive spaces for learning, engage more students, and develop mindsets and practices for academic success.
Learn more about how our blended programs are being used to support remote learning.
Transforming the Culture of Learning
In this video created by Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD (TX), students and teachers describe the impact of Academic Youth Development on their mindsets and their classroom learning culture.
Changing Attitudes & Mindsets
In this brief video, a teacher and her students describe the impact of Academic Youth Development on students’ mindsets for learning.
Academic Youth Development Introduction and Walkthrough
This video shares an overview and demonstration of the program, including key ideas and strategies that support students’ learning.
Productive Struggle
In this brief video, a teacher and her students describe how AYD helps them apply strategies to persist through academic challenges.
Changing the Culture of Learning Mathematics
In this brief video, a teacher and her students share how AYD helps students change how they feel, think about, and respond to mathematics.
