Despite growing attention to the importance of grit and other character traits for achievement, developing such qualities rarely figures in secondary school curricula. Based on extensive interviews and on-site visits, Belonging and Becoming tells the stories of five high schools with a national reputation for infusing rigorous academics with social and emotional learning and the demonstrable benefits that result for students.
"When educators ask me for practical advice about how to enhance the social, emotional, and academic development of high school students, I will urge them to read, discuss, and implement powerful strategies from this book. Belonging and Becoming is a game-changer that can improve the educational experiences, learning, and development of millions of high school students."
-Roger P. Weissberg, chief knowledge officer, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)
"In this engaging new book, Barbara Cervone and Kathleen Cushman capture five compelling cases, teaching us that thoughtful, purposeful integration of social and emotional learning combined with rigorous project-based learning results in high levels of academic achievement, strong attendance, low dropout rates, and a high percentage of students going to college."
-Ellen Moir, founder and CEO, New Teacher Center
"Barbara Cervone and Kathleen Cushman have wonderfully captured the essentials needed for high schools to focus on both academic growth and healthy social development. Their work will lead to educating all high school students to be able to respond to the challenges and opportunities they routinely face through intentional efforts on academic, social, and emotional learning."
-Paul Goren, superintendent, Evanston/Skokie District 65, Illinois, and former senior vice president, CASEL
Barbara Cervone has championed high school reform for more than four decades as a researcher, writer, school and program designer, and national grant maker. Kathleen Cushman is a journalist and educator who since 1989 has documented the learning of adolescents in and out of school.
Barbara Cervone, EdD (HUGSE), is founder and president of What Kids Can Do, Inc., an international nonprofit organization that promotes the value of young people tackling projects that combine powerful learning with public purpose. From 1994 to 2001 she directed Walter H. Annenberg's "Challenge to the Nation," then the largest private investment in public education in the nation's history. In 2008 Dr. Cervone was awarded the Purpose Prize. Her many publications include "Powerful Learning with Public Purpose," in New Directions for Youth Development (Jossey-Bass, 2010); In Our Village, a book series documenting youth perspectives in international settings (Next Generation Press); and the first chapter, "Learning from the Leaders: Core Practices of Six Schools," in Anytime, Anywhere: Student-Centered Learning for Schools and Teachers (Harvard Education Press, 2013).
Kathleen Cushman is an educator and writer who has specialized in the lives and learning of youth for twenty-five years. From 1989 to 2001 she documented theory and practice in schools nationwide for the Coalition of Essential Schools and the Annenberg Challenge, publishing many books, including Schooling and the Real World (Jossey-Bass, 1999) and The Collected Horace (Coalition of Essential Schools, 2001). In 2001 Cushman cofounded What Kids Can Do, Inc., with Barbara Cervone. Her work there has resulted in ten books, including the best-selling Fires in the Bathroom series (New Press, 2003, 2006), Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery (Jossey-Bass, 2010), and The Motivation Equation (Next Generation Press, 2013). Her articles regularly appear in Educational Leadership, Phi Delta Kappan, and other periodicals and blogs for educators.
