Major

Psychology

Minor(s)

Education; Writing & Rhetoric

Advisor

Stoner, Gary

Advisor Department

Psychology

Date

5-2022

Keywords

Psychology; Education; Equity; Diversity; Educators

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

Abstract

American schools, as an institution, have a mission to educate society’s youth in a way that is characterized by, and promotes, equity regarding educational access, opportunities, and outcomes. Doing so promises to support the individual growth and development of all students. Unfortunately, high school students face challenges regarding healthy development — academic, social, and identity-based — during the transition from childhood to adulthood. These challenges include navigating their identity development, achieving academic success, managing school and family demands, and planning for their futures. Barriers to the successful achievement of these challenges include risk factors associated with family relationships, financial standing, gender and/or sexual identity, school-based victimization, race, ethnicity, language barriers, disability, and more. Beyond this, external barriers such as explicit and implicit bias, racism, prejudice, discrimination, and more also prevent students from succeeding to their fullest ability. In order to develop a healthy and confident sense of identity, and achieve academic success, adolescents need to be supported and guided in a safe environment. Educators are tasked with the job to educate and support these students with their broad array of needs. In educating an increasingly multicultural and multilingual population of students, the challenge lies in providing support and guidance for all students with all levels of needs, in a way that is culturally and individually sensitive and responsive. Positive outcomes can be achieved through the use of direct teacher training and preparedness through support and guidance from experts, experienced teachers, and school administrators. The purpose of this project is to provide a continuing education guide for educators, consisting of contemporary information and practices to promote healthy development for all adolescents. This material is intended to support educators through the use of information and resources through workshops, trainings, conversations, and professional learning communities.

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