In a message dated 12/6/01 12:17:40 PM, wizard writes:
<< Some legitimate research group (Dennis Shapiro, member of this list, could give you the name) reports that each and every kid needs 41 different resources to succeed. Kids who are not succeeding do not have 41 resources, they may not have half that many. >> sue responds: Sorry for the delay in responding to this - the digests are stacked up like cordwood! I thought I'd mention, since Denny hasn't, that Wizard is referring to research conducted by the Minneapolis-based Search Institute. I saw Dr. Peter Benson present this work several years ago now - he calls these resources "developmental assets". There are 41 assets in total - I think the average child had about 20 in their life - and we need to see around 30 for us to be able to predict that the child will succeed. Some of the assets are internal to the child (ie commitment to learning, social competencies) and some are external factors supplied by family and community (appropriate boundaries, focus on school). The most interesting thing that I remember is that, since he did a big piece of the original research right here in Minneapolis, he had a large enough sample to break it down and analyze it by geography. And living right here in affluent SW Minneapolis was really no guarantee that a child would have adequate assets in their lives - these kids had more, but not that many more, than kids from the north side. His work was really more of a challenge to get communities to pay attention to and address the problems of children as a whole - not any particular race or class. I remember well that one example that he gave was the asset "consistent contact with one "elder" who is not a family member". Something that children used to have on a regular basis one generation ago, but in today's increasingly age-segregated society, not all that common (remember, we're talking about contact with someone other than grandma or grandpa). He said that churches and synagogues offered one of the rare opportunities for this kind of important intergenerational contact. So we immediately set to work to develop an intergenerational "partner" program at my church - but that's another story! Its work worth reviewing - you can catch it at www.search-institute.org.assets Susan Herridge Lynnhurst _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
