Changing the Odds Thought Leader Interview with Karen Pittman

In this month’s Changing the Odds discussion, Karen will be joined Stephanie Malia Krauss, Senior Advisor at JFF and author of Making It: What Today’s Kids Need for Tomorrow’s World.

Karen and Stephanie’s colleagueship started with Karen giving Stephanie an audacious challenge: create a universal list of competencies youth need to succeed that speaks clearly to young people, resonates with leaders across multiple systems, and is grounded in everything we know about learning and development. The result was Ready by Design: The Science (and Art) of Youth Readiness.

Fast forward to now. Stephanie’s continued press to answer thequestion “What are the essentials young people need to succeed in life’s challenges?” went to full throttle when she learned that many of today’s kids will live to be at least 100.  The result is her first book (she’s already working on the next one).  Making It is not a review of curricula or exemplary programs. It is a big-picture overview of the forces that influence young people’s ability to focus, learn, grow, and succeed now and in the future.