Presented at the 2013 NPEA conference in Boston, MA on April 11, 2013 by Horizons for Youth

1. CONCRETE TOOLS FOR TEACHING
SOFT SKILLS
Thursday, April 11, 2013
10:15am – 11:30am

2. WORKSHOP GOALS
 Develop an understanding of the biological effects
of poverty on low income students
 Demonstrate the importance of soft skills in relation
to secondary and post-secondary success
 Outline the process for developing soft skills
focused programming and evaluative tools
 Identify ways to incorporate soft skills into current
academic programming both formally and informally

3. ACE SCORES
 ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Study
 Vincent Felitti and Robert Anda -1990s; Nadine Burke Harris -
1995
 Studies showed a strong correlation between
adverse childhood experiences and negative adult
outcomes
 Higher ACE scores correlated to worse adult
outcomes on almost every measure from addictive
behavior to chronic disease

4. ACE SCORES
 ACE scores of 4 or more:
 Twice as likely to smoke
 7 times more likely to be alcoholics
 7 times more likely to have had sex before age 15
 Twice as likely to have cancer, heart disease, or liver
disease
 Four times as likely to have emphysema or chronic
bronchitis
 Disturbingly powerful correlation between ACE
scores and problems in school

5. EFFECTS OF HIGH ACE SCORES
 Behavioral issues
 Northwestern University Study
 Psychiatric evaluations of 1,000 juvenile detainees
 84% experienced 2 or more serious childhood traumas
 Majority of detainees had experienced 6 or more
 Brain development
 Bruce McEwen research
 Long-term effects of stress in childhood brain development
 Area of the brain most effected: prefrontal cortex
 Controls self-regulation
 Children with stress find it harder to concentrate, sit still, rebound
from disappointment and follow directions
 Stress overload can affect emotional and cognitive regulations
 Negatively affects executive functioning

6. EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING
 Executive functioning - collection of higher order mental
abilities that enable you to deal with confusing and
unpredictable situations and information
 Executive functioning skills are highly predictive of
success AND ARE MALLEABLE
 Prefrontal cortex – the area of the brain that controls
executive functioning ability - is more responsive than
other parts of the brain and stays flexible into
adolescence and early adulthood

7. PROTECTION FROM CHILDHOOD STRESS
 The single strongest safeguard against
childhood stress is a strong parenting
relationship
 Parents and caregivers who form close, nurturing
relationships with children can foster resilience
 Resilience protects children from harmful effects of
stress in early childhood
 Has positive psychological and biochemical
benefits

8. ATTACHMENT THEORY
 Alan Sroufe and Byron Egeland studied people
from birth to late thirties (2005 report)
 Result - attachment status at 1 year of age was
predictive of a range of life outcomes
 Secure attachment early resulted in more social
competence
 2 out of 3 children with disengaged parents needed
special education or were held back grade(s)
 Attachment status was more predictive of high
school graduation than IQ or achievement test
scores

9. ATTACHMENT CONTINUED
 Alicia Lieberman Study – 1970
 Extraordinarily difficult for parents in stressful conditions
to form secure attachments given the daily
uncertainty, worry and fear that permeate their lives
 Even more difficult for a new parent to form secure
attachment if her own mother had not
 Parents can overcome histories of trauma and poor
attachment – they can change their approach and
still create secure attachment and healthy
functioning
 Some parents can accomplish this switch on their
own, but most need help
 Development of secure attachment even later in
childhood still has strong and lasting effects

10. REDEFINING CHARACTER
 Martin Seligman and Christopher Peterson
 Character previously believed to be innate and unchanging – a
person’s core set of attributes that they had at birth
 Redefined character as a set of abilities that are malleable –
skills you can learn, skills you can practice, skills that can be
taught
 Identified 7 specific traits needed for success in school:
 Self-control
 Grit
 Zest
 Social Intelligence
 Gratitude
 Optimism
 Curiosity

11. DEFINING SOFT SKILLS
 “Non-cognitive skills”
 Interpersonal skills
 EQ
 Examples: self-
advocacy, ambition, grit, responsibility, work
ethic, resilience

12. EXAMPLE: IMPORTANCE OF GRIT
 Angela Duckworth
 Study of self-discipline found students’ discipline scores
better predictors of GPA than IQ scores
 Grit: a passionate commitment to a single mission and
an unswerving dedication to achieve that mission
 Measurement tool - grit scale - predictive of success
 High grit enables college students with lower college-board
scores to still earn high GPAs
 Grit scale proved more predictive of success for 1200
West Point cadets than the complex evaluation system
used by the military academy

13. THE GOOD NEWS
 Character traits are highly predictive of success
and can be taught
 Two key times for intervention
 Early Childhood
 Adolescence
 Parents, caregivers, teachers can all be
instruments for teaching character
 Mentors in adolescence can make a huge
difference

14. HORIZONS FOR YOUTH: BRIEF BACKGROUND
INFORMATION
 High school program began 2009
 Vast majority of our high school students and
college alumni struggle to self-advocate and
problem solve
 Need to be taught soft skills
 Since our mission is college completion, something
had to be done

15. THE HORIZONS FOR YOUTH STRATEGY
 Long-term project
 Team effort
 Teaching self-advocacy
 Teaching parents how to teach their children to do the
same is just as important
 Critical and honest feedback
 Both formal and informal supports and interventions
 Formal – i.e. summer program character slips
 Informal – i.e. mentors teach curiosity through outing
experiences
 Letting them fail – “Losing is something you do, not
something you are.”

16. THE HORIZONS FOR YOUTH STRATEGY
 “The Big Three”: Culture building
 The Road Map to College
 Spells out specific, developmentally appropriate actions
that demonstrate the Big Three
 Includes the purpose of each expectation – why
 Includes continuing and forthcoming expectations
 Uses age appropriate language
 Examples: Fourth grade and ninth grade
 Opportunities to practice
 Monthly outings
 Summer program
 Fundraisers and other events

17. CHALLENGES TO IMPLEMENTATION
 Teaching parents
 Time
 Focusing long-term
 School communication

18. THE HORIZONS FOR YOUTH STRATEGY
 Next steps
 Additional opportunities to incorporate The Road Map
both formally and informally
 Revisions and additions
 Use of The Road Map as an evaluation tool
 Continue to coach parents and mentors
 Add visual reminders around our office

19. STEPS FOR INCORPORATING SOFT SKILLS
 Define desired outcomes
 Review current programming
 Where are you already building these skills?
 Where could they be easily incorporated into existing
programs?
 What additional training is needed to address any gaps?

20. STEPS FOR INCORPORATING SOFT SKILLS
 Building a culture of soft skills development
 Considerations
 Leaders and staff – must be on board
 Parents
 Students
 Volunteers

21. QUESTIONS AND WRAP UP
 What will be your biggest challenges in
implementing soft skills programming?
 Have you found any additional resources that may
be helpful in teaching soft skills?

22. OTHER SUCCESSFUL APPROACHES

23. RESOURCES
 How Children Succeed – Paul Tough
 Grit Test – Angela Duckworth
 Mindset – Carol Dweck
 Teaching Adolescents To Become Learners – The University of Chicago
Consortium on Chicago School Research
 Smart But Scattered – Peg Dawson and Richard Guare
 Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most –
Stone, Patton, Heen

24. CONTACT INFORMATION
 Ashley Allen – ashley@horizons-for-youth.org
 Kristin Hatcher – kristin@horizons-for-youth.org
www.horizons-for-youth.org