A sense of belonging for any young person is core to the human experience--it encompasses how much a student feels accepted, respected, and included at school and in other contexts. For youth, adolescence is a time of exploration and one where they naturally wrestle with questions of belonging and sense of self as they transition to emerging…

The 2022 Youth Transition Report underscores the persistent and pernicious gap between youth and young adults with disabilities and those without disabilities on measures of success in education, employment, opportunity, and poverty. While data and reports exist for the working-age adult population and children with disabilities, the Institute for…

The purpose of this guide is to illuminate best practices for meaningful engagement of youth in Community Schools and to recognize youth voice as a community asset that can help advance more equitable school systems. Youth voice plays an important role in redesigning how public education functions. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted education and…

The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program is the largest workforce program in the United States, providing employment services to people with disabilities to help them retain or enter competitive integrated employment commensurate with their abilities and capabilities. During the pandemic, state VR services were significantly affected and in some…

The 2021 Youth Transition Report underscores the persistent and pernicious gap between youth and young adults with disabilities and those without disabilities on measures of success in education, employment, opportunity, and poverty. While data and reports exist for the working-age adult population and children with disabilities, the Institute for…

Leaders of Tomorrow is a leadership program developed by the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) with a curriculum co-created by immigrant and refugee youth. The goal of Leaders of Tomorrow is to support and mobilize immigrant and refugee youth through opportunities to expand their knowledge, strengthen their skills, access tools and…

In collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania's Netter Center for Community Partnerships, IEL's Coalition for Community Schools Research Practice Network hosted a three-day virtual convening in July 2020 to develop a national Community Schools Research Agenda. The convening, "Powerful Learning: How Community Schools Support Learning…

"A Blueprint for Community Inclusion Strategies for Youth with Developmental Disabilities in Washington, DC" provides a summary of comments and common themes among DC youth with disabilities and their families. This includes their top priorities, solutions to pressing issues, and ways that allies (individuals and organizations) can…

In order to create a greater abundance of effective and affordable pathways for low-income learners, the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) created Minds That Move Us (MTMU). MTMU challenges the bright minds of communities around the country to design innovative education and training models that create social equity and economic mobility…

Disability-diversity on college campuses is no longer optional--it is an expectation. Students entering college today have grown up with the ADA and they have witnessed inclusion and mainstreaming of students with disabilities their entire lives. The most powerful barriers to full inclusion include stigmas about students with disabilities,…

The 2020 Youth Transition Report underscores the persistent and pernicious gap between youth and young adults with disabilities and those without disabilities on measures of success in education, employment, and poverty. While data and reports exist for the working-age adult population and children with disabilities, the Institute for Educational…

Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Learning Labs (LL) are a learning experience in which adults and youth come together to ask questions about something in their work that puzzles or interests them. Sometimes this is call a line of inquiry. Like working in a laboratory, the LL organizers start with a question -- an inquiry -- and a set of outcomes,…

Youth with disabilities face barriers to success that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the pandemic of racism that has generated protests in support of Black Lives Matter. The Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) reached out to a group of youth and young adults with disabilities to share their most pressing concerns and to…

For Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) counselors, with funding support from the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), it's important to know the essential components of a high-quality, inclusive internship program. As companies and organizations create more inclusive internship programs, VR must evaluate the accessibility of these…

This toolkit describes how VR professionals can use the VR Learning Lab Model, which Y-TAC developed and field-tested, to promote youth voice and engagement in service systems improvement. Using the VR Learning Lab model, VR agencies can conduct organized activities where young people and adults come together to ask questions to find potential…