that is full of promise, wonder and curiosity. Making It does just that. From my vantage point, there is no more time to waste. This book will inspire you to action. It did me.”
Steve Constantino, internationally recognized speaker on family and community engagement; executive professor for the School of Education at William and Mary; author of Engage Every Family: Five Simple Principles; and former chief academic officer and acting state superintendent in Virginia
“A vision for today's kids, a vision made actionable through science, case examples, personal stories, and inspiration. This is what Stephanie Malia Krauss has achieved in Making It. If you care about humanity, then Making It is for you – whether you are a parent, policymaker, voter, educator, or social worker. Our collective future depends on enacting the vision advanced in this book.”
Amanda Moore McBride, Morris Endowed Dean and professor of the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver
“Making It is an important source for understanding the multiple challenges facing today's children and youth, and how successfully to assure their learning and development. In our rapidly changing world, it provides a framework for building currencies that provide pathways to success of all children in school and life.”
Mark Ginsberg, provost and executive vice president of George Mason University, and the former dean of the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University
“In a world with so much uncertainty, Making It makes loads of sense. Stephanie's honest and just approach to currency-building changes the calculus of an unfair system to a whole-life approach about well-being developed overtime and not by time.”
Elliot Washor, co-founder and director of Big Picture Learning
“We know it's not just about academic achievement, but what else do young people need to make it in today's complicated world? Stephanie Malia Krauss carefully and clearly lays it out: an interwoven set of competencies, network of connections, recognized credentials, and necessary financial resources. Unarguably, these ‘currencies’ are harder to come by for Black, brown, and indigenous young people, and others whose experiences and identities our white-centered systems were designed to disadvantage. If you believe every kid is entitled to make it, this book will challenge you to become a ‘currency-builder’ – and show you how to do it.”
Kathleen Traphagen, lead facilitator of Grantmakers for Thriving Youth and Grantmakers for Education's Out-of-School Time Impact Group
“Making It is a uniquely powerful book, offering a clear, concrete roadmap for parents and educators who want to equip our children to lead fundamentally meaningful lives amidst the overwhelming pace of economic, technological, and social change. As 2020 draws to a close, Stephanie's compelling Life Currencies framework could not be more timely as we focus attention, in earnest, on remodeling our institutions for a more hopeful and just future.”
Cyrus E. Driver, senior director, Partnership for the Future of Learning
“Making It is a must-read for anyone trying to navigate the complexities of education in the 21st century. The book weaves together research on the future of work and the future of learning with decades of research on human development and social mobility, not to mention Krauss's firsthand experiences in policy and practice. The result? Making It paints a detailed picture of what students will need for a future of thriving.”
Julia Freeland Fisher, director of Education Research at the Clayton Christensen Institute and author of Who You Know: Unlocking Innovations that Expand Students' Networks
“Making It positions today's students and families importantly as consumers in the education market, who must now make sense of the more than 700,000 credentials out there and adopt new mindsets about what it means to prepare for an increasingly uncertain world of work ahead.”
Michelle R. Weise, author of Long Life Learning: Preparing for Jobs that Don't Even Exist Yet
“Make this book your required reading for 2021. In Making It, author Stephanie Malia Krauss labels the state of today's volatile and unpredictable times as ‘the overwhelm.’ Stephanie frames this century's grand American challenge as ensuring young people – all of them, especially children of color or those living in impoverished homes – gain what they need to thrive, not just survive, as adults. She lays out a reimagined educational path delineated by social and economic justice to enable all young people to navigate toward currency-driven success in life as they acquire competencies, cash, connections, and credentials. Making it defines a social contract to educate all learners well – a contract that's long overdue.”
Pamela Moran, executive director of the Virginia School Consortium for Learning and co-author of Timeless Learning
“If you fear the current education system is outdated, Making It is a must-read to deliberately create mind space to reimagine what is possible. It offers honest insights about future trends and disruptions, including questioning the value of current qualifications like the high school diploma toward meaningful credentials. It asks for revamping graduation requirements and rethinking meaningful credentials on what a valuable high-quality diploma might look like. This requires recognizing, undoing, and correcting the persistent inequities that harm kids in today's traditional education system focused on ranking and sorting kids, as well as stopping damaging privilege hoarding. It challenges adults to do the important work of grappling with uncertainties and turning to science on youth development to provide new opportunities through educational and economic pathways.”
Susan Patrick, CEO of Aurora Institute
“There are deep chasms in the opportunities young people have to accrue the currencies Krauss so clearly describes in Making It. Her book brings the study of youth development into current times. My blended family of three adolescent boys will benefit from me having read this, and my advocacy with state and local policymakers across this country will also surely benefit. This should be required reading for anyone shaping public policy beyond 2020.”
Elizabeth Gaines, founder and director of Children's Funding Project
Making It
What Today's Kids Need for Tomorrow's World
Stephanie Malia Krauss
Copyright © 2021 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by Jossey-Bass
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