Making It: What Today's Kids Need for Tomorrow's World

by Stephanie Malia Krauss

Discover how to help young people "make it" in a rapidly changing world Author Stephanie Malia Krauss gets it. Every day she works with leaders across the country as they upgrade learning experiences to better equip young people for a changing world. A mother, former teacher and school leader, Stephanie knows firsthand how hard it is to balance school and program requirements with young people's needs. In Making What Today's Kids Need for Tomorrow's World , she lays out what adults can do to get young people ready for the future. What you learn may surprise you. With so much changing so fast—accelerated by the impacts of COVID-19—the most in-demand jobs and skills of today may be obsolete by the time our youngest become adults. For kids to be ready for this new reality, they must acquire four critical "currencies" that will serve them well, whatever their future credentials, competencies, connections, and cash. This book focuses on how to prioritize these four key outcomes whenever and wherever learning happens. The author shares research and experience to help you understand and apply a human-centered and future-focused lens directly to your classroom, school, program, or at home. This book will benefit teachers, counselors, youth workers, parents, school board members, and state education leaders alike. Whether you work in K-12, youth development, or you just want to know how to best support the kids in your life, you will find a timely and useful resource putting young people first and modernizing their learning experiences for the better.

Genres: Nonfiction, Education, Parenting

191 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 10, 2021

About the author

Stephanie Malia Krauss is a mom, educator, and social worker. Eight years ago, she left her work in schools because she knew that helping students earn a high school diploma was not the same as getting them ready for adulthood. Since then, she has been on a mission to figure out what kids really need to survive and thrive in these uncharted times and our rapidly changing world.

Stephanie writes about parenting and education for Scary Mommy, Youth Today, Medium, and more. She is the author of Making It: What Today's Kids Need for Tomorrow's World, the owner of First Quarter Strategies, a senior advisor to Jobs for the Future, and a consultant for the Youth Transition Funders Group. You can learn more about Stephanie at www.stephaniemaliakrauss.com and find her on Twitter @stephanie_malia.

Reviews

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned so much on the forecasting of tech and workforce, and really appreciated the balance between the urgency to be bold and future-focused while also practical in what we can do/improve today. It was so well researched and scientific while being readable for so many audiences. Thank you for writing it and using your full self as a storyteller.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a teacher and a mom I am always looking for more tools for my tool box. My coworkers and mom friends all enjoyed the tidbits that I shared with them from this read. I can’t wait from another book from this author.

[Anna (bibliophiles_bookstagram) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The world is changing. So should Education. And this is not specific to schools—it carries over into communities and the necessary home-school-community partnerships necessary to best provide for all our kids.

[Larkin Tackett · Rating 4 out of 5]

The traditional three Rs of education (Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic) are necessary but insufficient to prepare students for the future, especially in the much more dynamic and shifting economy of the 21st century. I learned about this book through a project about improving postsecondary education. The author is a lifelong educator and TFA alumnus. This simple framework should be use to help shape a refreshed curriculum to prepare students that builds on the three Rs and adds other key "currencies." They are:

"$ Continuously develop the competencies you need.
$ Pursue the credentials that prove to employers what you can do.
$ Form and nurture the connections to make it and move around.
$ Have enough cash to get by, get ahead, and smooth out.
$ Develop collective identity, especially for BIPOC and other marginalized people to critically analyze why they have been denied historically, and why the systems charge with their success are still operating under rules that were designed for their failure."

[Lisa Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and thought-provoking. Krauss guides parents through an overview of the forces that are profoundly reshaping our kids' worlds, distilling concepts like what it means to live in an "open source society" (and providing concrete, relevant examples), and providing a roadmap for helping our kids develop the core competencies and interpersonal skills they'll need in order to thrive. As she so aptly notes, "We must expand our visions . . . beyond college- and career-readiness and set a new bar . . . we are preparing young people to keep living, learning and working across many years of opportunity and hardship, significant change and innovation." As parents, we want our kids to flourish -- this book is an inspirational and practical guidebook to keep close at hand during the journey.

[Becky Klein-Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book that makes a strong case for a new way of thinking for preparing kids for the world they will face. The data backing the main arguments are convincing, but the personal stories and reflections make it come alive for the reader. The author also has really helpful and practical tips for practitioners and policy makers. A must read for educators!

[John Klein-Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading through the lens of a middle school teacher during a period in which a hollow call to "reinvent education" has been repeated about without much change, Krauss's book is an evidence-based call to create a more cohesive link between education and the demands children will certainly encounter in the work world. Making It is a must read for anyone who works in education.

[Nita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting thoughts on how kids should prepare for their futures in our modern world. According to the author the traditional method of college to company to retirement doesn't apply anymore. There were some good suggestions on how our education system could be revamped to better align with our rapidly changing society as well.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a lot of professional books, and have for decades. It's rare that I find a professional book that earns the distinction of "riveting" but Making It immediately startled me into full, laser-focused attention with the statement that "the recession-resilient high school graduating class of 2020... entered kindergarten during the Great Recession and graduate high school during COVID-19."

Characterizing today's kids as not only digital natives but as "disruption natives," Stephanie Malia Krauss presents the most timely, up-to-date, and readable overview of the current and near-future context in which our children are growing up I've read since we entered the twenty first century over two decades ago.

Bringing deep expertise in youth development together with her personal and professional experiences in education and parenting, Krauss serves up an eminently readable synthesis of research in learning sciences, workforce development, and economic well-being. She carries forward extensive work from her involvement in The Forum for Youth Investment the Ready By Design project, presenting and elaborating on four "currencies" today's kids will "need to amass... to afford the economic opportunities needed to make it into and through adulthood": Competencies, Connections, Credentials, and Cash.

Focused on the equity goal of readiness as a right, Krauss is practical throughout, sharing clear, actionable steps to developing the components of each currency, and concluding with five actionable characteristics to becoming a "currency-builder" for "livable lives."

Making It is a book that makes me wish I had the resources to buy copies to distribute to every parent, educator, after school provider, and youth specialist I know.

[Pamela McVeagh-Lally · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading for anyone working with or responsible for shaping the experiences of children and young people. An engaging, thoughtful and deeply human look at what is in front of us now and ahead of us soon as we raise and educate the next generation.

[Lucretia Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an easy read about a very important topic. It informed my thinking as an educator, parent and citizen interested in our two greatest gifts - children and a future. We can make it better for both. This book offers clear guidance to get to a better future for our children.

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks for writing this important book