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This chapter focuses on the classroom context as a primary setting for positive youth development. It highlights the theory and evaluations of two programs that aim to promote caring classroom communities and positive youth development through a focus on teachers' professional development and the implementation of a social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum. It begins with a discussion of the programs' theory of change, which emphasizes the role of teachers' own SEL skills and everyday interactions with colleagues and students in promoting a positive and effective classroom climate and, ultimately, positive youth development. This discussion is followed by a description of a theory of the classroom setting as a dynamic system of four interconnected elements related to positive youth development. Each of these domains is reviewed including its research base, examples of intervention activities, and assessment tools used in the research.

This chapter focuses on the positive effects of educational media—media designed to support youth's development. Today, there are more platforms for educational media content than ever before. And while researchers have long identified the effectiveness of educational television, the potential for other educational platforms is still being understood. The chapter begins with a brief account of the history of educational media, along with statistics on the use of educational media in the family. It then discusses several effects of educational media content. For example, does educational content stimulate academic skills, such as literacy and numeracy? Can it facilitate social-emotional learning by promoting characteristics such as empathy, willingness to share, and self-regulation? And can it help children be more imaginative and creative? The chapter concludes with a discussion of future directions for the field of educational media.

Students with specific learning disorder (SLD) account for 35% of all students receiving special education services. In the DSM-5, SLD combines four previous diagnoses into one. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) agree that children should be excluded from being diagnosed if the disorder is primarily due to environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage. They differ on the DSM-5’s exclusion for the lack of proficiency in the language of instruction. Schools can screen for SLD using the testing or the dual-discrepancy model of response to intervention (RTI). Assessment requires a comprehensive evaluation by the school. Students with SLD often suffer from poor social skills and low self-esteem. Intervention may be titrated according to the student’s level of need using multitiered systems of support. Collaborating with teachers, parents, and community providers is especially important for these students. A case example illustrates how an ecological approach can help students grow and learn.

This chapter offers a case study of sociopolitical development for two young people, Gabriela and Luis, who experienced marginalization linked to their class, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds; this marginalization became most conspicuous in displays of anti-immigrant sentiment on Cinco de Mayo. It describes details a Critical Civic Inquiry project developed by students to raise awareness about racism and xenophobia at their school. It shows what practices of critique and collective agency looked like as they unfolded in the course project and how Gabriela and Luis made meaning of their experiences. Experiences like these should be more common for all young people, but particularly for those struggling with a social order that tracks and excludes them in ways that go unrecognized. Sociopolitical development, in this account, extends, but does not replace widely accepted practices of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and positive youth development (PYD).

The epilogue addresses the observations of the editors and authors of this volume regarding their observations of the pedagogical shifts needed to address music teaching and learning during a global pandemic such as the one unleashed by Covid-19. When a great deal of musicking, teaching, and learning needed to happen remotely, having access to technology and understanding how to employ it for supporting creative and collaborative music making and remote instruction was of paramount importance for many music teachers and musicians. Yet for too many students and school districts around the globe, the digital divide heightened the lack of educational equity in countless communities. While many districts merely focused on content delivery though whatever digital or non-digital means were available, the authors noted the crucial role that a focus on social-emotional learning plays in the lives of our students, with a particular emphasis on how music and the arts can support our emotional health and sense of connection.

This chapter explains foundations underpinning assessment in ensembles. Music educators need information about what their students know and are able to do in order to do their best teaching. However, such information is hard to obtain using traditional ensemble methods. Individual classroom assessment yields more information about student performance than standardized testing or regular rehearsals. Concepts such as metacognition, the Zone of Proximal Development, self-efficacy, social-emotional learning, and growth mindset can be productively incorporated into the design and use of assessments. Assessment alters the curriculum as tested topics are emphasized, and runs the risk of reductionism. Still, classroom assessment has untapped power to transform ensemble music education.

We believe in community by design. Yes, community can be formed organically and through serendipity, but we believe that a thriving, vibrant community that is as complex and global as Minerva’s — spanning seven cities and with students from scores of countries around the world — cannot be sustained without intention and effort. In this chapter, we summarize the steps we took to build a global community at Minerva, from the formation of a set of community values to the structures we created to promote community (at individual, micro-community, and macro-community levels) to the programs we designed to sustain and build community for Minervans for generations to come.

This chapter reviews Chapters 11–13. Each chapter offers possible solutions for bridging the apparent gap between college and workforce readiness while inherently highlighting ways in which these two readiness domains are analogous. Across the chapters, an integrative framework for studying noncognitive skills across putative domains remains elusive, although it is possible. The authors also discuss various approaches to the measurement of noncognitive skills and both practical and policy implications. This chapter focuses on next steps that can be taken in an effort to resolve issues surrounding measurement and the organizational framework. It also advocates for social–emotional learning programs at the primary, secondary, and tertiary education levels to foster these skills. Juxtaposed, these chapters elucidate the current state of college and workforce readiness, potential pathways through which measurement of necessary skills can be improved, and a compelling means by which to bridge the gap between college and workforce readiness.

This chapter addresses assessment of students as musical learners, rather than merely as performers. Ensemble music teachers often conceive of each class as a rehearsal, the focus of which is to improve the group’s performance of concert repertoire. The assumption is that individual skills will inherently improve in this paradigm, but too often the resulting individual skills are uneven or lacking. Individual instruction and assessment of musical foundations is a path to better ensembles. Students can build musical independence through deepening their knowledge base and assisting with interpretation. Improving their ability to critique musical performances facilitates other self and peer assessment activities. Assessment of knowledge, reasoning, creative products, and dispositions facilitates transfer and students’ ability to understand what they are performing and why they are performing it.