Belonging and Becoming

Barbara Cervone, EdD (HUGSE), is founder and president of What Kids Can Do, Inc., an international nonprofit organization that promotes the value of young people tackling projects that combine powerful learning with public purpose. From 1994 to 2001 she directed Walter H. Annenberg’s “Challenge to the Nation,” then the largest private investment in public education in the nation’s history. In 2008 Dr. Cervone was awarded the Purpose Prize. Her many publications include “Powerful Learning with Public Purpose,” in New Directions for Youth Development (Jossey-Bass, 2010); In Our Village, a book series documenting youth perspectives in international settings (Next Generation Press); and the first chapter, “Learning from the Leaders: Core Practices of Six Schools,” in Anytime, Anywhere: Student-Centered Learning for Schools and Teachers (Harvard Education Press, 2013).

Kathleen Cushman is an educator and writer who has specialized in the lives and learning of youth for twenty-five years. From 1989 to 2001 she documented theory and practice in schools nationwide for the Coalition of Essential Schools and the Annenberg Challenge, publishing many books, including Schooling and the Real World (Jossey-Bass, 1999) and The Collected Horace (Coalition of Essential Schools, 2001). In 2001 Cushman cofounded What Kids Can Do, Inc., with Barbara Cervone. Her work there has resulted in ten books, including the best-selling Fires in the Bathroom series (New Press, 2003, 2006), Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery (Jossey-Bass, 2010), and The Motivation Equation (Next Generation Press, 2013). Her articles regularly appear in Educational Leadership, Phi Delta Kappan, and other periodicals and blogs for educators.