Developing the next generation of "experts"

I recently began reading a book called Fires in the Mind. Kathleen Cushman, the author, posed this question to a diverse group of young people: “What does it take for young people to get really good at something?” What does it take for young people to become experts in some area of life?
New evidence is emerging which seems to indicate that while talent is important, opportunity and practice have far more to do with performing at a high level than having a natural skill. And the young people interviewed for this book point out another critical factor to success: relationships. Even when young people have the chance to participate in new activities and the opportunity to practice those activities over and over, what really kept them striving for excellence was the encouragement of caring adults who helped them overcome the barriers, failures, and disappointments that come along in the process of developing expertise.
What hit me as I was reading the book is that those ingredients for doing well—opportunity, practice, and relationships—are precisely the ingredients of a high quality youth development program. Youth programs are a place where young people are exposed to new experiences; are given the opportunity to take on new challenges and risks in a supportive environment; and are surrounded by caring adults who encourage and believe in them. Establishing such an environment should be what every youth development program in our community strives to do.
MCCOY is working hard to help youth agencies increase the quality of their programs by bringing the Youth Program Quality Assessment/Improvement process to our community. The YPQA/I process gives agencies a tool both to measure the quality of their program offerings and guidance on how to increase that quality over time by building on the strengths that the assessment process discovers. Our Youth Worker Learning Network offers training and networking opportunities on a monthly basis to help individual workers build on the passion they bring to serving youth by increasing their knowledge, skills, and competencies. Visit our website at www.mccoyouth.org for more details on both these initiatives.
Young people in our community deserve the highest quality programs staffed by the most well-trained youth development professionals. If we all work together to bring that about, we won’t have any shortage of experts in the future.