News Releases

August 9, 2010 Klobuchar, Franken, Ellison Announce St. Louis Park School Program’s Selection For National Implementation

WASHINGTON, D.C. [08/05/10] – Today, U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) announced that the Department of Education (ED) has awarded $4,999,711 to the Minnesota based Search Institute to expand an innovative St. Louis Park High School academic program. Sens. Klobuchar and Franken and Rep. Ellison all wrote letters to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan strongly supporting the Search Institute’s application for the ED’s Investing in Innovation (i3) fund. With intentionality on high-need students, student achievement,and student growth, BARR is a promising strategy with a focus on the first-year of high school.The goal of BARR is to increase student achievement for all first year high school students using the Developmental Assets framework and improving school climate as the means for these changes.As part of Search Institute’s greater plan to expand the program, Search Institute has also partnered with the highly recognized program, Admission Possible. Read the full media alert.

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June 17, 2010 Father’s Day Is Not Just about Sports, Yard Work, and Grilling!

ParentFurther and Search Institute celebrate dads, grandpas, and other positive role models with creative activities and supportive suggestions to strengthen relationships.

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May 18, 2010

Search Institute Partners with Target to Promote Summer Learning

Target recently launched a Facebook-based campaign—based on Search Institute research—to promote summer learning. Each week, new summer learning tips for parents will be posted on the Target Facebook page.

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Go to Target’s Play + Learn Facebook page

May 4, 2010

Search Institute to Receive National Award

The Association of Children’s Museums will present its Great Friend to Kids Award to Search Institute on Saturday, May 8. Past winners of this award include Fred Rogers, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Barbara Bush, UNICEF, and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

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April 30, 2010

Peter Benson to Speak at TEDxTC Conference

Dr. Benson will be presenting a call to action for improved support for young people at this year’s TEDxTC conference in St. Paul.

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April 14, 2010

ParentFurther Offers Resources for Families during Financial Literacy Month

It’s tough for parents to talk to their kids about money—in fact, it’s often more uncomfortable than talking about sex. But ParentFurther, Search Institute’s parenting resource, offers valuable information and advice to help parents talk to their kids about this difficult issue.

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Visit the Kids and Money section of ParentFurther

March 31, 2010

Search Institute Launches a New Parenting Web Site

ParentFurther is a new online resource for families that offers parents the step-by-step guidance and tips they need to raise successful kids. Instead of focusing on what is wrong with our kids, ParentFurther provides positive, strength-based parenting advice that highlights what is right with kids and parents. With topics about young children as well as older teens, ParentFurther provides interactive content in the areas that matter most to families.

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November 16, 2009

Peter Benson to Discuss Minnesota Dropout Epidemic at Two-Day Graduation Summit

Peter Benson, president of Search Institute, will attend the Minnesota Alliance with Youth’s two-day Minnesota Dropout Summit to address increasing dropout rates in Minnesota. The summit will start tomorrow, November 17, 2009.

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October 14, 2009

Nathan Eklund to Present at Education Minnesota Conference

Nathan Eklund, Senior Education Consultant at Search Institute, will be discussing his book, How Was Your Day at School?, and teacher job satisfaction and retention at this year’s Education Minnesota Conference.

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October 5, 2009

Special Discount on Conference Registration for Ohio Educators

Ohio educators will receive a special discount at this year’s Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth conference!

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September 29, 2009

National Youth Development Conference Coming to Cincinnati in November

Search Institute’s Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth conference will be held in Cincinnati this November. The conference is a gathering of positive youth development leaders and enthusiasts from around the country and the world.

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Learn more about the conference

September 2, 2009

Peter Benson to Announce New Bill for Positive Youth Development with Senator Amy Klobuchar

The Student Attendance Success Act is legislation being proposed by Senator Klobuchar that will identify factors in middle-school students that lead to later truancy in school in an attempt to reduce truancy in older students.

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September 1, 2009

Peter Benson to Join His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, at National Conference

Dr. Benson will be taking part in the Mind and Life Educating World Citizens for the 21st Century conference on October 8-9, 2009.

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June 22, 2009

Peter Benson to Join His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, at International Conference

Dr. Benson will be a panelist at the Mind and Life Educating World Citizens for the 21st Century conference this October.

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June 11, 20009

Interview Opportunity: Teen Voice 2009 Study Results Released

A new national study exploring the importance of teen motivation and engagement in civic life finds that only 7 percent of 15-year-olds in the U.S. experience a strong combination of three key factors critical to their success, according to research conducted by Search Institute.

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June 8, 2009

Only Seven Percent of Teens Have All Three Life Experiences Key to Their Futures

Search Insitute and the Best Buy Children’s Foundation have released the findings from the Teen Voice 2009 study. The study looked at three factors in teens—“sparks,” “teen voice,” and “relationships and opportunities”—and how prevalent they are in America’s teens.

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Learn more about the @15 project and Teen Voice 2009

November 5, 2008

Youth Around the World See Spirituality as Important, Want to Talk About It

A two-year global research project reveals that today’s youth view spirituality as an important part of their lives, though most rarely talk to others about it. Respondents to the far-reaching study, led by Search Institute’s Center for Spiritual Development, included young people from a wide range of cultural and religious backgrounds, spanning 17 countries and six continents.
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Download the study and other information

October 15, 2008

Search Institute’s Center for Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence to Present First Public Release on How Youth View Spiritual Development

On November 5 at a pre-conference event leading into the 12th Annual Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth Conference, the CSD will release the results of a three-year global research project, revealing how today’s youth understand and experience spiritual development in their everyday lives.

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September 30, 2008

SPARKS: How Parents Can Help Ignite the Hidden Strengths of Teenagers by Peter Benson, Ph.D., President and CEO of Search Institute® and a leading authority on childhood and adolescence, describes a simple yet powerful plan for awakening the spark that lives inside each and every young person.

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September 10, 2008

Search Institute®, a national leader in discovering what kids need to succeed, hosts its 12th annual Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth® Conference November 6-8 on the theme Igniting Sparks: Connect to Hope. Conference assemblies, learning sessions, hot topics, and pre-conference seminars will provide learning opportunities for every community and education sector.

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Visit the conference website

June 14, 2008

Stay Close—Search Institute Book Offers Creative Solutions for Nurturing Long-Distance Relationships between Adults and the Children They Love

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June 01, 2008

The 40 Developmental Assets are the subject of a feature article, Making a Difference Using Developmental Assets, in the June 2008 issue of VOYA. VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates) is a bimonthly journal addressing librarians, educators, and other professionals who work with young adults. The only magazine devoted exclusively to the informational needs of teenagers, it was founded in 1978 by librarians and renowned intellectual freedom advocates Dorothy M. Broderick and Mary K. Chelton to identify the social myths that keep us from serving young people and replace them with knowledge.

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May 01, 2008

Parenting Preteens with a Purpose Friday, May 2, 2008. The article in Gina Chen’s Family Life Notebook column provided information about author Kate Thomsen’s book signing 7 p.m. Thursday, May 8, at Barnes & Noble in DeWitt, NY, and included a quote from the author. The article can be read here.

May 07, 2008

Kate Thomsen, M.S., author of Parenting Preteens with a Purpose (Search Institute Press, 9781574821994) will appear on Bridge Street, a local Syracuse, NY, program on ABC affiliate, WSYR Channel 9. Thomsen will be interviewed about her book on May 7.

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March 13, 2008

New Book from Search Institute Addresses Teacher Job Satisfaction

How Was Your Day at School? cordially challenges teachers and administrators to increase job satisfaction and improve school climate for educators as well as students. Founded on the strength-based approach of 40 Developmental Assets, this book reveals the tools needed to retain the teachers who are so critical to student achievement.

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Learn more or buy the book

March 13, 2008

Interview Opportunity: How Was Your Day at School? Release

New book from Search Institute senior education consultant to discuss the challenges that teachers and administrators face in increasing job satisfaction and teacher retention.

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