By Dr. Kent Pekel, President & CEO of Search Institute The 2013-14 school year is well underway, and teachers across America are engaged in writing report cards to document their students’ progress. By June, our nation’s elementary and secondary schools will have cumulatively issued more than 100 million of those report cards, each of which […]

Over the years, Search Institute has sold more than six million copies of 150 Ways to Show Kids You Care, a simple yet powerful poster. Like all of Search Institute’s work, the poster translates scientific research into simple, actionable ways that adults can make a positive difference in young people’s lives.  A Search Institute team […]

A big emphasis is placed on a child’s intelligence. Despite our interest in how “smart” a child might be, we also know that intelligence does not always ensure success in school and life. Numerous personal, social, family, and economic factors contribute to how well a child does over the span of a lifetime. French psychologist […]

By: Becky Post A friend of mine had taught kindergarten for years. I remember her talking about the parents of one particularly disruptive little boy. At a parent conference, the parents were barely concerned with their son’s behavior. To this teacher’s dismay, what really concerned these parents was, Is my child smart? These particular parents […]

By: Kent Pekel In the days since the verdict in the Trayvon Martin trial and especially following President Obama’s slow and deliberate description of how the most powerful man in the world was once followed in stores and heard car locks clicking as he walked across streets because of his race, I have thought often […]

Using a passage from the children’s book The Velveteen Rabbit to illustrate the idea, Dr. Kent Pekel tells the annual meeting of Camp Fire Minnesota why developmental relationships are the missing piece in education reform and young people’s success.   On Monday, May 20th, Camp Fire held their 2013 Annual Meeting at Microsoft Corporation in […]