Whole Learners has been part of two research studies involving 8 school districts, and over a 100 educators. Evaluation of our program has shown that Whole Learners support schools and educators in creating:
  • Stronger learning communities
  • Stronger teacher-student and student-student relationships
  • Improved capacities for building relationships with students
  • Increased skill in providing engaging instruction
  • Enhanced focus on engaging the most disengaged learners​
  • ​Increased professional support from administrators
  • Students classified as "engaged" maintained high and fairly steady levels of engagement when research shows that is expected to declined
  • Students classified as "disengaged" became significantly more engaged during the school year​
At schools where Whole Learners© was provided, observable elements of the classroom environment and instruction (measured by Danielson’s Framework for Teaching) improved over the school year, compared to trajectories of educators who were not given these extra supports.

Adolescent Connectedness Research

Our team and colleagues from the Healthy Youth Development - Prevention Research Center are committed to improving the lives of adolescents. We develop public solutions that promote adolescent health through training, research and community engagement. Read more about our work and the latest research on this topic:
  • Associations between dimensions of school engagement and bullying victimization and perpetration among middle school students. Forster M, Gower A, Gloppen K, Sieving RE, Oliphant J, Plowman S, Gadea A, & McMorris BJ. (in press, OCT 2019).  School Mental Health.
  • Youth-Adult Connectedness: A Key Protective Factor for Adolescent Health. This article summarizes the work or our UMN Healthy Youth Development Prevention Center highlighting the importance of youth-adult connection in promoting well-being and protecting against harm in both vulnerable groups and general population of youth.
  • Requirements for healthy development of adolescent youth. In 1973, Gisela Konopka transformed the way adolescence was defined. She created the foundation for positive youth development field and challenged how systems saw and treated youth. 
  • Positive Youth Development and Restorative Practices. This article describes how the positive youth development framework can be applied and how much complements the restorative justice approaches. 
  • CDC study published in Pediatrics suggests that youth who feel connected at home and at school were less likely to experience health risk behaviors related to mental health, violence, sexual health, and substance use in adulthood.
  • Schools, parents, and healthcare providers have a major role in ensuring that adolescents feel engaged and connected. Concrete actions schools and parents can take, as well as resources, are available on the CDC's new adolescent connectedness webpage.
  • The Promise of Adolescence: Realizing Opportunity for All Youth, the second in a series of consensus reports from the National Academy of Medicine's Culture of Health Program, is now available as a free PDF download.