Stephanie Malia Krauss - Making It: What Todays Kids Need for Tomorrows World

Krauss offers the roadmap we need to get kids ready for a rapidly changing and challenging world. Her call for every adult and educator to become a currency-builder is one we should take seriously. This is a must-read.

Arne Duncan, managing partner of Emerson Collective and former US Secretary of Education

Smart and insightful! Stephanie Malia Krauss makes a compelling case for the new currencies kids need to thrive in our rapidly changing world.

Cal Newport, New York Times bestselling author of Digital Minimalism and Deep Work

Krauss is an educator who knows that learning is not to be confused with schooling. She demonstrates brilliantly that complex ideas can be communicated clearly, and with some wit. Drawing on her own professional and personal experience, she shows in this lively book that academic qualifications are necessary, but far from sufficient. Being ready to make it' today requires skills and connections acquired far from the classroom. Inequalities in the first two decades of life echo through working lives; making it' has become a near-certainty for children born to affluent, educated, healthy parents but an ever-steeper challenge for those born to poor parents, and those facing the obstacles of anti-Black racism. Krauss wants making it to be a right, rather than a privilege. The hope animating this book is that we can find beauty in the brokenness' of our current moment. Timely, wise, and inspiring.

Richard V. Reeves, Senior Fellow at Brookings Institution, and Author of Dream Hoarders

With her trademark blend of liveliness and concrete, realistic advice, Stephanie Malia Krauss writes about what the future holds for today's kids and what youth workers, families and allies can do to help prepare them. Easy to read, and with ideas you will return to.

Leslie Lapides, senior editor, Youth Today

What will it take for children growing up today to make it in a society that is changing so rapidly? Stephanie Malia Krauss's magnificent book explores this important question and provides creative pathways to ensure a better future for our kids.

John Bridgeland, CEO of Civic and former director of the White House Domestic Policy Council

In Making It, Krauss powerfully equips parents, educators and policymakers to be currency-builders for young people facing tomorrow's ever-changing world. Kids need competencies, connections, credentials, and cash whole-life solutions preparing them for long, livable lives. Krauss writes in a way that is crisp, engaging, and inspiring.

Anne Holton, professor of Education Policy at George Mason University and former Virginia Secretary of Education

This eye-opening and inspirational book shares a treasure trove of creative perspectives that will change the ways we think about quality education. It should be required reading for educators, youth workers, parents, child advocates, and policymakers who want to understand today's kids and implement innovative, practical strategies that prepare all young people to achieve well-being and success in tomorrow's world.

Roger Weissberg, PhD, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Psychology at University of Illinois at Chicago and chief knowledge officer for Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)

Making It is essential reading for anyone who is parenting and supporting young people in 2020 and beyond.

Rhonda Broussard, CEO of Beloved Community

It's clear the old checklist for adulthood doesn't work. Krauss builds a credible case for competencies, credentials, connections, and cash as the new currencies of the innovation economy. Among prescriptions of what learners should know and be able to do, Making It is the first book that takes a whole person approach and deals credibly with the new economic realities and outlines strategies where young people learn into currency-rich environments. The concluding chapter on Becoming a Currency Builder is a must-read for parents, teachers, youth-developers, and civic leaders it's a formula for building just, inclusive, and caring communities.

Tom Vander Ark, CEO of Getting Smart

Anyone who aims to improve the ecosystems of children and youth will not only benefit from but will also enjoy reading Making It. Mayors, superintendents, healthcare providers, out-of-school time providers, community-based organizations, and many other who touch the lives of children will gain an important framing of what it takes for our kids to make it in a rapidly evolving world. Thank you, Stephanie, for writing this readable and accessible book that will help us all serve kids better!

Bridget Rodriguez, managing director of EdRedesign at the Harvard Graduate School of Education

In her new book Making It, Stephanie Malia Krauss delivers a wake-up call about the need to align the core of American education with the everchanging demands of the workplace. She lays out a compelling vision of the currencies that will be essential to adults in coming decades and argues persuasively for a wholesale reimagination of how we educate all students from toddlers through adults seeking to upgrade skills. For a roadmap to a better future, dive into this book!

Ted Dintersmith, founder of The What School Could Be Foundation

Making It is the book that Stephanie Malia Krauss was destined to write. With each page, she lays out a logical and comprehensive roadmap of what all of us need to do to ensure that our children enter a world for which not only they are prepared academically, but a world that reflects improved values, justice and human-centered priorities. Knowing Stephanie and having had the distinct pleasure of working alongside of her in creating better opportunities for Virginia's children, this book does what she does so very well it creates a vision of what could be and designs a process to actually make it happen. We owe it to our children, especially those underserved, to do all in our power to deliver to them a future that is full of promise, wonder and curiosity. Making It does just that. From my vantage point, there is no more time to waste. This book will inspire you to action. It did me.

Steve Constantino, internationally recognized speaker on family and community engagement; executive professor for the School of Education at William and Mary; author of Engage Every Family: Five Simple Principles; and former chief academic officer and acting state superintendent in Virginia

A vision for today's kids, a vision made actionable through science, case examples, personal stories, and inspiration. This is what Stephanie Malia Krauss has achieved in Making It. If you care about humanity, then Making It is for you whether you are a parent, policymaker, voter, educator, or social worker. Our collective future depends on enacting the vision advanced in this book.

Amanda Moore McBride, Morris Endowed Dean and professor of the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver

Making It is an important source for understanding the multiple challenges facing today's children and youth, and how successfully to assure their learning and development. In our rapidly changing world, it provides a framework for building currencies that provide pathways to success of all children in school and life.

Mark Ginsberg, provost and executive vice president of George Mason University, and the former dean of the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University

In a world with so much uncertainty,