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Flourishing, Future-Ready Youth

Finding balance and belonging

in a tech-filled world.

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Trends in Performance Over Time in Science, Reading and Math (OECD Nations)

Figure. PISA score declines in science, reading, and math (OECD nations; 2000-2025). Source: OECD Insights and Interpretations (p.11)

The latest results from PISA, the triennial international assessment of 15-year-olds that came out last week, found the lowest average performance ever recorded across OECD countries in reading, mathematics and science.

Across many countries, educational performance began deteriorating during the mid-2010s and continued downward across successive testing cycles.
What are students struggling with? Reading performance has fallen the most, especially on questions involving longer texts
How are students feeling about learning? Findings from PISA 2025 show that students have less curiosity to learn new things and less willingness to put in extra effort when school work becomes challenging than their peers in 2022. Even students’ engagement with the testing experience has suffered: the number of students who rush through by giving quick incorrect answers almost doubled between 2018 and 2025.1
The OECD is the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development — a global forum of 39 countries that works on economic, social, and educational policy — and the PISA test is the OECD’s triennial international survey measuring how well 15‑year‑olds in over 80 countries apply reading, mathematics, and science skills to real‑world problems

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“Ingredients” to Flourishing?

Share a recent time when you felt happy, full of energy and alive.

Who were you with?
What were you doing?
What made it so special?

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Soft Skills

“In a world where work is shaped by machines, what human skills are needed most?”

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Discussion

How has childhood changed?

What important developmental experiences are kids missing out on?

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Changing Societal Habits

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How to make friends? Ask Google.

Bloomberg, May 2023

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June ‘24 Leadership Breakfast
6+ Focus groups
550 parents surveyed
25 teens interviewed 211 peers, parents and leaders
Thriving Together Summit

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“Ingredients” for Flourishing

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What does the research say?

“Having owned a smartphone before age 13 is associated with a profound shift in mind health and wellbeing in early adulthood.”

Age of social media access… 40% of the association
Family relationships…13%
Disrupted sleep..12%

Sapien Labs Global Mind Project

Largest global study of mental wellbeing.

Journal of Pediatrics

UPenn: Preteens who own smartphones are likelier to have depression, obesity and insufficient sleep than their peers, according to a new University of Pennsylvania-led study.

Why it matters: Roughly half of American kids now own a smartphone by the time they turn 11.

• Pediatric health groups have recommended appropriate screen time for youths, but there are no public health guidelines on the appropriate age for kids to first get a smartphone, the study says.

What they found: Kids who owned a smartphone at age 12 were found to have about 31% higher odds of depression, 40% higher odds of obesity and 62% higher odds of insufficient sleep than their peers who didn't have one.

• The researchers analyzed data from the NIH-supported Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study assessments conducted between 2016 and 2022. The study included responses from 10,588 youths.

• Kids who had smartphones were more likely to be female, Black or Hispanic, and from lower-income households.

• The findings will be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Pediatrics.

greater the risk of developing the problems increased – by about 10% for each year earlier in age, starting as young as age 4 – compared to kids who received a device later or not at all.

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Recommendation:

Flourishing, Future-Ready Youth

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Flourishing and Future-Ready

How can we prioritize connection and health habits?

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Thank you.

Thank you all for sharing as we continue to think about flourishing future ready youth and what is needed we are going to do an exercise. In a minute I am going to break the room into three groups each on of the groups will go to one of the stations where you will answer three questions individually and discuss the answers as a group. You will have 8 minutes per question: please write your answers on sticky notes at each station and place them on the large piece of paper or write your answers/notes with marker on the paper. Group 1 (January- April) Group 2 (May-August) Group 3 (Sept-Dec) Each group will be asked to share a summary of each question when the time is up.

World Cafe Exercise (Sets of 2 tables - 8 min each):

What skills or competencies do youth need to flourish and be future ready?
What times and spaces should be distraction-free to prioritize connection and healthy habits?

At Home
At School

Are there areas where “less tech” might actually promote better learning?

Large Group summarize/share out

Now that we have discussed what is needed to be flourishing and future ready- do you feel like this is the right vision for what success looks like?