student leadership Resources

Designing Student Leadership Programs: Transforming the Leadership Potential of Youth

by Mariam MacGregor (published by Youthleadership.com, 2000)

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Summary:

This is a guidebook/workbook for groups of adults who want to design, modify or evaluate a student leadership program. It is meant to be a sort of notebook for adults to use to gather information--there are many pages included the book for jotting down ideas and notes.

The book begins with a short overview of leadership and leadership education. The author discusses what youth leadership is (both youth theories of leadership and adult theories of leadership), current trends in youth leadership, and various leadership issues particularly relevant to adolescents. The book guides program leaders through the different steps of program development, including assessing objectives, building a foundation, designing a program, selecting curriculum, determining reasonable outcomes, and evaluating outcomes. Also included are helpful lists of ideas, activities, and worksheets that have been tested in different youth leadership programs.  The book ends with a listing of additional books, organizations, websites, conferences, and professional development opportunities that will be of interest to practitioners involved in youth leadership programs.

Why  does FASTEN recommend this resource?

This guide book is practical, easy to use, and would be helpful with many different kinds of approaches to youth leadership--it is not geared towards building one certain type of program.  It is also ideal for the programs at different stages (design phase, growth phase, evaluation phase). This is also a good resource for anyone wanting to understand more about youth leadership--what kinds of attitudes, skills, and perspectives are unique to youth. The suggested activities, resource lists, and checklist of components of successful programs is valuable for both veteran and new practitioners.