As an independent journalist and documentarian, I collaborate with diverse youth around the U.S. and abroad, bringing their voices to bear on the complex challenges that affect their lives and learning. Most of my time goes to What Kids Can Do (WKCD), the nonprofit I co-founded with Barbara Cervone in 2001, but I also
regularly speak, consult, and write for organizations around the country.

As a speaker and presenter, I work with educational institutions to connect the direct input of youth with promising practices in secondary schools and colleges.

As a writer and publishing consultant, I produce print and mixed-media materials for those seeking fresh and accessible ways to make their work widely available.

Starting as a printer’s devil in my high school years, over four decades I’ve
worn every hat in publishing: writer, editor, and publisher for newspapers, magazines, and books in many fields.

Reporting on national high school change from 1988 to 2001 gave me a solid grasp of
educational issues and an active network of people in the forefront of that field. Teaching first-year writing at Harvard trained me to coach young people to think deeply and to free up and discipline their
voices. Helping to start a progressive public secondary school in Massachusetts in 1995 gave me hands-on experience in setting the bar high for all students.

In recent years, for WKCD, I have traveled the U.S. and abroad collecting the voices of youth, then bringing their words into print and mixed-media forms. Grounded in the rough and subtle realities of adolescence, these voices cut close to the bone — illuminating “best practices” in education, and revealing the fault lines that divide students along lines of class, color, and money.

I aim to bring young people’s vivid experiences and insights to an even wider audience, by speaking, writing, and collaborating with you who share a commitment to equity, opportunity, and powerful learning for all.

My subjects recently:college access and success for first-generation and low-income students; student engagement in middle and high school; adolescent literacy and youth publishing projects; documenting change and transformation in schools and colleges.

Find out more at: http://www.whatkidscando.org
http://www.kathleencushman.com
http://www.nextgenerationpress.org