Running head: REFLECTION PAPER

Reflection Paper: Positive Youth Development and The Virtuosos

Caitlin A. Leffingwell
Eastern University

REFLECTION PAPER: POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

Reflection Paper: Positive Youth Development and The Virtuosos

For generations, the North End of Hartford has been seen in a negative light by both
outsiders and insiders alike. Outsiders shun the area due to strong perceptions of gang violence
and drug use, while insiders speak out against struggling schools, inaccessible resources, and
inescapable poverty. Even attempts to revitalize this area have often been poisoned by greed and
amounted only in a growing collection of false promises. Moreover, such disenchanting
challenges are epitomized for children and families at a local community school simply called
Milner, which serves prekindergarten through eighth grade students from the surrounding
neighborhoods. As one of the lowest performing schools in Hartford, it has become known for all
forms of violence, scandal, and instabilitychanging names, staff, and school models almost
annually. About 95% of its students are considered to be in poverty, while 1 in 4 is not fluent in
English (Frahm, 2013). Many students express the seemingly unviable desire to get out due to
the countless issues associated with the areaa sentiment often encouraged and seconded by
staff and local residents. Such societal immobility prevents many students at Milner from
developing a positive sense of personal and community value, which then perpetuates many of
the problems that create this negative perception.
Despite the appearance of this desperate picture, however, these challenges merely create
the backdrop to a hopeful drama unfolding with community members at center stage.
Envisioning the North End as a place known for its strong families, cultural vibrancy, and
valuable resources, a growing group of diverse individuals and organizations works tirelessly to
secure the best quality of life possible for those in the Milner community by strengthening and
utilizing the abundant community assets already found there. This effort includes a small afterschool violin program called The Virtuososan organization committed to helping students

REFLECTION PAPER: POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

develop a sense of personal and community value through music instruction and character
development. Launched with this mission in 2012, the program has steadily grown to offer artsintegrated training to more than 100 students in the past 3 years; through quality violin
instruction, students develop not only musical skills but also a myriad of life skills that ultimately
translate to personal and community hope. Seeing this positive impact on students and their
families has inspired The Virtuosos to begin expanding into a full school-day strings program
that offers more individualized instruction to a greater number of students. To do so effectively,
however, first requires an examination of core strategies, effective practices, and areas in need of
improvement. This report will analyze each of these areas guided by a variety of resources and
will conclude with a summary of how these results may impact the future direction of this
program.
Core Strategies
While the primary goal of The Virtuosos is to help students develop a sense of
constructive personal and community value, its primary strategy is the Performing Arts, or, more
specifically, violin instruction. As described by the Routes to Excellence: Eight Core Program
Strategies for Youth, this strategy aims to incorporate many elements of effective arts-integrated
practice (2011). First and foremost, the main teaching artist and program manager purposefully
sets high expectations for students in terms of both musical excellence and character; the name
Virtuosos even stems from this emphasis on developing both skill and virtue. Similarly,
highlighting hard work and commitment over ability and competition helps students feel more
comfortable taking positive risks and challenging their limits of achievement, both personal and
artistic (Routes to Excellence, 2011, p.5). As discussed in greater detail below, this core strategy
also entails offering leadership opportunities, providing a safe and supportive environment, and

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providing youth with opportunities to showcase their work (Routes to Excellence, 2011, p.5). In
these ways and more, it guides the program through short-term, intermediate, and long-term
outcomes that range from improved academic achievement to greater self-confidenceall during
the process of increasing musical ability.
In addition to this Performing Arts strategy, The Virtuosos also employs a complementary
Life Skills strategy that greatly impacts students despite its more covert appearance. Explicitly
teaching violin skills simultaneously incorporates disguised learning that targets other skills
related to the specific challenges faced by this student population. For instance, learning violin
technique through games and drills helps students develop the self-control needed to thrive in a
community culture otherwise marked by quick retaliation and perpetual trauma. Through
ensemble experience, students also learn both collaboration and leadership skills that prepare
them for strong roles in their own community and beyond. Even the very act of tackling a new
musical piece gives children who struggle with hereditary hopelessness a chance to practice
perseverance and experience success. As The Virtuosos aims to see Milner students demonstrate
these and a plethora of other important life skills, its intended outcomes clearly reflect the
balance between this pivotal Life Skills strategy and its primary Performing Arts strategy.
Elements of Effective Practice
Based on the features of positive developmental settings compiled by Community
Programs to Promote Youth Development (2002), The Virtuosos demonstrates four notable
elements of effective practice: opportunities for skill building, supportive relationships,
opportunities to belong, and physical and psychological safety. These elements stem from the
aforementioned strategies and lead to a wide variety of positive outcomes for studentscreating
motivation to hone these practices even more.

REFLECTION PAPER: POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

Opportunities for Skill Building

Directly related to The Virtuosos Life Skills strategy, one of its most effective elements
of practice is providing students with opportunities to build skills of all kinds. As mentioned
briefly above, the performing arts content is designed to attract adolescents to the program,
while the curriculumfocus[es] more on developmental skills (Community Programs, 2002,
p.135). For this reason, most students are primarily aware of the musical skills involved, which
range from basic violin technique to composition, ensemble performance to improvisation. Some
of the academic skills are more evident as well, although reading, writing, and math are still
incorporated into worksheets and games about composers, genres, sheet music, and many other
musical topics. Disguised even more within these activities is a host of incredibly important
cognitive, physical, psychological, social, and cultural skills that the curriculum targets based
on what will best help students acquire knowledge and learn both new skills and new habits of
mind (Community Programs, 2002, p.106). These skills include self-control, focus,
communication, emotion regulation, resilience, leadership, and creativity. All are intentionally
designed to help students develop an increased sense of personal and community value, as well
as a deeper sense of hope for their own futures. As Davies and Peltz write, Students who are at
risk tend to have low expectations for their success on novel and challenging tasks; they also are
not motivated to pursue such tasks. But students involved in after-school programs feel more
committed to academics and are more optimistic about their futures because they know that if
they invest their time in hard work, they will see results (2012, p.13). As such, program
outcomes reflect these aspirations by looking for the degree to which students demonstrate this
collection of skills both within class and during their regular school day. Although difficult to

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isolate the exact effects of any program, there is no doubt that these practices play a large role in
equipping students with the skills needed to handle the challenges of life.
Supportive Relationships
Another effective feature found in The Virtuosos is an abundance of supportive
relationships that provide settings in which youth feel a strong sense of warmth, closeness,
caring, support, and guidance from the adult leaders in the program (Community Programs,
2002, p.130). As perhaps one of the most important characteristics of highly valued programs,
this connection with students is truly the root of all positive development; it allows students to
develop emotional stability, increased academic performance, more consistent school attendance,
and a wide range of other outcomes, while the lack thereof would make even the best curriculum
ineffective (McLaughlin, 2000, as cited in Community Programs, 2002, p.131). The fact that
only 25% of young people from The Asset Approach survey perceived that adults in their
community value youth reveals the great need for a focus on this practice as well (2002, p.2).
Fortunately, just as music provides a vehicle for imparting life skills to students, so it creates a
catalyst for such relationshipsa bridge between even the most unlikely of people. My personal
experience as a soft-spoken female white teacher whose most consistent students tend to be
rowdy young black boys confirms that these supportive qualities reside less in the adult than in
the adolescents perception of the adult and in the adolescents experience of interactions with
the adult (Community Programs, 2002, p.94). Regardless of all outward differences, students
see my efforts to help them reach their full potential and respond by working hard to master the
skills that will in turn improve their quality of lifeexemplifying the fact that supportive
relationships truly fuel all other positive outcomes.
Opportunities to Belong

REFLECTION PAPER: POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

In addition to opportunities for skill building and supportive relationships, a third

effective element of this youth program includes providing opportunities to belong. As Eccles
and Gootman (2002) note, settings that allow adolescents to be recognized and valued decrease
the likelihood that they will become involved in high-risk behaviors, increase their sense of
responsibility, and improve self-competence, school attitude, and performance (p.97). All
students who join The Virtuosos, regardless of cultural background or any other characteristic,
automatically acquire a sort of home surrounded by students who are working toward similar
goals together. Such solidarity marks not only the classroom environment, but also extends into
the school and greater community as students proudly carry their violins home to practice or
perform at school showcases and local venues. The program actually focuses on recruiting
students with challenging behaviors for the very purpose of offering this special opportunityas
well as its myriad of other benefitsto those who may need it most. As Aron Hall, Director of
Programs from the National Inclusion Project, stressed in a training on August 6, 2014, children
often exhibit challenging behaviors simply to communicate an unmet need, a lack of skill, or a
lack of fitall resolvable issues if instructors respond based on the belief that everyone can
make a friend, everyone can participate, and everyone can be successful. In many ways, this
mixed environment also helps to teach a sort of bicultural competence by giving other students
a chance to interact with their often ostracized peers on a collaborative level, which can then
improve socialization even outside of the program (Community Programs, 2002, p.98).
Physical and Psychological Safety
The final way that this program provides positive development is through physical and
psychological safetyan incredibly important element to students for whom abuse and trauma
of all kinds, both past and present, is sadly a common reality. Because such maltreatment is a

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profound breach to the trusting relationships that attachment and object relations theorists see as
critical to positive development, it affects both individuals and communities in a wide variety of
severe and long-lasting ways (Community Programs, 2011, p.89). For Milner students, these
often take the form of disassociation, inappropriate reactions, hypersensitivity, and ineffective
cognitive processing, which all hinder decision making and lead to increasingly negative
consequences (Divinyi, 1997, pp.36-38). As such, providing an accessible and safe environment
is exceptionally important to this program. Without it, most of the other outcomes attempted
through skill-building, supportive relationships, and a sense of belonging would be impossible;
in fact, lacking this fundamental element would keep most students from even returning
(Community Programs, 2002, p.129). Therefore, we make every effort to create and enforce
careful rules, prevent environmental risks, protect against all kinds of harassment or abuse, and
facilitate positive peer interactionsall to create a perception that one is safe in the world and
that daily events are somewhat predictable (Handout 2.2, 2014). Unfortunately, despite all
attempts to serve students with challenging behaviors, this effort has at times meant removing
students whose behavior consistently threatens the safety of othersprimarily because a group
comprised fully of such students would limit the bicultural competence (p.98) described above
and increase overall negative behaviors (Community Programs, 2002, p.130). In these ways and
more, The Virtuosos seeks to provide a physical and psychological safe space for students who
face trauma and abuse in so many other areas of life.
Areas of Improvement
In addition to constant improvements necessary even in these effective practices, The
Virtuosos has several areas of current weakness that require special attention in order to more
fully serve Milner students. These are also in accordance with the elements of effective practice

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compiled by Community Programs (2002) and include the following: clear and consistent
structure and appropriate adult supervision; positive social norms; support for efficacy and
mattering; and improving integration of family, school, and community efforts.
Clear and Consistent Structure and Appropriate Adult Supervision
Much like physical and psychological safety, providing clear and consistent structure and
appropriate adult supervision is essential for any positive development to take place in youth
programs. Such structure, consistency, enforced limits on behavior, and clear expectationsall
given with warmth and emotional support at age-appropriate levels that increase over time
give students the necessary foundation from which they can begin to utilize the other supports
offered to them (Community Programs, 2002, pp.92-93). This is especially true in programs that
provide safety and stability in an otherwise dangerous or turbulent environment, as is the case in
the neighborhoods surrounding Milner (Community Programs, 2002, p.93). Unfortunately, The
Virtuosos often errs too far on the side of freedom and play without enough attention given to the
consistent boundaries necessary for protecting students. This leniency frequently leads to
classroom conflicts and chaos that could have been avoided through clearer expectations, firmer
enforcement, and more adult supervision; it also creates an environment that can deter students
seeking shelter, while attracting students who want to capitalize on lack of adult control
perpetuating an environment that is not conducive to positive youth development. However, with
more thought and training given toward setting boundaries and enforcing them, improvements in
structure and supervision could increase program impact exponentially by helping students feel
more safe and secure.

Support for Efficacy and Mattering

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On the other hand, The Virtuosos struggles with balancing this healthy level of adult
control with a healthy level of student contribution as well. When carried out properly, structure
creates a foundation on which youth can increasingly experience leadership, assume
responsibility, and develop problem-solving skillsinfluencing both their personal and
community development in ways that truly matter (Community Programs, 2002, p.134). As
Community Programs cites, Mastery-oriented classrooms that focus on self-improvement rather
than social comparison foster higher motivation and perceptions of oneself as more capable; in
contrast, overly controlling classrooms that do not provide opportunities for autonomy
undermine motivation, self-concepts, expectations, and direction and induce learned helplessness
in response to difficult tasks (2002, p.103). At best, The Virtuosos has attempted to avoid the
pitfalls of both chaos and constraint by employing a Consultation strategydefined by A
Model for Understanding Youth Participation as when Workers consult young people, but
parameters are set by workers (n.d.). However, when these young violin students were without a
teacher for the last two weeks before their summer showcase, they exhibited stunning capability
and ownership when asked to run their own rehearsals and performance. The positive impact that
this experience clearly had on them has since encouraged the program to shift toward a
Participation or even Self-Managing model, in which students take a much more active role
in managing their group and sharing accountability with adult leaders (A Model, n.d.). This
direction will involve equipping and allowing students to be agents of their own development
while supporting them through leadership training and other forms of adult assistance
(Community Programs, 2002, p.103). Such improvements should in turn increase youth
participation and retention, as well as increasing the number and variety of positive gains made
through involvement in the program.

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Positive Social Norms

In addition to providing a more participatory structure for students, The Virtuosos must
also begin to acknowledge the power of social influence and the responsibility of creating an
environment marked by positive social norms. Just as every group develops a set way of
operating thatthough often unspokenaffects its members (p.102), youth perceive certain
behaviors to be normative and so come to view them as appropriate ways of acting primarily
through peer influence (Brown, 1990, as cited in Community Programs, 2002, p.100). As a youth
program where students generally feel a sense of belonging and safety, The Virtuosos is therefore
in a prime position to support prosocial norms by teaching youthto uphold certain rules of
behavior, to be accountable to the program and its expectations, and to agree to live up to a set of
morals and values (Community Programs, 2002, p.133). In contrast to a general culture that
encourages aggression and retaliation, the leaders of this program have chosen to create an
environment that specifically fosters respect, honesty, and generosity by expressing clear
expectations, modeling the actions attached to these values, and providing positive reinforcement
as often as possiblestrategies that stem in large part from Responsive Classroom training
material (2007). Unfortunately, progress in this direction is slow due to the fact that normative
beliefs about aggression get formed in childhood and become more difficult to change as
children move into adolescence (Huesmann and Guerra, 1997, as cited in Community
Programs, 2002, p.103). Many of these students cannot control their responses, which creates the
challenge of correcting negative norms while enforcing new positive ones. Similarly, an
overabundance of challenging students can counteract such efforts by creating antisocial norms
and a cycle of negativity that often proves difficult to break. Nonetheless, the desire to see
improved peer relationships and conflict resolutionregulated by the students just as much as by

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the teacherskeeps this program moving toward creating more positive social norms one step at
a time.
Family, School, and Community Efforts
The final area in which The Virtuosos could significantly improve is through better
integration of family, school, and community efforts. Eccles and Gootman argue that youth
benefit the most when all spheres of their life share consistent expectations based on a common
understanding of their needs (2002, p.110, 138). No spherewhether it be family, school, or
community organizationscan fully support youth in this complex world, which makes
collaboration increasingly important (Community Programs, 2002, p.31). The Virtuosos has
attempted to approach this need primarily as a community-wide initiative, despite technically
operating through a faith-based organization called Catholic Charities; this attempt to integrate
community programs for youth with broader community priorities has taken the form of
inviting parents to lessons and events, performing at local nursing homes and farmers markets,
and combining efforts with other strings programs in Hartford (Community Programs, 2002,
p.138). However, its reach is limited by many cultural barriers and uninvolved parents, as well as
leadership inexperience and timidity on my part. Engaging parents will take greater persistence
and fortitude, but we are motivated in large part by the fact that lack of integration can actually
increase the problems we are trying to counteract (Community Programs, 2002, p.111). By
engaging a wider sphere of stakeholders, this program can benefit from their input and therefore
have a greater impact both on individual students and their community. Even Shinichi Suzuki,
the founder of the method that underlies violin instruction at Milner, affirmed that The nurturing
of childrens hearts will gradually change the world (Every Child Can, 2003, p.19). In this way,
maximizing positive impact on students through improved family, school, and community

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integration would benefit not only the students, but also people in every other sphere of their life
as well.
Conclusion
In a community both so plagued by challenges and full of strengths, securing a better
quality of life for youth at Milner clearly cannot happen through just one organization.
Nonetheless, The Virtuosos employs a unique blend of performing arts and life skills strategies to
contribute a positive impact to this multifaceted community effort. At a time when low risk
services like music programs are often available only to low risk youth/communities, this
program has succeeded at providing at-risk youth with skill building, supportive relationships,
opportunities to belong, and physical and psychological safetyall effective practices that lead
to important outcomes such as improved academic ability, self-control, conflict resolution, selfconfidence, and even emotional stability (Traditional Views of Youth Services, n.d.). Such
outcomes ultimately aim to help students develop a positive sense of self and community value,
as well as the hope that accompanies that. Continually building onto these successful features is
one way that this program can continue to meet that goal. Moreover, The Virtuosos could also
improve by offering more consistent structure and adult supervision, support for efficacy and
mattering, positive social norms, and integration of family, school, and community efforts. Doing
so would help the program impact youth and their extended community more effectively by
empowering students to take greater ownership of not only their own program, but their own
positive development as well.

References
The asset approach: 40 elements of healthy development (2002). Search Institute.

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Community programs to promote youth development (2002). In Eccles J., Gootman J. A. (Eds.).
Washington D.C.: National Academy Press.
Davies, S. C., & Peltz, L. J. (2012). At-risk students in after-school programs: Outcomes and
recommendations. Principal Leadership, (October), 12-16.
Divinyi, J. E. (1997). Successful strategies for working or living with difficult kids. Peachtree
City, GA: The Wellness Connection.
Every child can! An introduction to Suzuki education (2003). . Boulder, CO: Suzuki Association
of the Americas, Inc.
Frahm, R. A. (2013, March 18). The promiseand challengeof rescuing Hartfords Milner
school. The Connecticut Mirror, Retrieved from http://ctmirror.org/promise-and-challengerescuing-hartfords-milner-school/
Hall, A. (2014). National inclusion project presentation. Powerpoint from trainingmore
information at www.inclusionproject.org
Handout 2.2: Developmental youth outcomes AED/Center for Youth Development and Policy
Research. URBN 535 class handout, September 2014.
A model for understanding youth participation Youth Council of Northern Ireland. URBN 535
class handout, September 2014.
Responsive classroom: Level 1 resource book (2007). Turners Falls, MA: Northeast Foundation
for Children, Inc.

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Routes to excellence: Eight core program strategies for youth. (2011).

Traditional views of youth services. Washington D.C.: AED/Center for Youth Development and
Policy Research. URBN 535 class handout, September 2014.