When Children Thrive, Societies Thrive
Marilyn Price-Mitchell is an educator, researcher, and developmental psychologist with a passion for understanding how we create positive learning environments for youth that foster growth and well-being for individuals, families, and societies.
Her primary areas of expertise are:
Positive Youth Development
Combining her 30-year background in organization development with the ability to synthesize today's multidisciplinary research, she brings evidence-based practices to parents, educators, civic leaders, nonprofits and schools.
Marilyn's blog, Roots of Action shares stories, research, and insights that explore the underlying foundations of positive youth development. She also writes an online column for Psychology Today, The Moment of Youth, focused on adolescent development.
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Marilyn is a narrative researcher, studying how human stories and experiences are linked to learning and meaning-making. Her recent research study, Civic Learning at the Edge: Transformative Stories of Highly-Engaged Youth, identified connections between initiative, purpose, moral reasoning, critical thinking, and reflection with the development of civically-engaged youth. These findings are vital to how families, schools, and communities foster internal strengths in children that facilitate participatory and justice-oriented citizenship. |
As co-founder of the National ParentNet Association, Marilyn recognizes that reform must embrace a systemic understanding of partnerships between families, schools, and communities. This approach emphasizes relationships, interconnectedness, and collaborative learning at the boundaries where roles overlap. Her article, Boundary Dynamics: Implications for Building Parent-School Partnerships, published in the peer-reviewed School Community Journal elaborates these ideas for leaders in the fields of education, psychology, and family engagement.
An ability to communicate scholarly research and systems-thinking for popular or academic audiences, Marilyn is a clear and engaging writer, speaker, and consultant. Drawing on ecology and its metaphors to talk about whole-system approaches to positive youth development, she views herself as a member of a learning community of adults who believe in the manifest potential of the next generation and everyone's ability to contribute to the public good.
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Recent Interview:
“Interview with Positive Youth Development Expert Marilyn Price-Mitchell PhD,” by Joe Wilner in his column “Adventures in Positive Psychology” at PsychCentral.