CDA Founding Director Ron Dahl on the Getting Smart Podcast Episode, “Why is Adolescence a Powerful Time for Growth, Agency, and Mattering?”
Getting Smart November 5, 2025
In a new Getting Smart Podcast episode hosted by Tim Vander Ark, Adaptivity podcast host and CDA founding director Ron Dahl discusses how adolescence is a critical developmental phase featuring unique opportunities for fostering agency, contribution, and authentic mattering.
Recent News
December 9, 2025
Adolescence is a critical time in development when we form our identities, explore the world around us, and build the skills we need to succeed economically in adulthood. Today’s young adults are coming of age in a world of uncertainty, with changing technological and economic landscapes. In a new joint blog post with the ASA Center for Career Navigation at JFF, Jobs for the Future’s Erica Bouris and CDA’s Natalie Saragosa-Harris explore how adolescents navigate their careers and build their economic lives during adolescence, and offer ways to support young people as they navigate educational and career decisions during periods of economic uncertainty.
December 4, 2025
NSCA member Jacqueline Nesi was quoted in the New York Times discussing the recent Pediatrics article that suggests giving smartphones to adolescents before the age of 12 could pose health and well-being risks. “Giving a child a device with access to everything on the internet is going to be risky,” says Nesi, but “it’s incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to get that kind of causal evidence on this topic.” Caregivers “do not need to wait for perfect evidence to make these kinds of decisions,” she explains; they should feel empowered to trust their gut and to hold off on giving their child a smartphone until everyone is ready.
back to top
