PROTECTING ADOLESCENT BRILLIANCE.
Atlas ERA — The Education Research Association is the field-building network of the US-Squared Research Institute. We connect education researchers, practitioners, and community leaders across global contexts — finding the people already doing the work, funding and affirming them, and credentialing the brilliance happening everywhere schools are not.
This is not a program. This is an era.
THE SIGNAL. THE FIRE.
WE FIND THE PEOPLE ALREADY DOING THE WORK.
The embargo on brilliance is structural. Young people are not failing — they are being failed by institutions that were never designed to see them. Atlas ERA doesn't build another institution. We build the network that connects the ones already fighting back.
We fund practitioners. We affirm communities. We credential learning wherever it actually happens — not just in the buildings we control.
SPARENT SCIENCE
Monthly research-backed tools for the educators, mentors, caregivers, and coaches who surround young people.
When Your Teenager Won't Talk
Adolescent silence is data, not rejection. This issue breaks down the science of teen withdrawal and gives you three evidence-based approaches for reconnecting without pressure.
Ask one open question today — not “How was school?” but “What's something you're thinking about?” Then wait.
Looking for a hands-on tool to pair with this month's issue? Feelings Unplugged is a BASE Framework companion guide for the young people in your care.
THE DATA BEHIND THE WORK.
Our programs aren't built on assumptions. They're built on peer-reviewed research, longitudinal data, and the lived experiences of the 7,000+ young people whose stories we've had the honor of studying.
Nylund-Gibson, K., Garber, A. C., Carter, D. B., Chan, M., Arch, D. A., Simon, O., ... & Lawrie, S. I. (2023). Ten frequently asked questions about latent transition analysis. Psychological Methods, 28(2), 284.
Tartt, E. L. (2023). Unraveling Hopelessness: A latent class analysis of mental health profiles among Black adolescents. UCSB. GPA 3.98.
A justice-centered developmental framework for programs serving Black and Brown youth, derived from dissertation research and community practice. The BASE Framework is the pedagogical spine of the Atlas ERA network — the counter-architecture to every institution that told a young person their brilliance was a problem.
“These young people weren't hopeless. They were under-resourced, over-surveilled, and under-believed. The data just confirmed what they already knew.”
— Dr. Erica L. Tartt, PhD
Founder & Research Director, Atlas ERA / US-Squared Research Institute