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.
LEARN. CREATE. WORK.
Three arms. One arc. From identity to creation to economic power — the Atlas ERA pipeline connects every stage of the journey.
Atlas Academy
10-week BASE Framework curriculum for learners 14–21. Free to apply. In-person and virtual cohorts.
Apply for Cohort 4 →Altered.Earth
Five days in nature. Circle practice, creative expression, and ceremony for youth ages 14–22.
Register Interest →BASEops
Workforce development network connecting community members, justice-involved individuals, and youth 14+ to economic opportunity.
Explore BASEops →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.
Tartt, E. L., Nylund-Gibson, K., et al. (in press). Latent Transition Analysis of adolescent racial discrimination and mental health outcomes. Psychological Methods.
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
FEELINGS UNPLUGGED
Named. Held. Understood.
Feelings Unplugged is a compact emotional intelligence guide grounded in the BASE Framework — designed for young people learning to name what they feel, and the adults who hold them. Built from peer-reviewed research on Black adolescent emotional suppression. Available now in print.