-- Students in rural Alabama schools are publishing community newspapers for small towns long without a source of local news -- an enterprise that demands reliable research, clear and careful writing, and close attention to deadlines.

-- In Los Angeles, high school students use the off-quarter in their year-round schooling to carry out an urban renewal project to rehabilitate the city's chief waterway.

-- Young filmmakers in New York City hope to awaken the activism of their peers by creating video documentaries on issues of social justice.

-- Students in South Dakota launch a community revitalization project that brings $15 million into their county's faltering economy.

Even before September 11, we rarely heard of student accomplishments like these. Why? First of all, these projects take a lot of time, so those most involved have little energy (or means) to record and publicize them. Second, the kinds of learning they provoke don't translate well into the neat numbers of test scores that now command center stage. And mostly, stories like these run afoul of the prevailing rhetoric of decline that surrounds public education today, not to mention the disproportionately negative view of youth presented in current media.

What we do hear most often about our kids and their learning is that they simply don't make the grade. Students fall short on standardized tests. Kids are disrespectful. They're too grown up or not grown up enough. When young people do manage to wrest praise from adults, it is often for what they don't do -- for toeing the line -- rather than the positive things they can do. We perpetuate cynicism and apathy among students, teachers, parents, and communities just when we most need commitment, belief, action.

We desperately need more avenues for youth, especially of high school-age, to engage in learning that offers both rigor and relevance. We need strong examples of student accomplishment that merge skills acquired in a classroom with those gained in the "real" world, where students develop and apply new knowledge at the same time they contribute to their community.

A new, national nonprofit founded early this year aims to provide just that. Based in Providence, Rhode Island, What Kids Can Do, Inc. (WKCD) is the creation of two of my colleagues: an educator and journalist who together count more than 35 years' experience charting adolescent learning in and out of school. Barbara Cervone left her position as national coordinator of the $500 million Annenberg Challenge to improve public K-12 education to start WKCD with Kathleen Cushman, a writer who since the 1980s has reported on school reform issues in many national publications, including "Challenge Journal."

We started What Kids Can Do to promote the impressive work that we know young people around the country are performing both in and out of school, with help from teachers and other committed adults. We document and share stories of powerful learning with public purpose: the adolescents in Colorado, for instance, who tracked and mapped the location and frequency of traffic accidents on local highways; or the teenagers serving as teachers to younger kids in summer schools from Arkansas to New England; or the young people in small, south Texas border towns who collect and publish the oral histories of their elders in both Spanish and English. We also present examples of student work and voice, relevant research, and resources. (In a special feature, Our America, we offer a small collection of young people's responses to the tragedies of September 11, as well as a list of resources to help understand and build upon the complex lessons of the day.)

What Kids Can Do attempts to build bridges, connecting the previously separate realms of education reform, youth development, and community service. WKCD also spans the fields of journalism, research, and advocacy to find, document, and promote the best of what young people have to offer.

We have seen hopeful signs of that potential in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. Teenagers babysit for distraught families. Adolescents too young to give blood instead answer Red Cross phones or enter volunteers' names into computer databases. Younger children send cards of thanks and encouragement to New York City fire, police, and rescue workers. Students rally for peace and tolerance, against revenge and racism.

Young and old alike, we fill the shoes we're expected to fill. Providing youth with larger shoes -- and helping them learn to wear them -- is a gift adults can and must offer young people. See just what kids can do, when schools and communities work together to challenge adolescents intellectually, enlist their help with problems, nourish their talents, and encourage their contributions as citizens.

The nation's roughly 45 million teenagers have too long remained one of our most under-utilized resources. As one Midwestern youngster urged the grownups around her: "Adults, please don't see us as part of the problem. Make us part of the solution."

We must heed her words, now more than ever.

:: Lisa Rowley

A former English teacher, Lisa is an editor and researcher at What Kids Can Do, Inc. in Providence, Rhode Island. Her favorite teaching experience was with her seventh graders in Hawaii. This is her first contribution to GoodThings. [ Check out a few of her favorite goodthings ]

(Thoughts on Lisa's letter? E-mail us -- don't forget to tell us your name, where you're from, and if we can use your words in a future GoodLetter or on our Web site.)