As I sat and listened to several Central Valley, CA, Latino teens tell me about their future ambitions and life dreams, I was struck by how determined to succeed these kids were. Despite living in communities threatened by drug and gang activity, low income and high unemployment levels, each was looking forward to graduating from high school, attending college and having a promising career. It was also clear that each teen was well aware of the fact that becoming a parent at an early age would make achieving their aspirations much more difficult. This anecdotal information precisely mirrors findings published in the National Campaign's recently released report Toward a Common Future.

Yet, according to what these teens shared with me, school year after school year they witness many of their friends and classmates giving up or postponing their efforts to reach their goals as a result of an unintended pregnancy. Given the unique challenges Latino teens face, many of which contribute to the high rates of teen pregnancy in their communities, Latino teens in particular can use adult guidance in order to identify and navigate past the numerous issues they'll more than likely have to address as they grow older.

A couple days ago, an article in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) reviewed results from an evaluation of the Young People's Development Programme (YPDP) in England. The underlying evaluation had actually been done a year ago, but results are making headlines and popping up in blogs now due to the recent BMJ article. In short, BMJ reports that there were virtually no positive impacts of the YPDP program and, more surprisingly, some negative impacts--like higher rates of teen pregnancy.

Since then, I've read wide-ranging conclusions about what this all means for the U.S. and our efforts to prevent teen pregnancy--that sex ed doesn't work, that abstinence education works better, or that youth development actually increases risky behaviors (and, by the way, youth development is not synonymous with sex ed).