Minnesota Public Radio hosted a “town hall” meeting with educators last week to analyze the student-achievement gap in the North Star State.
To listen to the town hall meeting or for more information about the initiative, see “The Education Achievement Gap: Minnesota’s Embarrassment,” from Minnesota Public Radio.
The public forum was the culmination of “The Education Gap: Minnesota’s Education Embarrassment,” a weeklong MPR radio and online series on the academic disparity between white students and their lower-achieving black and Hispanic peers.
Minnesota Commissioner of Education Alice Seagren, Minneapolis schools chief Thandiwe Peebles, and St. Paul schools chief Pat Harvey joined MPR host Kerri Miller for the meeting, which was held in St. Paul.
The series included “Fix the Gap: The Idea Generator,” an interactive Web discussion on improving learning.
The event and online collaboration were part of a MPR initiative, “Public Insight Journalism,” that aims to tap into the public’s knowledge and experience to strengthen news coverage.
“Our audience is curious, engaged in the community, and intelligent,” said Andrew Haeg, the initiative’s director. “We can utilize the knowledge out there with the new technology available to form a conversation.”