Category Archives: Town Hall

Events, Town Hall

Join KQED at the American Graduate Teacher Town Hall Event

KQED has launched American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen — a local initiative to help combat the dropout crisis in Oakland. KQED and Oakland’s Promise Alliance will address the issue by working with local schools, businesses and community organizations to raise awareness of the crisis and its impact on our communities.

We will be hosting a series of community events, including a Teacher Town Hall seeking to elevate teacher voices and opinions on the topic of drop out. Young people throughout our country are dropping out of school in high numbers and teachers are on the front lines of this national and local crisis. Bring your expertise and share what works for engaging and supporting urban youth at the American Graduate Teacher Town Hall.

Here are three easy ways to connect online:

Eventbrite: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/282989128

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/291728290885350/

This is a regional event- please share this invitation with friends and colleagues throughout the Bay Area!

Events, Local, National, Research, Town Hall

Join a Live Chat Friday at 1:30 p.m. ET on Dropouts and Delinquents

Newshour American Graduate
February 1, 2012
Written By: Kelly Chen

Richard Ross Photography

This week, the NewsHour’s American Graduate team takes a look at juvenile justice and gang violence as it relates to the dropout crisis, with reports starting Wednesday on our broadcast and website.

Join us for a live chat* with two people featured in our series — Victor Rios, a former gang member and high school dropout turned sociology professor, and Richard Ross, a photographer who documents what life is like for young people in prison.

 

Victor Rios

To participate in our live chat, join us here this Friday from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. ET*. You can also leave your questions in the comments section below or tweet them to @NewsHourAmGrad using the hashtag #AmGrad.

The participants scheduled to join the chat (subject to change) include:

  • Victor Rios, is a former gang member who grew up in Oakland, Calif. He is now a sociology professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara studying juvenile criminal justice and gang life for young people. He is also the author of “Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys.” The NewsHour broadcast will air a report on Rios and his efforts on Wednesday.

 

  • Richard Ross is a photographer and professor at UC Santa Barbara. For the past five years, he has documented and interviewed juvenile delinquents as part of his”Juvenile In Justice” project. The NewsHour report featuring Ross is scheduled to air on Thursday’s NewsHour broadcast.

 

Events, Research, Town Hall

Steering Girls to Science and Tech Careers

KQED Mind/Shift Blog
January 6, 2012
Written by

For Ebony Green, a career as a scientist might have seemed unlikely just last year.
The stereotypical outcome for girls like Ebony, an eighth-grader at Frick Middle School in a rough part of East Oakland, isn’t necessarily a high-paying job in science, math, engineering or technology. In fact, 40 percent of Oakland Unified School District students drop out.
Still, despite her surroundings and the legacy of her race, gender, family background, and income bracket, Ebony sees a different future for herself. She wants to be a pediatrician, or maybe a vet, and she’s starting to take steps to get there.
Last fall, without her mother knowing, Ebony enrolled herself in Techbridge, an after-school science and math program geared specifically to girls. She signed up for math tutoring at school because she’s struggling in the subject. And her science teacher, Ken Eastman, says she even came to his science class twice a day for a while.

Read more about Ebony and Techridge.

Local, National, Research, Town Hall

Steering Girls To Science and Tech Careers

MindShift Blog
January 6, 2012
Written By Tina Barseghian

Thirteen-year-old Ebony Green has hopes for a career in science.

For Ebony Green, a career as a scientist might have seemed unlikely just last year.
The stereotypical outcome for girls like Ebony, an eighth-grader at Frick Middle School in a rough part of East Oakland, isn’t necessarily a high-paying job in science, math, engineering or technology. In fact, 40 percent of Oakland Unified School District students drop out.
Still, despite her surroundings and the legacy of her race, gender, family background, and income bracket, Ebony sees a different future for herself. She wants to be a pediatrician, or maybe a vet, and she’s starting to take steps to get there. To read the rest of this compelling article go to: MindShift

As part of the PBS American Graduate Program, I produced a segment for the PBS NewsHour on Ebony Green and Techbridge with correspondent Spencer Michels. Here’s the segment.

Events, Town Hall

Video: WMHT American Graduate Town Hall

Originally Aired November 17, 2011
Albany, N.Y. currently reports a high school graduation rate of only 47 percent, and some other communities in the region are also struggling to see many of their students through to graduation. Elaine Houston moderates a discussion with an esteemed panel of education experts from New York’s Capital Region to consider what’s behind this alarming trend and what can be done to reverse it.

Watch American Graduate Town Hall on PBS. See more from WMHT SPECIALS.

Town Hall

Video: St. Louis Teacher Town Hall Segment on PBS NewsHour

Report aired November 8, 2011
Over the next 18 months, the NewsHour is joining with other public media to examine consequences and solutions. The series is called the American Graduate Project.

More than 100 teachers were invited to a town hall at Nine Network, our PBS station in St. Louis, to talk about the challenges they face in the classroom. View this powerful segment.

Watch St. Louis Teachers Voices Struggles Over Dropouts on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.