Welcome to EqualEd
Our new EqualEd section is all about giving voice to constituencies that often aren't heard. It's about making connections and helping those outside of education better understand barriers that can keep young people from reaching their full potential.
Third-grade students at Roosevelt School work on reading comprehension on May 19, 201,6 in Bridgeport, Conn. Connecticut, the wealthiest state, also has the greatest levels of inequality in its schools.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor
Tired of hearing about failing schools and the broken US education system?
So are we.
At the Monitor, we’ve been reporting on education for decades. But we’ve come to realize that schools can’t educate students and overcome the effects of poverty and racism in six hours a day. We want to go deeper, to train our lens on key inequities inside and outside the classroom and, more important, what’s working to reverse them.
Our new EqualEd section is all about giving voice to constituencies that often aren't heard, such as those who spend the most time in classrooms: teachers and students. It's about helping those outside of education better understand barriers that can keep young people from reaching their full potential.
It's about connecting: EqualEd aims to build a strong community through its in-depth reporting, free email newsletter, and special events that allow for a vital exchange of ideas and ways to engage in solutions. (Feel free to join us on Twitter, as well, at @CSMEqualEd.)
And we want to offer the students themselves a chance to tell their stories with our audio podcasts. By listening to the voices of students at risk of being left behind, we can empower them – and discover real solutions to help them succeed. We want to take those stories and ideas to the people who are not always hearing them – because the more people who hear them, the more hands will turn to shaping and expanding the paths of opportunity and success for all children.
Take today’s story: As Monitor staff reporter Stacy Teicher Khadaroo reports, a Providence middle school realized one-third of its students were missing more than 15 days of school a year. So it gave those sixth graders mentors who were in the school with them, every day. The turnaround was dramatic.
When Manny Aponte explains in our first audio clip the reason he struggled to attend school, it goes straight to the heart of why some young people need someone extra on their side. He says his relationship with his mentor was unlike anything he'd ever experienced.
It’s time for children to be seen and heard. Ready to listen?