Mark your calendars! On June 3, Renaissance Journalism is hosting a one-day symposium for journalists on educational equity. The event, "Equity Matters: Covering the Troubling Divide in the Education of America's Children," will bring together the nation’s top experts and leading education journalists in examining the root causes and impact of our nation’s troubling “opportunity gap.” This disparity has resulted in an unequal education system, shortchanging the futures of millions of low-income, minority and immigrant children.
When education reporter Kristina Rizga first swept through the double doors at San Francisco’s Mission High School in 2009, she fully expected to see the telltale signs of failure and despair. After all, three-quarters of its students came from poor families, and 38 percent were English language learners from more than 40 countries. They had posted some of the worst test scores in the nation, making Mission High a prime candidate for major restructuring or even closure.
But Rizga discovered something entirely different. Despite these great odds, the students were not only learning, but thriving.
A Renaissance Journalism initiative to enhance local news coverage and deep-rooted storytelling about the city of Detroit’s past and future has been bolstered by a new partnership joining Detroit Public Television (DPTV), one of nine news outlets that belongs to the pioneering Detroit Journalism Cooperative, and the Detroit Historical Society.
