Student Voices on the Achievement Gap
Minnesota Community Pride Showcase
Student Voices on the Achievement Gap
The district-wide student-led newspaper Shine On! Young Leaders Rising is a dynamic publication is a product of Community Education. It is created by a Youth Editorial Board of 9 Minneapolis Public High School students from across the district, and focuses on engaging youth in service-learning, leadership, and increasing youth voice.
For this current issue, the students chose to tackle the topic of the Achievement Gap – they educated themselves, got submissions from students of all grades across the district, and wrote articles themselves about what the Gap looks like, feels like, and how they as youth think the Gap can be closed.
It’s the youth’s feeling that the issue of the Achievement Gap is so rarely discussed with the ones most intimately impacted by it: namely themselves and their peers.
About You
About You
First Name
Kelsey
Last Name
Schonning
Organization
Minneapolis Community Education
Country
United States, MN
About Your Organization
Organization Name
Minneapolis Community Education
Organization Website
Organization Phone
Organization Address
2225 E Lake Street
Organization Country
United States, MN
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Your Story
Title
Student Voices on the Achievement Gap
Briefly describe the problem—or opportunity—your community improvement project addresses
The district-wide student-led newspaper Shine On! Young Leaders Rising is a dynamic publication is a product of Community Education. It is created by a Youth Editorial Board of 9 Minneapolis Public High School students from across the district, and focuses on engaging youth in service-learning, leadership, and increasing youth voice.
For this current issue, the students chose to tackle the topic of the Achievement Gap – they educated themselves, got submissions from students of all grades across the district, and wrote articles themselves about what the Gap looks like, feels like, and how they as youth think the Gap can be closed.
It’s the youth’s feeling that the issue of the Achievement Gap is so rarely discussed with the ones most intimately impacted by it: namely themselves and their peers.
Tell us about the community in which your project is taking place
This project takes place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a diverse and vibrant community.
Country your work focuses on
United States, MN, Hennepin County
Partnership
To what extent does your community improvement project involve collaboration or partnerships that are outside or cross traditional organizational or sector boundaries?
We partner with other journalism-based organizations, with organizations that work with youth, that promote service-learning, or that care about leadership or community service. Through the lens of journalism, we understand that the stories of all community members enrich our understanding of and efforts to improve the lives of youth in Minneapolis.
Innovation
Issue Selector
n/a
What makes your community improvement project innovative and how has it improved the quality of life?
The paper contains thoughts, ideas, stories, and informational essays written by youth, laid out in a professional manner in newspaper format. Most media that deals with the topic of youth is not written by youth. This creates a divide in communication: the messages that the community receives about youth is second-hand and therefore neither as powerful nor as accurate as media which is created about youth by youth. Shine On! seeks to bridge that divide by speaking confidently about the most difficult and complex topics in our society today with the distinctively talented, gifted and passionate voice of the youth. Shine On! creates a true forum for youth voice through which to educate the community.
Progress and Next Steps
Tell us about the planning and implementation done to date, and by whom
Youth Editors educated themselves on the subject through research, meeting with community partners working to address the achievement gap and through experiential learning that allowed student to participate in activities that simulated the Achievement Gap in order to engage in a meaningful dialogue about what it looks like, feels like, and what causes it. Also, from September to December, the nine members of YEB from Southwest, South, North, Edison, Washburn, and Roosevelt High School wrote articles and solicited written work from 48 students from 20 different schools. The students were from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. In all, 5,000 copies were printed and distributed to every Minneapolis Public School, and to partnering organizations in the Twin Cities area.
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Comments
Thank you for entering,
Thank you for entering, Student Voices on the Achievement Gap, in the Minnesota Community Pride Showcase. If you have any questions about your entry or the Showcase process, please contact the InCommons team at info@incommons.org or 612.520.1756.
Best of luck!
Jillian Brown - InCommons Team
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