Over the 2003-2004 the Youth News Team investigated the achievement gap using a variety of proven research methods. Data was gathered in three specific ways: (1) by designing and collecting student opinion polls; (2) by interviewing policy experts and local students and teachers in depth and (3) by analyzing a variety of recent scholarship on the issue.
At the same time the issue became “the big story” of the national press, it also was an almost taboo discussion in classrooms. Most students experience the reality of the achievement gap on a daily basis in schools, but few students know exactly what it is, how it came to be, and what is being done to fix it.
Through this report’s findings and recommendations, the Youth News Team hoped to initiate a dialogue that supports young people and adults to have more informed discussions about the achievement gap and other pressing education policy concerns.
The Youth News Team consisted of a group of Central Kentucky students aiming to amplify the voices of young people in education policy discussions. The team was an initiative of the National Conference for Community and Justice, and the report was funded by Partners for Youth. In 2005, the Youth News Team joined with the Prichard Committee and parents from the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership to issue High School Students Have Parents, Too.