The Iowa School Report Card showed a 36 percentage point achievement gap between white and black students at Ames Middle School--and this gap has been increasing. Other sources show racial discrepancies in disciplinary measures. ISU sociology professor and school board candidate Monic Behnken, who studies the "School-to-Prison Pipeline", as it is widely called, joins us for a wide-ranging discussion of these issues.
We hear from Ames Middle School principal Pam Stangeland, and listen to audio from the ACSD school board meeting, where the achievement gap was discussed by district staff only after school board member Lewis Rosser raised a question about it. Then, we hear from Tom Andre, former Chair of ISU's Department of Curriculum and Instruction and current member of AMOS, about data showing persistent racial disparities in school disciplinary measures across the Ames district.
Finally Melissa Spencer, the Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator of Story County, presents us a reminder of how to be prepared for disasters, in both our households and our places of work.
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Additional Audio Excerpts:
- For full audio of the Pam Stangeland interview
- For full audio of staff presentation on Iowa School Report Card at the Jan 30 school board meeting
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Online Resources:
- Ames Tribune article on Middle School's achievement gap
- Ames Community School District
- ACSD school board
- Monic Behnken
- AMOS
- Story County Emergency Management Agency
- Ready Iowa
- Jerry Behn legislative forums
- Labor Notes article on HSB 84 / SF 213
Originally broadcast 02/13/2017
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