Minding the Gap: Exploring education policy in Maryland and its effect on students

by SARA CHERNIKOFF, THERESA COTTON, ALEXANDRA MACIA and SEAN McGOEY


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About the project

“Minding the Gap” is a multimedia exploration of how counties’ different approaches to discipline in schools can affect students’ educational experiences and impact them throughout their lives – told from the perspectives of teachers, lawmakers, activists, experts, parents and students.

Our audience

Parents and school administrators in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties.

One way that we would distribute this project to reach our target audience is an online promotion campaign where we share our project with bloggers, Facebook forums and other prominent community members/groups (some examples: Parents Coalition of Montgomery County, Montgomery County MD Neighbors for Local Schools, PG Parents for Education, Parents for PGCPS). By sharing our work with these activists, parents, advocates and local school board members and representatives, we would encourage them to amplify the message by using their own channels and pages to share it with a broader group of people who follow them on social media.

Reporting subjects (including data gathering)

Sara Chernikoff - educational policies and restorative discipline | Theresa Cotton - Montgomery County activists & Prince George's County schools | Alexandra Macia - Montgomery County parents, Kirwan Commission & Montgomery County Education Association | Sean McGoey - County education data, student interview & graphics

Data visualizations

Sara Chernikoff and Sean McGoey

Video

Sean McGoey

Site design/coding

Sean McGoey

Project management

Group Trello page