MISEDUCATION

circa 2015

In 2013 the U.S. Department of Education ranked Minnesota as having the lowest (on-time) Native American graduation rate in the country at 45.5%, followed closely by African American, Hmong, and Latino populations. In an era of “No Child Left Behind” In Progress has seen entire populations in the state, “failing” within the education system. Trust in the ideal of equitable access to quality learning has been violated, and those most affected, have been excluded from the conversation about what it means to be “educated”.

Mis/Education is dedicated to those least represented within the state of Minnesota –poor, geographically isolated youth and families of color, that have been largely excluded from any meaningful conversation about what it means to be “educated”.

Over the past year, youth and adults have been contemplating, sharing ideas, and reaching out through the art of digital storytelling to create a series of videos about their insights into the state of education in Minnesota.

As a result, eighteen powerful stories were created and are now available for sharing with everyone that has a stake in correcting the educational divide in Minnesota.

watch OUR STORIES

click on any of the videos below to see how many young people think about education

As part of the MIS/EDUCATION project, a guide was designed to assist youth, parents and educators  in presenting videos from the MIS/Education project.  Please take the time to read each video description listed on pages 7 through 41.  Choose 2-3 videos that you feel will connect with others and begin a conversation.  The guide will provide you with sample discussion questions, exercises and steps that can be taken to start presenting your own videos stories.

Once you have selected the videos that best “fit” your audience’s viewing needs, the next step will be to frame a series of discussions or writing points that will bring a depth of appreciation to the topics addressed. Because the videos cover a broad range of topics, this section will focus on how you can work with others to deconstruct what they are seeing so they in turn may develop thoughtful opinions.

By describing what they are seeing and hearing, your audience will be able to comment more easily on what they think the video is trying to communicate and how they believe certain conventions (ways of constructing) were used to relate their messages.

Artist TEAM

Professional artists and design professionals worked with our filmmakers to both teach the craft of filmmaking and oversee high production values for each and every piece. Additionally a design team comprised of professionals and youth artists created the logo and package design that is now MIS/Education’s trademark. We want to make sure that with that we thank the following for their meaningful contributions:

MIS/Education is a project of IN PROGRESS, a non-profit arts organization dedicated to supporting youth, developing artists and communities as they speak through the art of digital media. Every year In Progress works with thousands of people in the least served and least represented communities in the state of Minnesota. This project was funded in part by the following: The Metropolitan RegionalArts Council, National Endowment for the Arts Arts In Education Program, Minnesota State Arts Board Arts Access Program, and the Vogel Foundation.