Special Programming: American RadioWorks Education Series

New York, NY —

The latest series from American RadioWorks explores how education during these hard times in America is central to economic opportunity and social mobility--and to our individual and collective well-being. WNYC will bring you the series in three parts:

Early Lessons takes us back to the 1960s to tell the story of a landmark experiment that helped launch the preschool movement. Fifty years later, researchers are still learning powerful lessons for today’s youngest students.

Tune in to hear Early Lessons on Saturday, January 2 at 2PM and Sunday, January 3 at 8PM on AM820.

Rising By Degrees tells the story of Latino students working toward a college degree. Young Latinos are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. and they are among the least likely to graduate from college. For these students, success in college could have a big impact on the U.S. economy.

Tune in to hear Rising By Degrees on Saturday, January 9 at 2PM and Sunday, January 10 at 8PM on AM820.

Workplace U We know that a good education can be the ticket a good job. But for many Americans, conventional school isn't working. Every school day some seven thousand students drop out of high school. Often, what they managed to learn in the schoolhouse has not prepared them well enough for the job site. This documentary reports on a growing movement to turn workplaces into classrooms and marginal students into productive workers.

Tune in to hear Workplace U on Saturday, January 16 at 2PM and Sunday, January 17 at 8PM on AM820.

For more information about this series and audio archives, please visit the American RadioWorks Web site.

Recently, WNYC’s Beth Fertig examined the growing role of community colleges in American higher education. They’re taking more students than ever, due to the weak economy and the high cost of four-year colleges. But their graduation rates have long been dismal.

Nationally, only a third of community college students graduate after three years. Students who enroll in community colleges tend to be poorer and less academically successful than students at four-year colleges. Most need remedial classes — especially in math. To see why math is such a hurdle, WNYC’s Beth Fertig spent the fall of 2009 visiting a remedial or “developmental” math class at LaGuardia Community College in Queens.

To read and listen to Beth Fertig's series Adding it Up, please click here.