ideastream Education Listening Project
Education as a Community Challenge
ideastream Listening Projects have a long and productive history in Northeast Ohio. They began in the summer of 2001, when public stations WVIZ/PBS & 90.3 WCPN ideastream reversed roles with their viewers and listeners and became the audience . . . traveling to communities of Northeast Ohio and engaging residents in questions and conversations about themselves and their communities. The annual community listening activities connected and engaged the local populace; they helped ideastream understand and respond to residents’ perceptions and issues; and they investigated ideastream’s role in helping residents enjoy local resources and alleviating challenges.
In each of five annual community Listening Projects since 2001, Education followed Economy as the second ranked area of local concern—a problem that residents consistently said had deleterious effects on the quality of life in Northeast Ohio.
ideastream’s long history and recognition as an educational community resource provided both the motivation and the credibility to delve further into the issues surrounding local education challenges. The Education Listening Project’s ambition was to emulate the community Listening Projects’ success, this time using local educators as respondents as it investigated the publicly maligned educational climate in Northeast Ohio.
In early 2006, the Education Listening Project was born. The Education Listening Project’s goal was to seek an understanding of the issues surrounding Northeast Ohio education problem perceptions. It was an endeavor that sought insight into a challenge that perennially vexed the local public.
The ideastream Education Listening Project was designed and implemented by TRAC Media Services, a national public broadcast research firm that performed the community Listening Projects in Northeast Ohio and in other regions of the United States.
