I’ll be pleasantly surprised, but still surprised, if this high profile collaboration dips into the gender gaps, which among African Americans are astonishingly high:
MSNBC AND EBONY MAGAZINE PARTNERSHIP TO TAKE ON EDUCATION ISSUES IN AUGUST NEW YORK--July 28, 2010--MSNBC and Ebony Magazine are partnering up in August to put education issues in the forefront of the nation's spotlight. Beginning August 9, MSNBC will feature twice-daily segments focusing on a variety of pertinent education issues, including the central challenges facing our public school systems today, the benefits of charter schools versus traditional public schools and how to improve the quality of our school systems on a national level. The partnership will culminate in a two-hour education special, "Making The Grade," which will air on MSNBC on Sunday, August 15, beginning at noon ET. The special will ask the tough questions about the state of our nation's education systems and will celebrate education methods that have a proven track record of making a positive difference for students and educators. MSNBC anchor Tamron Hall will host the special discussion, which will include participation from actor/activist Hill Harper and other widely known figures in the Black community. On Wednesday, August 11, Tamron Hall will moderate the Ebony Education Roundtable, an education summit hosted by the University of Chicago and Johnson Publishing Company. MSNBC will air portions of the roundtable discussion during "Making The Grade" on Sunday, and the full roundtable will be available for live viewing on Ebony.com. MSNBC.com, Ebony.com and TheGrio.com will also feature education-related editorial content on their respective sites. MSNBC and Ebony's education partnership comes as a precursor to MSNBC's participation in Education Nation, a weeklong event beginning September 26th across all NBC News platforms. Education Nation will include a two-day education summit and special in-depth coverage of education issues on NBC News, MSNBC, msnbc.com and the NBC stations.