Two Kettering associates discuss the importance of deliberative community forums in the Achievement Gap Project.

Sixteen communities across the country have spent the past several months organizing and hosting conversations and forums on how to close educational achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged public school students. Feedback from the field has included success stories—and some uncertainty about whether these community conversations are going deep enough to reveal the underlying values and tensions surrounding the issue. In other words, how much true deliberation has taken place?

As part of our ongoing series on Getting Started, two experienced Kettering Foundation associates discuss the nature of deliberation, why it’s critical to the outcomes each community wants to achieve and how moderators of community forums can ensure that it occurs.

Bob Kingston has been an associate with the Kettering Foundation for 26 years. The former professor of Shakespearean literature lives on Long Island, New York.

Keith Melville has been an associate with the Foundation for more than 25 years. He’s also a Professor of Public Policy and Social Science at the Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California and served as executive editor of the National Issues Forums books. Keith lives in Connecticut outside of New York City.

They spoke with the editor of the Achievement Gap Project web site, Marla Crockett.