Download the KQED Education Annual Report for the 2020-2021 school year (PDF).
The 2020-2021 school year asked educators, students, families and communities to dig deep and respond to extraordinarily challenging times. At KQED, we were honored to do our part—particularly by elevating the voices of diverse youth to a national audience. As a public media station, we seek to raise up traditionally underrepresented voices and lend our expertise to teach youth how to effectively share their perspectives. In doing so, we hope to expand KQED’s general audience’s understanding across generations and communities, and provide the opportunity for young people to share their voices in civic spaces through public media.
KQED Youth Media Challenges
One of the biggest highlights of the school year was our inaugural Election 2020 Youth Media Challenge. That expanded to five additional Challenge topics—from STEM to Dance—and a public, online showcase of student media projects from across the country. (In fall of 2021, we added two more Challenges: Rethink School with MindShift and Science Documentary.) Last school year, 1,600 students created media for Youth Media Challenges, and there were more than 56,000 pageviews of their media submissions on the Challenge Showcase.
Annual Highlights – By the Numbers
Here are a few more highlights of our reach and impact in 2020-21, though we encourage you to download the report to get the full story on each of these!
- 752,000 KQED listeners reached with youth media (radio and livestream)
- 18,000 KQED podcast downloads featuring youth media
- 5,000 new educators registered for our online courses
- 2,250 educators in 48 training workshops and webinars
We are also proud to have:
- Partnered with 20 school districts across California (including LAUSD, the second largest district in the country) to deliver professional development workshops and resources for teaching media literacy.
- Worked with 7 Bay Area classrooms and the nonprofit 826 Valencia to produce 17 youth-created pieces, which aired on KQED TV, radio, and podcasts, reaching an audience of >750K listeners and viewers.
- Convened 17 diverse Bay Area teens to serve as KQED’s Youth Advisory Board.
- Launched 6 different Youth Media Challenges inviting youth to tell their stories through media ranging from dance videos to engineering podcasts to political cartoons.
- Published 20 episodes of Above the Noise, our signature YouTube series for students, gaining 2M total views, 850K of which were from Gen Z.
We are more excited than ever to continue this work of elevating diverse youth voices in the 2021-2022 school year. To learn more about what we do, browse our complete list of FREE services and resources, including student media, classroom resources and educator professional development and certification.
We welcome you to join us!
About KQED
KQED is a nonprofit, public-supported alternative to commercial media. An NPR and PBS affiliate based in San Francisco, KQED is home to one of the most listened-to public radio stations in the nation, one of the highest-rated public television services and an award-winning education program helping students and educators thrive in 21st-century classrooms. A trusted news source and leader and innovator in interactive technology, KQED takes people of all ages on journeys of exploration—exposing them to new people, places and ideas.