Recap: 2009 Reality Check – Where is Education Heading?

See what happened at EWA’s 2009 national seminar in Washington, DC.

Some of the best minds in education gave a reality check at the 62nd annual conference of the National Education Writers Association April 30-May 2 in Washington, DC.

Nearly 230 top education journalists and others gathered to hear from an all-star lineup about where education is heading.

Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne talked about the future of the news industry and education coverage and New York Times Magazine editor and author Paul Tough gave reporters insight into a blossoming education reform in Harlem.

USA Today reporters Blake Morrison and Brad Heath won the Fred. M Hechinger prize for education reporting for their series “The Smokestack Effect: Toxic Air and America’s Schools.”

If you missed EWA’s 2009 national seminar, you can read reports from your colleagues at our blog. You can view candid photos of the conference on our Flickr page.

 Here is some coverage about our conference and issues:

• What is the value of higher education? Minnesota Public Radio
• DISTRICT [SWINE] FEVER: Thursday In At The EWA Conference, by Alexander Russo,This Week in Education 
• Arne Duncan tells Education Writers Association: NCLB has to go (the name, not the law) Dale Mezzacappa, Philadelphia Notebook
• Reforms loom for schools, education chief says, Julie Mack, Kalamazoo Gazette
• Arne Duncan on the future of U.S. education, Indianapolis Star
• U.S. education secretary lauds Michigan’s high bar for graduation, Karen Bouffard, The Detroit News
• Secretary Duncan vs CEO Arne, Sarah Karp, Catalyst Notebook,
• Jon Schnur, “ideolocrat” poster boy, will not work for Obama, Elizabeth Green, Gotham Schools.org
• Kaine addresses education writers in D.C.,  Richmond Times Dispatch Staff Reports
• Southern States Urged to Tackle Adolescent Literacy, Mary Ann Zehr, Education Week

You can also listen to podcasts of these sessions:

• U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan
• Tracking the Stimulus, Part 1, moderated by USA Today’s Greg Toppo
• 2009 Martin Buskin Memorial Lecture Featuring New York Times Editor Paul Tough: On Writing
• Thinking Like a Freelancer, moderated by EWA’s public editor Linda Perlstein
• What U.S. college graduates should know and be able to do, moderated by Aisha Labi, Foreign Correspondent, the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Here are some resources to help reporters from EWA’s 2009 national seminar.

• Pat Thornton, chief editor of Beatblogging.Org offers this advice on the most effective ways to use social media as a reporting tool.
•  A new report by the Southern Regional Education Board is calling on states to develop comprehensive adolescent literacy policies to improve high school reading and writing. The report was released at our meeting and a discussion on how states should move forward was led by Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine.
• EWA released a series of issue briefs at our annual meeting including: Early Education and Family Child Care, Literacy Practices in Early Childhood, Comprehensive Services in Pre-K and President Obama’s Proposals on Early Childhood Education.
• EWA also sponsored several sessions on early childhood education at out meeting. You can view Rhode Island KIDS Count director  Elizabeth Burke Bryant’s presentation about what’s in store for early education in President Obama’s administration. You can also view Pilar Torres of Centro Familia’s presentation about why reporters should pay attention to early childhood issues and trends.
• For new reporters EWA offers briefs topics including: the learning curve, how to cover charter schools, high school dropouts, reporting on students who are English language learners, special education, standardized testing, and teacher quality.
• Reporters covering colleges and universities get these tips on accountability in higher education and remediation.
• Sarita Brown of Excelencia in Education offers an overview of the Latino College Crisis and what can be done to get more students to enroll in college.
• You can also see why Branton Shearer, a professor at Kent State University, believes that multiple intelligences can be a learning tool. You can read his work here: brain map, criteria for multiple intelligence, integrated multiple intelligences , Howard Gardner trips, and research.

National Seminar Sponsors ($12,500 and over)

• Lumina Foundation for Education
• The Pew Charitable Trusts
• The Joyce Foundation
• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Carnegie Corporation of New York
• American Institutes for Research
• The First Five Years Fund

National Seminar Sponsors ($7,500-$12,499)

• Exxon Mobil Foundation
• Southern Regional Education Board

National Seminar Sponsors ($2,500-$7,499)

• Communications Works
• Widmeyer Communications
• The Hegeler Institute
• The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
• Jobs for the Future
• National Association of Charter School Authorizers

Supporters (Up to $2, 499)

• Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
• WestEd
• American Council on Education
• Education Testing Service
• Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice
• MDRC
• Michigan Technological University
• National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
• National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
• National School Safety and Security Services
• Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
• Spencer Research Panel on Latino Children and Families
• Fordham Foundation
• National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Vanderbilt University