Message From EWA's Public Editor

The federal School Improvement Grant program is one of the most aggressive and expensive investments ever made toward fixing the nation’s most struggling schools. But is it working?

That question needs addressing, and it’s why EWA, Education Week and The Hechinger Report decided to make school turnarounds the focus of this year’s National Reporting Project. In collaboration with news outlets across the country, we are looking at how states, districts and individual schools are using this huge influx of money, and whether the money is achieving the intended goal: helping improve student outcomes in the nation’s most troubled schools.

The National Reporting Project is a reflection of EWA’s core mission – to help improve the quality and quantity of education coverage to create a better-informed society.

Our first-stage partners provided our national writers with insights into school reform in nearly 20 cities. The findings are significant, and raise critical questions about the progress of the SIG program, and how communities are responding to the massive push to remake failing campuses.

We are currently recruiting news organizations to join our second-stage partners, who will receive embargoed access to the national overview stories beginning April 5. That will allow an opportunity to do additional local reporting in advance of the April 15 publication date. For more information about signing on to the project, please email erichmond@ewa.org. If you would like to view a 15 minute webinar explaining the project in more detail, click here.

With warm regards,

Emily Richmond

Travel Scholarships Available for Journalists and Early Bird Deadline Extended for Advocates 

Philadelphia is the place to be May 17-19, when EWA gathers an outstanding line-up of journalists and education experts for “Learning from Leaders: What Works for Stories and Schools.” Journalists are eligible for subsidies to cover hotel and transportation costs. Click here to apply for a travel scholarship.

The conference will offer three jam-packed days of discussions and hands-on training covering the most pressing topics in education journalism today. Some highlights:

• Top speakers including Steve Brill and U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, as well as leading researchers and educators
• Site visits to noteworthy Philadelphia-area schools
• Debates on topics such as affirmative action, college costs, common standards, school choice and online learning
• A fast-paced forum for high-octane speakers to explore all aspects of the push to reform the teaching profession
• Practical sessions on mining data, observing classrooms, producing enterprise stories on the fly and new-generation tech tools for journalists
• Presentation of the prestegious 2011 National Awards for Education Reporting, where the winner of Fred M. Hechinger Grand Prize for Distinguished Education Reporting also will be announced

If you do not need a scholarship, register here today! The hotel reservation deadline is April 25, so go ahead and make your arrangements. Contact Stephanie Cvetetic, Marketing and Development Coordinator, at scvetetic@ewa.org or 202.677.4271 with questions or for additional information.

Looking forward to seeing you in Philly!

Get Smart on Teacher Issues

If teachers affect student learning more than any other factor in schools, how are we doing at recruiting, training, and retaining the best? How can we tell if teachers are effective? Should they be paid for performance? How much should experience count?

These are just some of the questions explored in the totally revamped teachers section of EWA’s online Resource Center. To help you get smarter on the issues, we’ve assembled reports, news stories, research, and other information under three subtopics: teacher effectiveness, evaluations, and the pipeline into the field. Click here to access all three and get up to speed—fast.

Catch Up With Past EWA Events!

Did you know we have wrap-ups of every EWA seminar and conference on EWA.org? Stop by our Tips from Past Events section for links to blog items, videos, and relevant news stories drawn from events like our 2011 Teacher Evaluation Seminar and Higher Education Seminar. And be sure to stop by our Webinars page to watch any of our recent online training sessions.