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Education Research and Statistics Bootcamp
Sunday, March 12, 2006

EWA held its second annual Education Research and Statistics Bootcamp in Los Angeles March 9-12, in partnership with the Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication.

Education Research and Statistics Bootcamp

March 9-12, 2006

EWA held its second annual Education Research and Statistics Bootcamp, in partnership with the Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication, on March 9-12, 2006. The bootcamp was limited to 22 reporters, with 11 reporters from California.

Click here for a primer put together by USC adjunct professor Rebecca Fairley Raney on where to find data: Education Data Analysis Primer

Some of the things reporters gained from this meeting:
  • A deeper understanding of the use of statistics, especially when reporting on education, and the ability to decipher, for instance, when increases in test scores are statistically significant and when they increase beyond the point of credulity.
  • The ability to read education research and gauge the good quality research from the bad.
  • An understanding of test scores, and the ability to report on test scores without exaggerating results -- or underplaying results.
  • How to develop a project using data. Reporters have been contacted by facilitators before and after the conference to fine-tune projects and ensure they have a solid foundation for the numbers they are using.
  • Bootcamp participants have produced several stories based on what they learned:

    San Jose Mercury News Reporter Dana Hull analyzed campaign finance records in her story, Pro-preschool campaign well ahead in fundraising, to show that the campaign for California's Proposition 82, the Preschool for All Act, has raised 10 times as much money as the "No on 82" campaign.

    Associated Press Reporter Juliet Williams conducted an analysis of California's state spending on public education in this piece, Per-pupil spending varies widely between districts, to show that despite record increases in per pupil spending, district by district spending remains vastly different.

    Los Angeles Times Reporter Seema Mehta took a close look at donors who oppose the pre-school initiative in California, in her story Prop. 82 foes will focus on its details. Mehta was able to cut through the rhetoric and find out who is really behind the money on both sides.

 
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