Ed Reporter: Feb. 26

On the Blackboard>>

“Reality Check --Where is Education Heading?”
In these tough economic times, it’s difficult to convince your editors to let you attend a conference. Fortunately, the Education Writers Association can offer assistance. We have scholarships that close that funding gap. Our scholarships for education reporters and editors can cover the registration fee (except awards banquet), up to $250 for airfare, train fare or mileage, and one night of hotel—or two, if you’re willing to share a room.

Our lineup includes Paul Tough, New York Times Magazine editor and author of Whatever It Takes, about Geoffrey Canada’s cradle to adulthood experiment in education in Harlem; Arne Duncan, the new U.S. education secretary; Pedro Noguera, a sociologist who has long studied the achievement gap; and Michelle Rhee, D.C.’s newsmaking school chancellor, among other luminaries.

Topics include dropouts, rethinking financial aid, the millennial generation in college, school reform, and others. Practical sessions will offer guidance on FERPA and FOIA, jobs beyond newsroom journalism, deciphering school budgets and Blogging 201.

Check out more information here. If you already know you want to attend, apply for a scholarship now. Hope to see you this spring in the nation’s capital!

Writing Short, Writing Smart

By Linda Perlstein, EWA’s public editor

Superintendent

Earns more than the governor

The kids still can’t read

Reporters have not been asked to write in haiku—not yet. But news holes are shrinking. Meanwhile, you have as much to say as ever. I’m not going to pretend you can say as much in 10 inches as you can in 20. You can’t give as much history, you can’t give as much context, you can’t give as many examples. But with rigorous discipline and a creative mind, you can do great things in small spaces.

When Brady Dennis was a night cops reporter at the St. Petersburg Times, he wrote a series of profiles called “300 Words.” The lovely vignettes—of a toll booth operator working to pay debts from his late wife’s cancer, of a prison inmate visiting his baby daughter, and more—took only eight or nine inches yet left readers sated. There were no musts in these pieces—Dennis didn’t have to quote experts or explain capital budget outlays—but still, any reporter can learn from his discipline. “What I tried to do was just boil it down to what was essential,” he told me. “Every line said something.”

Some tips on creating strong journalism in small spaces:

Narrow Your Focus.

Roy Peter Clark, a writing coach at the Poynter Institute, advises writers to “first prune the dead limbs and then shake out the dead leaves.” You can’t, and shouldn’t, trim inches through word choice alone. Before you start writing, decide the essential purpose of the article—what’s new, what’s important. Cut everything that doesn’t serve that purpose.

If your piece is about ELL students being misidentified for special ed because of language difficulties, the fact that a child is bullied in his special ed class is interesting but not relevant. That his mother can’t communicate with teachers is relevant; that she works three jobs is only interesting. In the land of the 16-inch enterprise story, interesting isn’t enough.

If you are an editor, be careful what you ask for. Clark points out that editors’ first instinct is to look for holes in a story—an instinct reporters anticipate by including points that aren’t necessarily relevant. If editors truly want shorter stories, they must exercise restraint as well.

Write Serially.

Your school system is rolling out a new grading policy and you can’t imagine doing it justice in 10 inches. Think instead of three 10-inch stories that each tackle a different angle. There are risks to this approach, as Charles Lussier of The Advocate in Baton Rouge, La., pointed out on the K-12 listserve. “On a few occasions I’ve feel like I’m writing a trailer for a movie that will never get made,” he said. It may help to draft the three budget lines up front and enlist your editor to support your follow-through.

Don’t Say the Same Thing Twice.

Consider pieces you’ve written: Do you have quotes from two people that say essentially the same thing? Two anecdotes that serve the same purpose? A one-column line chart can be a great, small substitute for two data-heavy grafs, as long as the chart replaces the grafs instead of repeats their information.

Pare Your Quotes.

Dennis barely quoted anyone in his “300 Words” pieces. “We’re so used to, ‘We have to quote this person and we have to quote that person,” he said. “Why?” Great question.

Sometimes quotes are imperative. “Even a bad quote from the target of an investigation might be required,” Clark said. And I love using standalone dialogue. But in my opinion, too many quotes are overly long, uninteresting or unnecessary. A quote should not simply repeat, in different words, what was said in the sentence setting up the quote. A quote should be short—think of it as punctuation, in a way. Pick out one sentence and paraphrase the rest. Or paraphrase it all.

In the olden days, you could first quote a parent activist saying that high school students need more sleep in the morning, so school start times should be pushed back. Then you could quote the administrator explaining all the reasons the school system is resisting a change. These days, you may have to sum it up yourself, without any quotes at all. Supporters say high school students need more sleep in order to learn properly, while administrators emphasize that logistical problems—with sports schedules, bus schedules and costs—make such a switch prohibitively difficult.

Don’t Skimp on Specific Examples.

These can be especially effective in quick-hit lists. How did the elementary school get its test scores up? Students took more practice tests and teachers used the scores to sort students into new weekly study groups. Students spent 30 minutes a day learning testing language, such as “author’s purpose.” They won popsicles and other prizes for using the new words properly.

Beware the Double or Triple Lede.

Too often I read a lede immediately followed by a graf that reads to me like another lede, and sometimes that’s even followed by another one. Be confident, choose what’s important and launch right in.

Choose Words Carefully.

As William Strunk Jr. commanded: Omit needless words. Passive voice uses more words than active voice. Flowery prose has no place in a short story—or a long one, for that matter. Ask a colleague to trim your story before you ship it; he or she is likely to be less attached.

Speaking of Being Attached...

Writing short requires no less work than writing long. Summing up a debate in your own words rather than publishing ping-ponging quotes requires no fewer interviews. The approach requires a level of confidence and authority that only comes from thorough reporting. So it’s hard to write a story so short you feel your hard work won’t be noticed.

Well, you have to get over that. On this, it helps to have the backing of editors. (Are any editors listening?) If you only push stories for the front page that are more than 18 inches, you are reinforcing a notion that length correlates directly with importance.

Tackling his “300 Words” stories, Dennis wrote without regard to space, then trimmed mercilessly. You may prefer to wield your mental axe before you ever dump your notebook. Whatever your approach, take heart in the fact that the strategies that make short writing great translate to longer pieces as well.

Brady Dennis is now a financial reporter at the Washington Post, where his most recent piece, a compelling look at the human side of the AIG downfall, ran on the front page Saturday. It was five or six times longer than his “300 Words” pieces, but it had just as few dead limbs and leaves.

Public editor Linda Perlstein is available to help you. Contact her at 410-539-2464 or lperlstein@ewa.org.

Reports: NCLB, Stimulus, National Standards and More

Technology and Testing
Can technology revamp testing in U.S. schools? A new report released by Education Sector says that technology can at least make testing more efficient. Bill Tucker, chief operating officer at Ed Sector and lead author of the report, finds that using multiple forms of media can improve assessment, teaching and learning. As a result, the information that educators garner can help them better understand how students arrive at certain answers and concepts and to adjust instruction. The report cautions that technology alone can’t change the testing system. It has to be supported by funding, curriculum, professional development and other strategies to be successful.

Jobs, the Economy and Education
If you are still trying to make sense of the stimulus package and what it means for higher education, then join the club. The American Council on Education and the National Association of College and University Business Officers sponsored a webinar on the topic and gives a breakdown of where the money is going. You can view slides here.

A Case for National Standards
The blogosphere went into overdrive when American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten wrote an editorial about the need to establish national standards for schools in the Washington Post. Weingarten said that “abundant evidence suggests that common, rigorous standards lead to more students reaching higher levels of achievement.”

The idea seems to be gaining traction though policy wonks don’t agree on how standards should be formed. Eduwonk blogger Andy Rotherham writes that he’s not against national standards; however, he is concerned the issue could be distracting to what’s really ailing public education today. Over at Flypaper, Mike Petrilli suggests the next phase of the national standards movement is to test big cities to see if the idea will work. Robert Pondiscio, at Core Knowledge, says a lack of coherent curricula is one reason that underperforming schools fail students and that he believes national standards should be set. You can also read Jay P. Greene’s thoughts on the issue.

NCLB and Schools
Most school districts say they offer public school choice and supplemental educational services (SES) as required by No Child Left Behind. A new report released by RAND Corp. finds that the total number of students participating in the programs has increased. However, a small number of students eligible for NCLB educational options actually take advantage of services. Researchers at RAND and the American Institutes for Research found that the number of students participating in Title I public school choice and SES increased during the 2006-07 school year. Nearly 6.9 million students were eligible for Title I public school choice, and 3.3 million were eligible for SES. Only 1 percent of those eligible for choice and 17 percent of those eligible for SES participated. Parents said they were satisfied with their child’s current school choice. Parents opting not to enroll children in SES either believed that they didn’t need help or said services were provided at inconvenient times. The report also finds that communication continues to be a challenge and the implementation of SES services can improve.

Speaking of NCLB, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute has released a report examining adequately yearly progress and the AYP rules established by states. “The Accountability Illusion” finds that a school’s ability to make AYP depends on the state in which it is located. The new report also finds that middle schools were less likely to meet AYP. The authors of the report say it’s not time to throw NCLB in the dumpster. Instead, they call on the Obama administration and Congress to create incentives for states to develop more rigorous standards and tests. In addition, states should have more say on what to do with failing schools.

How to Stop a School Bully
The Colorado Trust finds that 60 percent of educators in the state believed bullying is a significant problem in schools and felt it their responsibility to intervene. The organization supported a three-year bullying prevention initiative that involved 45 schools, school districts and community organizations reaching 50,000 students. The Colorado Trust’s initiative finds that positive adult/student relationships and a school culture of trust and fairness help reduce bullying, and in the process student achievement level rises. About one-third of students involved in the initiative experienced less bullying after one year, a time period in which state test scores rose. Boys were 75 percent more likely to use physical bullying than girls and 22 percent more likely to verbally bully others. But the Colorado Trust found no gender difference for cyberbullying.

Dr. Seuss Is Coming to a School Near You
With so much doom and gloom dominating the headlines, some reporters may be looking for a lighthearted feature story. Mark your calendar for March 2, because NEA will sponsor its 12th Read Across America Day. See if any big names will be coming to a school near you to read to students. If you’re swamped and can’t make it out of the newsroom, then send a photographer to get some standalone art. You may catch a break from your editor.

Media Notes

Fixing Newspapers
Should web users pay for online content? That’s the question the Poynter Institute’s Rick Edmonds explores in a recent blog post. Many journalists contend that newspapers made their biggest mistakes (and are paying for it dearly today) by making content too accessible. With the news industry in dire straits, executives are still facing challenges on how to turn a profit, and no real solutions have been found, Edmond says.

For those of you who still have questions about using Twitter, read this New York Times piece.

Best in Blogs
If you want to start an ed blog and haven’t, or if you just want some fresh ideas to update the one you have, check out Time magazine’s rating of blogs. The publication has come up with its list of the top blogs of 2009, and only one ed blog—DetentionSlip.org—is on it. Time says that “if you find yourself worrying about this country’s educational system, this blog will send you over the edge.” There are some other interesting blogs making Time’s list, such as Bleat, written by James Lileks, a columnist for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and heavy hitters such as the Google blog and the Huffington Post. Are any of your favorite blogs featured on this list? Why do you think education got so few mentions?

Ed blogger Alexander Russo is at it again, naming his top “education hotties.” EWA member and Education Week reporter Dakarai Aarons was a lock this year. Libby Quaid of the Associated Press, Seyward Darby of the New Republic and Dana Goldstein of American Prospect round out the ed reporter and blogger picks. You can read the rest of the list here.

Jobs, Fellowships, Upcoming Meetings and Conferences

The Center for Media and Democracy, an independent, nonprofit public interest organization, is seeking an executive director. The position is in Madison, Wis., and the prospective candidate should have a strong commitment to public interest activism and a proven record of fundraising. If interested, please send cover letter, resume and salary history to segmont@egmontassociates.com, or Egmont Associates, 85 East India Row #24F, Boston, MA, 02110.

Brown University is hosting a two-day conference, “The Immigrant Paradox In Education and Behavior: Is Becoming American a Development Risk?”March 6-7. Top researchers will discuss the immigrant paradox in education and behavior. If you are covering immigrant students in your community, this is the place to get up to speed. Go here to register.

Investigative Reporters and Editors/National Institute of Computer-Assisted Reporting is holding its annual computer-assisted reporting conference March 19-22. Go here to register.

The Online News Association in conjunction with the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism will sponsor “The News Vision Conference: Journalism Jobs in Transition.” The one-day symposium will be held at the Newseum in Washington, March 30. To register visit this website.

The Hechinger Institute on Education and Media is seeking applications for its “Covering America, Covering Community Colleges” fellowship program. The application deadline is April 30. Fellows are expected to produce stories on community colleges after a one-week stint in New York City.

From the Beat

Doctors in Exile
Tom Marshall
St. Petersburg Times
Two years ago, only recently arrived from Colombia, Herlly Camacho parked cars for a valet service and served cocktails at a Miami Beach disco. Those jobs were an odd fit, considering her training. She’s a surgeon. Hers is a common story. An estimated 5,000 foreign-trained doctors enter the United States legally each year. Nearly a fifth of that number, including Camacho, receive asylum or federal refugee protection after fleeing their homelands. But now, in a quiet corner of Miami-Dade College, Camacho and dozens of fellow refugee doctors are studying to get their old lives back. The college is one of a handful in the nation with programs to help refugee doctors and other professionals reclaim their former careers.

The Education of Rodney Thomas
Chicago Public Radio
When central office sent Rodney Thomas to Chicago’s Robeson High School, he knew the stats: lots of homeless students, pregnancies, kids going through juvy court, and one-third of the freshmen reading below the sixth-grade level. But Thomas believed he could reach troubled kids and save them. So far this school year, despite all his efforts, 140 freshmen have already missed 18 or more days of school. Not what the Chicago District had in mind. You can keep in touch with this yearlong project at Robeson High and read and listen to the rest of the series as reported by Linda Lutton, Julia McEvoy and Natalie Moore here. Lutton attended EWA’s statistics bootcamp.

Lunch Programs Gain Attention
Kelly L. Reynolds
Watertown Daily Times
With the economy plummeting, people are finding it harder to provide for their families — a reality reflected in the number of students signing up for free and reduced-price lunches at area schools.

For Education Chief, Stimulus Means Power, Money and Risk
Sam Dillon
The New York Times
The $100 billion in emergency aid for public schools and colleges in the economic stimulus bill could transform Arne Duncan into an exceptional figure in the history of federal education policy: a secretary of education loaded with money and the power to spend large chunks of it as he sees fit.

ESU, Dillman, two executives sued over Sanders allegations
Dan Berrett
Pocono Record
One current and five former students are suing East Stroudsburg University, claiming a top administrator pursued unwanted sex with them — including genital groping and oral sex — and school officials covered up his alleged crimes. See related stories here.

Please send your best stories and member news to Mesha Williams at publications@ewa.org.

**About us**

The Education Writers Association is the national professional organization of education reporters dedicated to improving education reporting to the public. Contact us by email at ewa@ewa.org, by phone at (202) 452-9830, by fax at (202) 452-9837 or by mail at 2122 P Street NW, Suite 201, Washington, DC, 20037.Our officers include: Richard Whitmire, president; Kent Fischer, education reporter at the Dallas Morning News, vice president/actives; Marie Groark, senior policy officer and spokeswoman for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, vice president/associates; Kathy Baron, morning host/education reporter at northern California's KQED-FM (on leave), secretary; Linda Lenz, publisher of Catalyst, immediate past president. Our board members include Dale Mezzacappa, former reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and now a Philadelphia-based freelance writer, Tanya Schevitz, higher education reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle; John Merrow of Learning Matters Inc.; Rodney Ferguson, executive vice president of Lipman Hearne Inc.; Stephanie Banchero, reporter for Chicago Tribune; Cornelia Grumman, vice president of the First Five Years Fund; Elizabeth Green, reporter for Gotham Schools. org; Scott Elliott, columnist for the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News. Find contact information at our Web site, http://www.ewa.org.