<<On the Blackboard>>
EWA announces 22 fellows to attend its bootcamp in Cambridge
EWA has selected 22 journalists from newsrooms around the country to attend its fifth annual research and statistics training program. The program, which is held with the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, assists journalists who cover education in how to analyze data. New America Media, a national association of ethnic news organizations, helped recruit and select four fellows from ethnic and community media for the bootcamp. This year marks the first-ever bootcamp attended by members of the ethnic press.
Got Good Clips? Let Us Judge....
EWA is now accepting entries in 19 categories for the 2008 National Awards for Education Reporting. It will recognize for the first time those who do outstanding work in multi-media and will give awards to bloggers. In addition, the magazine category which recognizes outstanding magazine journalists who work in regional, national and local publications -- will accept entries from journalists who write in college alumni magazines. Go here for entry form and rules. Postmark deadline for entries is January 12, 2009 and all should be mailed to Chief Judge, National Awards for Education Reporting, EWA 2122 P Street, NW Suite 201, Washington, DC 20037.
Tightening the Belt, Expanding the Reach
This two-day regional higher ed seminar will be held Feb. 27-28 at the San Francisco Chronicle. Topics include: higher education policy in tough economic times, the effects of declining state appropriations on access, the challenges for Asian students as the "model minority," and the success and failure of transfers from community colleges to 4-year institutions. Scholarships, as always, are available to reporters. This seminar is for reporters only and space is limited. You can contact Raven Hill for more information.
Thinking Outside the (Paper) Box
by Linda Perlstein, EWA’s public editor
This isn’t the kind of column I want to have to write. But our world is shifting—for some, imploding—and jobs are on the line. The news, though, is better than you might think. Even just a few years of traditional journalism experience give you skills that are valued in all sorts of good jobs.
“I think there’s plenty of demand for the kind of thoughtful reporting and writing the best journalists do about education or any field,” said Thomas Toch, a former journalist at U.S. News & World Report and Education Week and the co-director of Education Sector, a Washington, D.C., think tank. “One can be gloomy about how the inherent flaws in the economics of journalism finally caught up to the profession … and gloomy about how filling the vacuum is a lot of opinion that is shallow and poorly expressed, but I think there is real demand for serious analysis in every sector of public life.”
“Countless industries—almost every single profession—have people who do writing, reports, research, white papers and evaluations,” said Ernest Sotomayor, a former Newsday editor who directs the career services office at the Columbia School of Journalism.
Of course, there are jobs at the sort of associations we cover as journalists. Joan Richardson spent 25 years as a newspaper reporter and editor before moving to the National Staff Development Council, and more recently to the journal Phi Delta Kappan, where she is editor. “There are probably more people writing about education in the association world than at newspapers these days,” Richardson said. Education organizations publish magazines, web sites, books and newsletters—a lot of it more serious, skeptical journalism than flackery. (That’s fortunate for Richardson, who says that a PR emphasis would not have fit her “snarky newspaper personality.”)
Journalists may find success writing grant proposals, or the research reports that foundations commission to determine how well their money is being spent. Educational book publishers, such as Jossey-Bass and Corwin Press, often look for freelance “developmental editors” to rewrite practitioners’ and experts’ manuscripts. If you’re interested in higher education and writing is your strong point, consider a university publication, such as an alumni magazine. Speechwriting is another option, for association executives, state superintendents, university presidents, politicians and so on. Speaking of politicians: Turnover after the November elections means that some jobs will become available on Capitol Hill and in the U.S. Department of Education, as well as on the state and local level.
Think tanks offer an interesting opportunity to stretch one’s mind. There is, Toch said, a demand for objective, dependable, accessible research that can help frame policy debates. Such work is not necessarily polemical—though at some places that is the case—but often more focused on analysis and solutions than the typical news piece.
“You also have to come to terms with fact that the reporter-source relationship is different in an organization like this,” Toch said. “You’re not completely on the outside. You take part in the discussion and not merely report on it. The challenge of objectivity is more complicated. The navigating of relationships is more complicated.”
What if you would like to return to a newspaper one day? “It’s not unheard of to go to political campaigns or foundations or advocacy, and then go back to journalism,” Sotomayor said. How hard that may be to pull off depends on how much time you spent in journalism before you left, and how long you were away.
If you don’t want to leave journalism, keep in mind that nearly all new endeavors in the industry live solely online. David Plotz, the editor of the online magazine Slate, said, “There are still huge opportunities for journalists who can do tech-side work—Flash coding and other kinds of development.” You might start your own blog. Don’t expect it to be profitable right away, if ever. But it’s a nice way to parlay the expertise you’ve developed into even bigger standing that, if your subject breaks big in the news, could make you money. (Think of Nate Silver, the founder of FiveThirtyEight.com and wunderkind of 2008 election predictions.)
Here are a few suggestions that might help in your search:
* Regularly check the big web sites, like Monster.com, and industry-specific sites, such as MediaBistro.com and JournalismJobs.com.
* Contact university career centers. Don’t limit the search to just your alma mater, because some schools open their job web sites to non-alumni.
* Look on the job pages of the Society of National Association Publications and the American Society of Association Executives. As well, call your sources at foundations and organizations—especially the ones that deal with subjects where you have developed expertise—and tell them you are looking.
* USAJobs.gov and Change.gov are good starting points for federal government jobs.
* Fritz Edelstein sends out a roundup of education bills, hearings and, most important, public relations and association jobs. To get on his list, e-mail him at fritz@publicprivateaction.com.
*Also you can look at EWA’s job page.
What if you see a job you like but don’t have the specific pedigree requested on the job posting? “You make your best case why your experience as a reporter is comparable,” Sotomayor said.
Don’t underestimate the advantages your print or broadcasting career has given you. The starting point—and this is huge—is writing well. There’s the ability to distill huge amounts of information into a single document. Working independently (no small thing, especially if you work for an organization where you are the only person putting out publications). Analyzing research. Producing quickly, under deadline pressure. Interviewing all sorts of people.
Best of all, if you are a schools reporter looking for work in the education world, you know the subject matter. “When I started at NSDC, the fact that I had never worked for an association was irrelevant,” Richardson said. Her content knowledge, however, was paramount.
Who knows? You may decide to become a schoolteacher. There’s law school. And lastly, there are … newspapers.
Yes, some papers are still hiring. Even ones that have laid off reporters often make additional hires later. “We see that over and over and over again,” Sotomayor said.
Linda Perlstein is available to help you. Contact her at 410-539-2464 or lperlstein@ewa.org.
The State of Journalism
Can the news get any worse for journalists? As we wind down 2008, media companies and newspapers like Gannett, CNN and Indianapolis Star have announced more layoffs and the Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy.
Editor and Publisher recently had a piece about the likelihood of “several cities” losing their newspapers by 2010, leaving them without a main reporting source. You can read this piece written by Pamela J. Podger in American Journalism Review, describing her consternation after learning her husband and she would be out of work together when their newspaper let them go. AJR is surveying reporters, asking “Is there life after newspapers?”
The outlook for local television journalism isn’t good either. The New York Times published a feature about local television anchors going off the air because of budget shortfalls.
Let’s hope 2009 will be a better year for reporting in the industry. In a recent interview with the Poynter Institute, Doug Anderson, dean of Penn State University’s College of Communications, says the turmoil has been painful for the industry. He says good journalism will not disappear. There is some cause for optimism because student interest remains strong and they are still opting to major in journalism, Anderson says.
EWA News and Notes
EWA President Richard Whitmire has announced he’ll leave USA Today at the end of December see more at http://www.whyboysfail.com/.
Kit Lively, education editor at the Dallas Morning News, is entering Vanderbilt University to pursue a master's degree in education policy.
Former Chicago Public Radio reporter Jody Becker co-produced a documentary on autism. “Autistic Like: Graham’s Story” follows the Linthorst family’s quest to find the right therapies and doctors to help their son. Becker was awarded a National Education Writers Association Fellowship in 1998 to examine equity in suburban school systems.
Jason Wermers is now covering city/county government at The Item in Sumter, S.C., but hopes to return to the education beat soon.
Reports: School finance, College affordability, Twitter and more!
The Power of Twitter
American Journalism Review raised an interesting discussion with readers about how journalists should use Twitter during breaking news. For those of you not up to speed, Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send and read updates of users in 140 characters. So, ed reporters, are you using Twitter for your reporting? Has it helped you find new sources and stories? Let EWA know how you use Twitter. You can send comments to publications@ewa.org or post to our listserv. We’ll put your comments in our next newsletter. Remember you can visit EWA’s Twitter page at http://twitter.com/EdWriters.
Facing the Future
The Brookings Institution and the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington released the final report of a six-year study examining the finances of K-12 school districts. “Facing the Future: Financing Public Schools” finds public schools are unnecessarily burdened by rules and policies that hold local officials accountable for compliance, but not for student performance. Paul Hill, CRPE director and a research professor, and Marguerite Roza, research associate professor, presented their findings at Brookings earlier this month. They questioned how states and cities could spend money effectively, as well as promote high achievement for all students. They describe a K-12 school finance system as inefficient, haphazard, contradictory, opaque and driven by politics due to mandates and multiple funding sources. The researchers find school districts spend a greater share of unrestricted funds on non-poor students than on poor ones because the schools in poor neighborhoods tend to hire inexperienced teachers with low salaries. Not only that, but schools spend more per pupil on elective courses than on core subjects and schools in poor neighborhoods offer fewer electives. CRPE recommends school districts link records on spending, services, student characteristics and outcomes. In addition, Hill and Roza contend schools should create a performance-based accountability for top officials to retain power to re-assign schools, change staffing and create options.
Making the Case for HBCU’s
A Georgia lawmaker recently proposed merging two historically black colleges with white-majority institutions in an attempt to save the state money. Seth Harp, chairman of Georgia’s Senate Higher Education Committee, made the recommendation last week that calls for the combining of historically black Savannah State University and historically white-majority Armstrong Atlantic State University; and historically black Albany State and white-majority Dalton College. He says administrative costs would be cut and the duplication of academic programs eliminated. Most importantly, he says it would close an ugly chapter in the state’s segregated history. But some lawmakers in Georgia say the proposal is a band-aid for the state’s budget issues and doesn’t take in account the mission of institutions. Michael Lomax, president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund, tells the Atlanta-Journal Constitution the marketplace depends on HBCUs and the students who graduate each year. The proposal in Georgia raises a larger question for the higher ed community and the role that HBCUs will continue to play as some institutions struggle with fundraising and money.
Illinois Preschool Teachers’ Education on the Rise
The education levels of Illinois pre-school teachers have increased over the past seven years. That’s according to a study released by the National-Louis University's McCormick Tribune Center for Early Childhood Leadership and the Early Childhood and Parenting Collaborative at the University of Illinois. In 2001, the McCormick Foundation released a report examining Illinois early childcare education system, program options available, demographics, qualifications, compensation to workers and professional opportunities available to the workforce. The report made several recommendations to improve early childhood care in the state. This most recent report details the changes in intervening years. Researchers praise six major achievements, consisting of early childhood councils and organizations that expanded programs, access and professional development in the state.
Can Technology Save Students Money?
With cuts in state budgets and administrative costs rising, many colleges say they need to increase tuition to pay their heavy personnel overhead. However, some public institutions have learned technology can transform undergraduate education and save money. Does this trickle down to students and help their bottom line? Washington Monthly Magazine and Education Sector teamed up for “Is Technology the Answer to Rising Costs?”, an article written by Ed Sector’s research and policy manager Kevin Carey. “Transformation 101,” which appeared in this month’s edition, spurred a discussion at a recent forum at the Washington Hilton Hotel. “Colleges are perfectly capable of becoming more efficient and productive in the same way that countless other industries have: through technology," Carey writes. "One of the untold stories in higher education is that the cost of teaching is starting to decline, but virtually none of those savings are being passed along to students and parents in the form of lower prices.”
Carey argues if colleges use productivity gains from technology to restrain prices then they’ll continue to “thrive in a market that values their product more than ever.”
Measuring Up
College tuition is escalating beyond the average family’s ability to pay, with low income families contributing more than half their income to send children to a four-year public institution. That’s why states and colleges aren’t getting high marks in the much-talked-about National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education report. Measuring Up examines states on the following: preparation for college, participation, affordability, completion, benefits and learning. California was the only state to receive a passing grade on affordability; all the other states received a score of F. To see how states fared on other measures read the report here. The report urges states to establish better policies for tuition and student aid to help families.
The burden that low to middle class families are experiencing today to pay for college hit a nerve with New York Times readers. The online story received 500 comments.
Maybe American Students Aren’t Doing So Bad After All
American students are doing better in math and science than most people think. But the U.S. still lags behind Asian students in test scores. The average math scores of both U.S. fourth and eighth graders were higher than the TIMMS scale average and much higher than almost a decade ago. In 2007, 10 percent of U.S. fourth graders and six percent of eighth graders scored at or above the advanced international benchmark in math. At grade four, seven countries had higher percentages of students performing at or above the advanced international math benchmark in the U.S. including Singapore, Hong Kong, China Taipei, Japan, Kazakhstan, England the Russian Federation. In science, the average scores for both U.S. fourth and eighth graders in science were not that much different compared to a decade ago. In 2007, 15 percent of U.S. fourth graders and 10 percent of eighth graders scored at or above the advanced international benchmark in science. At fourth grade, two countries had a higher percentage of students performing at a above to advanced international science benchmark: Singapore and China Taipei. At eighth grade, six countries performed above the U.S. including Singapore, China Taipei, Japan, England, Korea and Hungary.
Upcoming Events, Conference, and Awards
Learning Point Associates and the Collaborative for Building After-School Systems will release a new report on Enhancing School Reform Through Expanded Learning. The report will be released Monday, January 12, 2009 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. To register for this event, please send an e-mail to Doreen Suigitan.
The Society of Professional Journalists is accepting submissions for its 2008 Sigma Delta Chi Award in Journalism. Deadline for entries is Feb. 4, 2009.
CASE will host its annual conference for media relations professionals March 19, 2009. The conference will be held in Atlanta.
The FPG Child Development Institute is looking for a director of public relations.
From the Beat
Surge in CRCT results raises ‘big red flag’
Heather Vogell and John Perry
Atlanta Journal- Constitution
A miracle occurred at Atherton Elementary this summer, if its standardized math test scores are to be believed. Half of the DeKalb County school’s fifth-graders failed a yearly state test in the spring. When the 32 students took retests, not only did every one of them pass — 26 scored at the highest level. But state education officials said last week they will investigate steep gains at Atherton and four other schools as a result of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s inquiries.
College athletes studies guided toward 'major in eligibility'
Jill Lieber Steeg, Jodi Upton, Patrick Bohn and Steve Berkowitz
USA Today
Steven Cline left Kansas State University last spring with memories of two years as a starting defensive lineman for a major-college football team. He left with a diploma, credits toward a master's degree and a place on the 2007 Big 12 Conference all-academic team. His experience reflects how the NCAA's toughening of academic requirements for athletes has helped create an environment in which they are more likely to graduate than other students — but also more likely to be clustered in programs without the academic demands most students face.
College application plans change as family budgets shrink
by Larry Gordon and Seema Mehta
Los Angeles Times
Since Laura Monte was a child, her parents had assured her that if she did well in high school, the family would find a way to pay for college. Now, things are not so certain.The south Orange County family had socked away money in stock funds that grew to $45,000. Scott and Pam Monte figured that the investments, coupled with their dual income, would pay for four years of college. Then the stock market crashed, and the college fund dropped by half. That led to difficult family discussions and a change in Laura's application plans, replacing pricey East Coast private colleges with more California public universities.
Rhee Tackles Classroom Challenge
by Amanda Ripley
Time Magazine
DC schools chancellor Michelle Rhee is featured in this Time Magazine article about saving the troubled school system.
"Board members question pre-K partnerships"
by Ashley Northington
The Shreveport Times
School Board members are questioning if they should be mandated to "pay rent" to private child care establishments when the district has under-utilized facilities that can be converted into space for preschool classes.
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 of USA Today, 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. Find contact information at our Web site, http://www.ewa.org.
