On the Blackboard>>
Want to Learn How to Watch a Classroom?
Also, don’t forget on Tuesday at 1p.m. EDT we have our first webinar, with Deborah Ball about the demonstration math class she taught this summer. Contact Lori Crouch to get access to the videos and the evite to the webinar. Here's a link to more info about the program.
Twice is Nice in Chicago!
EWA had a blast at its annual meeting in Chicago last April and is returning to the Windy city for its new seminar "Teaching to a New Nation: Are Teachers Ready for the Modern Classroom?" Chicago Public Radio is hosting the meetingSept. 19-20 and registration is now open. The meeting is open only to reporters and will focus on writing about teachers, new models in teacher prep, teaching immigrant students, data-driven instruction and much more. Scholarships are available to cover hotel and travel costs. To see the brochure and to register online, go here.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
Through your generosity and the gifts of many other friends, EWA was able to exceed the match goal of $112,500 for the Challenge Fund for Journalism. You gave a total of $147,069 that will be used for scholarships and new programs and we hope will garner the full $75,000 match from McCormick Tribune, Ford, Knight and the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism foundations. We’ll keep you posted!
Secret Gold Mine
How to Get a Good Story from the U.S. Department of Education
by Mike Bowler, a former Baltimore Sun education reporter and communications director at the Institute of Education Sciences
Last month Bob Frahm offered up some useful hints on how to mine your state education department for school news. This month I’m taking you to another rich source that’s even more hidden in plain sight: the U.S. Department of Education.
If you’re like I was when I went to work for the department almost four years ago, you’ve long since given up. You call the main number for the Office of Communication and Outreach and get the run-around (unless you’re doing a puff piece on NCLB). Or you have no idea where to call for statistical information. Six million people a month turn to ERIC, the world’s largest digital library of education research and information, but one of them isn’t you.
So here’s a very short guide, plus a couple of neat things you can do to produce a story tomorrow, if you’d like.
All Gaul is divided into two parts: the above-mentioned OCO, housed in the secretary’s office on Maryland Avenue, and the research/statistical arm of the department, mostly housed miles away among the lobbyists on K Street. The top people on Maryland Avenue (including Secretary Spellings) are political appointees, and many will be gone when a new administration arrives next year. OCO is charged with advancing the policies of the Bush administration, but the “career” people can be very helpful, and most of them are highly competent. (Right now they’re in the “barnacle mode,” clinging to the rocks in anticipation of the next wave of political appointees.) OCO has assigned its people to beats, much in the style of a newspaper. It’s useful to know, for example, that Stephanie Babyak (202-401-2311) and Jane Glickman (202-401-1307), both knowledgeable veterans, job-share the higher education beat. They’re the ones to call if you’re working on a higher education or financial aid story and need federal information or comment.
The research and statistical arm of the department, for which I was communications director from 2004 to 2007, is the Institute of Education Sciences. Created in 2002 as the successor to the old OERI, IES is resolutely nonpartisan, unbiased and so neutral that placing an exclamation point in a report is a mortal sin. Take a look at the IES home page. You’ll see it has four centers. The best known, the National Center for Education Statistics, is one of a dozen or so federal statistical agencies, and it churns out reports at the rate of roughly one a week on everything from Native American schools to library holdings. NCES also conducts the National Assessment of Educational Progress (the “Nation’s Report Card”) and international assessments such as TIMSS. The centers for education research and special education research sponsor most of the research in the U.S. peer-reviewed research that’s not conducted by and for special interests. And the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance conducts evaluations of major education programs such as Reading First, Title I and the D.C. voucher scheme.
So to whom do you turn, and what are some stories you can do now?
- First, if you want to be automatically informed of any activities at IES’ four centers, sign up for the institute’s free Newsflash service at http://ies.ed.gov/newsflash.
- Who’s working a back-to-school story? NCES can provide just about any national statistic and a surprising amount of state and local data. The data for fall 2008 are projected, of course; these heads haven’t yet been formally counted. But NCES projections are as good as gold. Temporarily, Linda Marshall (202-219-0361) is the point of first contact at IES. But sometimes you can go directly to a statistician. Tom Snyder (202-502-7452), for example, edits NCES’ Digest of Education Statistics and can find a needle in a data haystack.
- Want to include local colleges and universities in the story for example, how student expenses are outpacing financial aid? The College Navigator (under NCES) provides up-to-date information (2007-08 school year) on any college or university in the nation. It’s better than Peterson’s, easy to navigate and free.
- The What Works Clearinghouse, under NCEE, has been busy after a long dormant period. Topics in July and August: Open Court reading, the use of board games to improve the arithmetic skills of preschoolers, a study of whether having a Teach For America teacher affects the academic performance of high school students. (Answer: Yes.) It’s all on the Web.
- ERIC has been around since long before there was an Internet, but this is no longer your grandfather’s ERIC. A redesigned Web site was launched August 3. It’s easier to navigate. It’s more intuitive. It has a great “help” tool with a tutorial to help get you going.
- The folks who administer the National Assessment don’t want pesky reporters comparing State A with State B. But it’s not impossible, and any number of back-to-school stories could be derived from NAEP’s State Comparisons Tool. Here you can see an ordering of which states score better, worse, or comparably to other states or the nation as a whole. You can also see an ordering by performance of racial/ethnic groups, socioeconomic status or gender. You can compare the size of the achievement gap between groups across states and changes in the size of the gap over time.
- You can also use the NAEP Questions Tool to view the actual questions on NAEP. You can see real student responses and the percentages of students answering each question correctly. You can see how students in your state did on any question (for assessments where there are state results).
I’ll be posting on the EWA Website the names and numbers of the USED staffers by beat, as well as other contact information. Good luck mining the Ed Department. It’s really not that hard.
Mike Bowler is serving as an interim public editor over the summer while Linda Perlstein enjoys her new baby boy. If you need help on a story contact Bowler or any of the public editors directly. Or contact Mesha Williams at 202-452-9830 or publications@ewa.org.
Reports: Failing Schools, College Rankings and Cafeteria Meat
College Drinking and Changing Social Perception
New University of Virginia Study Contrasts With National Trends
College students may not drink so much if they know how little alcohol their peers consume. That’s the conclusion of a six-year study conducted by the University of Virginia, where researchers used “social norms marketing” to better inform students about the behavior and attitudes their peers have about drinking. Social norms marketing uses commercial advertising techniques to correct misperceptions. Campus posters, newspaper advertisements and web pages were all used to capture students’ attention. The authors say college students are influenced by perceptions, whether right or wrong. Students tend to conduct themselves in a manner they consider as “normal.” The University of Virginia’s James Turner and Jennifer Bauerle found students who had seen the marketing campaign were less likely to engage in risky behavior. Students reported lower blood alcohol concentration; fewer students were injured in alcohol related accidents; fewer students drove under the influence; and fewer students engaged in unprotected sex as a result of alcohol. Over the past decade, national trends have found binge drinking has increased on the college level.
Giving Higher Ed a Break
It's been called one of the most important pieces of legislation to affect the higher education community in a decade. The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate passed the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, five years overdue. Lawmakers hope the legislation will help make college more affordable for American families who have seen tuition sky-rocket in the millennium. The bill expands the Pell Grant program, requires that colleges report more on their spending, and strengthens the U.S. Department of Education’s oversight over the student loan industry. Read the act here. See comments from U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Tom Carper about Congress passing the legislation. Also read this Inside Higher Education story about HEA.
The Rankings Are Coming!
As college administrators welcome a new class on campus, U.S. News and World Report continues its tradition of spotlighting elite institutions. Every August for the past 25 years, the magazine has released its controversial America’s Best College Guide, featuring institution profiles, college acceptance and graduation rates, economic and ethnic diversity, faculty research, etc. Despite criticism that the rankings push the wrong priorities on college campuses and create an “arms race” in admissions, the 2009 rankings will go live on the magazine’s website Friday, August 22. The edition will hit newsstands on Monday, August 25. This year, the magazine has added two new rankings—up and coming institutions, and public high school counselors get a chance to choose their top schools. Forbes.com has released its new college ranking system. Is it too much? Some college professors think so. Read this USA Today story from last year about a rankings backlash.
American Schools Aren’t So Bad
Researchers at Ohio State University say many schools labeled “failing” are not as bad as they are perceived. A new study says if schools were examined on how much students are learning, instead of test score achievement, then more could make the grade. Douglass Downey and Paul von Hippel, authors of the study, used a new way to measure school quality by analyzing how much students learn during the academic year, compared to their summer vacation. They surveyed students’ math and reading scores on four occasions: the beginning and end of their kindergarten year, and the beginning and end of first grade. The researchers say more U.S. schools would receive passing grades if they were evaluated on a “less biased measure” because students are still learning at a reasonable rate. The authors call for a change in evaluating schools under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Data was used from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, a national survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Education. The analysis focused on 4,217 children in 287 schools. You can read more about the study in the current issue of Sociology of Education.
The “Beef” over Cafeteria Food
A Washington, D.C.- based organization wants to get rid of processed meat in school cafeterias. The Cancer Project, a group promoting cancer prevention, has launched a 33-second television commercial, “Protect Our Kids,” warning of the ‘long-term’ dangers of children consuming processed meat. Children talk about health problems such as colon cancer and other side effects as they eat pizza and hot dogs bought in school cafeterias. The commercial has aired in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Chicago--cities the Cancer Project says fail in offering healthy food selections for students. School officials in Philadelphia say they have increased the amount of healthy food choices on school menus. The American Meat Institute says processed meat is safe and nutritious.
Pre-K News
Playing Catch Up
The Associated Press’ Nancy Zuckerbrod learned recently just how different the educational systems are for American and British students. Zuckerbrod and her family moved from Washington, D.C. to London over the summer. The education reporter and EWA member writes a piece about having to help her five-year-old daughter overcome “a learning gap” at her new school. British kindergartners are expected to know fractions, to tell time, count by fives up to 50, and to be able to read a book independently. The reporter says in U.S. schools, her daughter learned to plant basil seeds with her teacher, participated in lessons on insects, drew a “fantastic” picture of Saturn, and has mastered the monkey bars. In all seriousness, Zuckerbrod wonders what distinguishes the two countries’ early educational systems because by the middle grades, international tests indicate students from both countries score the same in reading.
Good Reads
The Girl in the Window
Three years ago detectives and a social worker arrived at a dilapidated house in Plant City, Fla. and made a heartbreaking discovery: a seven year old girl living in a dark, bug- infested closet. Psychologists describe the child as feral because she lived in isolation and was deprived of human nurturing. This St. Petersburg Times story chronicling “little Dani’s” journey of severe neglect and placement with an adoptive family has captivated journalists. How did reporter Lane DeGregory get her story? Read this Poynter Institute interview to see how she did it.
If you’re in the mood to do a little summer reading, try Donna Foote’s book “Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches With Teach for America.” The former Newsweek reporter examines the struggles of four new Teach for America recruits at Locke High School in South Central Los Angeles. The high school has been turned over to Green Dot Public Schools in hopes of improving student performance. Foote will be speaking at EWA’s regional meeting in Chicago.
Education Chatter
Eliminate Bad News by Eradicating Negative Language
EWA members got a good laugh this week after reading Dallas Morning News reporter Tawnell Hobbs’ post concerning school administrators and what they shouldn’t say in a news interview. In her newspaper’s education blog, Hobbs discusses an item published in The School Administrator’s magazine, about a consultant instructing his clients to turn “negative statements” into positive ones to soften coverage. The piece was written by James Lukaszewski, a communications coach. He suggests instead of saying the phrase “I don’t know,” one should reply: “My knowledge is limited, but I know a couple of things about that. Let me tell you what they are. If you need more information, I can get it for you.”
You can read the rest here. Does this advice really help school administrators? Let us know what you think.
Some reporters like Charles Lussier from The (Baton Rouge) Advocate question why spokespeople believe “I don’t know” or “No comment” are such bad answers.
“My attitude is if someone truly doesn't know something, I'd rather them say that than act like they do. They can simply follow up and say
1) What you're asking is unknowable
2) I'll call you right back
3) I'll get someone else to call you.
4) Here's a timetable for when this question can be answered.
Not too hard? And "no comment." As Calvin Coolidge once said, "No one ever got in trouble for what they didn't say," so I've never seen any shame in "No comment," if that's an understandable response. But I've seen PR folks go to great lengths to say nothing, just so they can avoid a "No comment." Maybe the general public reads "No comment," and it comes across as "F@#! you," but I think people are smarter than that. Perhaps I give them too much credit.”
Newspaper Opening, High School Reform Seminar
The South Florida-Sun Sentinel is looking for a computer assisted reporting specialist to work with reporters on daily and long-range projects. If interested, send resume and work samples by Aug. 29 to Kathy Pellegrino, Recruitment Editor, 200 E. Las Olas Boulevard,
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301.
The Hechinger Institute on Education and Media is sponsoring a seminar on Reforming American High Schools. The seminar will be held Oct. 17-19 in St. Louis. Application deadline is Sept. 12.
The Casey Journalism Center on Children and Families is accepting applications for “Communities in Flux: The Impact of Economic Turmoil and Shifting Demographics.” The meeting will be Nov. 16-18 in Chicago and is supported by the McCormick Foundation. Applications for the seminar are due Wednesday, Sept.17.
The CDS International is accepting applications for its 2009-2010 Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship Program. Fellows will learn the politics, economics, social and cultural environment of Germany and Europe. Deadline is Oct. 15.
From the Beat
'I can't go outside'
The Chicago Sun Times
by Rosalind Rossi and Art Golab
Eleven-year-old Maria Rivera is afraid to play in front of her own home. She spends much of her free time indoors, alone with her mom. Fear of the guns and gangs that plague her Little Village neighborhood has left Maria virtually a prisoner in her own home. In a Chicago Sun-Times survey taken in May, almost a third of fifth- through eighth-graders indicated that their everyday movements have been severely limited by the specter of gunfire.
Three of Sac City's small schools for at-risk teens have some of region's highest dropout rates
The Sacramento Bee
by Kim Minugh
Three of the small high schools that Sacramento City Unified launched five years ago to save at-risk students have some of the highest dropout rates in the region. Designed for no more than 500 students, the campuses were supposed to make school more personal for teens who might have gotten lost at the comprehensive high schools.
The dilemma of expulsions: They increase as more schools go to zero tolerance
Ann Arbor News
by David Jesse
Karrie Rhodes didn't see the first punch that was thrown. She didn't see the second, either. What she did see was one of her students being shoved to the ground. Rhodes' account of what happened during the fight and in the hours leading up to it - even the parts she didn't see - was enough for the Willow Run school board to expel the new student, 10, for almost two months. It's a debate being won more and more by those who favor zero-tolerance policies in schools in the state, some experts say.
Summer Often Spells No Vacation From Homework
The Washington Post
by Donna St. George
Concerned that students may lose academic skills over the summer months, many schools have implemented a vacation work packet. However, some Washington-area educators seem to be rethinking whether summer assignments help students.
Suspend fewer, MPS urged
The Milwauke Sentinel
by Alan J. Borsuk
A team of national experts has urged a major overhaul in the way Milwaukee Public Schools handles behavior issues in schools, saying MPS does not do enough to deal with problems short of suspending students and may have the highest suspension rate of any urban school system in America.
The Suburban Chill Toward Charter Schools
Chicago Public Radio
by Mike Rhee
For more than a decade, Chicago's school district has been turning to private companies to help educate its students. That help has come in the form of charter schools. Today, Chicago has 30 such schools, some with multiple campuses. It's a very different picture in the suburbs, where districts have not embraced charter schools. But a group in Waukegan, Illinois is hoping to change that.
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.
