<<On the Blackboard>>
Former Austin American Statesman Reporter Joins EWA Staff
We are pleased to announce that Raven Hill, a former K-12 education reporter with the Austin American Statesman, will join the EWA staff as the new seminars program coordinator. Raven comes on board Monday, August 4. She will take over for Marc Dadigan, who leaves EWA in September to attend graduate school at the University of Oregon. Raven comes to EWA as a former communications spokeswoman at the Education Trust in Washington. She was an education reporter with the Austin American Statesman for four years and previously worked at the Home News Tribune (East Brunswick, NJ) for three years as a municipal reporter. She is a blogger and member of EWA. Raven was featured in the Stories that Work section in our March 3 edition. She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) and was a Freedom Forum/Chips Quinn Scholar and an ASNE/APME Fellow. Raven will be responsible for developing and carrying out EWA’s regional seminars, as well as training on other platforms. While we are sad to see Marc leave, we are very excited to have Raven join us at EWA!
Preparing Teachers
Registration is now open for EWA's regional seminar, "Teaching to a New Nation: Are Teachers Ready for the Modern Classroom?" to be held in Chicago, Sept. 19-20. 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.
Time is Running Out
If you haven’t given to EWA’s Challenge Fund, ask yourself why? We know it is tough out there, but we don’t want to leave any match money on the table. There is still time left (until August 8) and any amount will help. We’ve raised about $100,000 but still need to get to $112,500. Don’t let the big numbers scare you, $100, $50 or $25 even $10, $5 or $1helps. These funds will be used for reporter scholarships to attend EWA trainings, for podcasting, webinar and online training, so it will benefit you. Help now. Click here to give.
The Story Begins With You
“Using state sources for new stories”
A column by Robert Frahm, freelance writer and former education reporter
Some of the best education stories start when a reporter digs up or stumbles upon the latest data or report that sheds light on how schools operate. The trick is, how do you find it?
In many cases, you just have to ask.
Want to know how much your district spends on library books? Whether your local schools suspend more students than most? How many teachers are teaching subjects for which they were not trained?
That kind of information is often available in reports compiled by state agencies, including your state department of education. These reports are not always issued in press releases or at public meetings, but reporters can usually get them on request.
“There is very little they can’t get from us,” says Julie Thompson, director of communications for the Arkansas Department of Education. “We have test scores down to the school level. . . . We’ve got athletic expenditures, just all kinds of things.”
States keep records on budgets, test scores, curriculum reviews, dropout rates, demographic studies, lawsuits and more. Public information officers at state education agencies can offer statewide perspective on local stories and lead you to data that will bolster your news stories.
“A lot of us are former reporters,” says Thompson, who worked for newspapers in Arkansas and for U.S. News & World Report. “We all believe we should be as open as possible.”
Most of these records are public. (Check your state’s freedom of information laws.) Some records are still kept in file cabinets, but many are also available online.
In Connecticut, the state education department produces nearly 60 reports annually. Many are required by state or federal laws. These include an end-of-year report from every local school district with detailed financial information, including spending on everything from library books to special education. Another report documents hiring by local districts, including vacancies and teacher shortage areas. There are reports on high school graduates, substitute teachers and school construction grants.
At the Hartford Courant, where I worked for many years, we used state data to investigate issues such as teacher absenteeism, student suspensions and special education programs. In one recent case, auditors and lawyers in the education department gave us reports on a charter school director who spent school funds on items including Armani suits and silk pajamas.
And, of course, state education departments are a key source of reports on test scores. In Connecticut and other states, this includes online data that can be easily studied for comparisons among districts or individual schools. These reports have become increasingly detailed in recent years, mainly because of the No Child Left Behind Act, the federal school reform law requiring states to monitor progress among various groups of schoolchildren.
“Without question, NCLB has opened the door to analysis of group performance nationwide. That’s a big deal,” says Tom Murphy, chief communications officer for the Connecticut Department of Education.
In addition to your state education department, there are other good state sources. State legislatures, for example, often employ researchers to study proposed education legislation or to review state spending on schools.
Find out what’s available. (In Connecticut, the state education department publishes a list of the reports it keeps.) Don’t stop with the public information officer. Talk to the lawyers, the auditors, the curriculum specialists. Get to know the researchers who prepare the reports. They are often excellent background sources.
There is a vast amount of information available. Don’t wait for someone to drop the latest report on your desk.
Just ask. You’ll be surprised what you find.
Robert Frahm is serving as an interim public editor over the summer, as Linda Perlstein enjoys her new baby boy. If you need help on a story contact Frahm, or any of the public editors directly. Or contact Mesha Williams at 202-452-9830 or publications@ewa.org.
Blog Editing: A 21st Century Solution
By Scott Elliott
Dayton (Ohio) Daily News reporter and author of the Get on the Bus blog
There is no question that there is a different standard for editing on a blog than there is in a daily newspaper. And there are good reasons for that.
Over more than 100 years, newspapers have developed high standards for editing. Errors in print never go away. They can be corrected in the next edition but that wrong paper can never be changed.
The Internet is different. On a blog, errors can be changed quickly and permanently.
What level of editing is appropriate for a blog? That question comes up nearly every time I speak about blogging with other journalists. The problem of editing can be so difficult to resolve it can even squelch a reporter's blogging plans.
But let me propose to you a plan designed to calm nervous editors but still maintain the freedom and accessibility that make blogs so reader friendly. Read the rest of Scott’s tips here.
Reports: Girls Equal Boys at Math, School Spending and University Hookups
Are Today’s Teens Better Off Than Their Parents?
Kids today aren’t that different from kids a generation ago. The Foundation for Child Development released its annual study tracking the well-being of adolescents. The Foundation analyzed trends from 1975 to 2006. Some key findings show teens read no better than their parents did a generation ago, but their math skills have improved. In addition, teens today are less likely to engage in risky behavior such as using drugs. However, more kids are living below the poverty line compared to kids a generation ago. Kenneth Land, project coordinator and a Duke University professor, told an audience who gathered at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C. for the report’s release the study gives insight to how parents are raising their children today. “Through the intergenerational change indicators it basically tells us that boomer parents are telling their kids don’t do as I did, but do as I say.”
Girls’ Math Skills Measure Up
A new study is grabbing headlines saying girls are equal to boys when it comes to math. The study’s findings are published in Science Magazine. Twenty years ago, researchers reported a math gap between boys and girls enrolled in elementary and middle schools. They pointed out boys were better at solving more complex math problems. Today, the gap is gone. Researchers say girls used to take fewer advanced math classes, but now that has changed. The authors say the trend reversal is good news, but they are troubled by some findings in the report for both groups. Boys and girls aren’t getting as many tough math questions on state tests required to measure a school district's progress under No Child Left Behind. Another troubling stat, girls do score lower than boys on the SAT, but that’s probably because more girls than boys take the test to go to college. Boys score seven percentage points higher than girls on the math portion of the SAT test.
Chancellor’s Plan to Reconfigure Grade Schools Faces Resistance
D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s plan to reconfigure elementary and middle school grades is under scrutiny by education groups and city leaders alike. Rhee is proposing city schools shift to a pre-K-8 format that would affect some 5,300 students in the nation’s capital. The chancellor says research supports student standardized test scores are higher, students adept better socially and a host of other measures improve. The National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform, a group that works to improve academic outcomes of middle grades, has released a policy brief examining efforts and provides a history of grade configuration in American schools. The policy brief says there is limited evidence to show student achievement is boosted based on shifting school structure. More research is needed to know the positive outcomes achieved by schools and most important for students is what takes place inside classrooms. The group says educators and policy makers must engage in the tough task of examining and targeting resources to improve schools that already serve young students and to analyze if the best strategies have been implemented for student success. NFAMGR offers a set of recommendations to identify effective middle school education on its website. You can readthepolicy brief here.
If your school district is working on plans to restructure school schedules check out the Center for Public Education’s website for history, policies and other data.
University Coupling Mismatch
EWA’s board president Richard Whitmire created plenty of chatter in the blogosphere when he spotlighted a side effect of the “boy crisis” in an editorial published in the Chronicle of Higher Education. He finds a gender imbalance on college campuses spurs a “hookup culture.” Women will outnumber men on college campuses by a3 to2 ratio Whitmire interviewed students at Virginia’s James Madison University and reports “campus hook ups” is not what it’s cracked up to be because of the social tension it creates between the sexes. Students say there is fierce competition among female students for male attention. Whitmire points out in his Chronicle piecethat unhealthy, long term issues such as mistrust may linger between the genders long after college. Check out his blog to find full the editorial. Also, Whitmire writes about the “unforeseen consequences” of gender imbalance in response to a Washington Post editorial exploring similar challenges affecting professional African American women.
Tell Your Editor ‘What’s In’ for Fall
A rite of passage for every education reporter is writing a ‘what’s cool for school’ feature. Though the economy is influx, the National Retail Federation says parents will spend more on back to school purchases this fall at discount stores. (Parents are expected to spend $594.24; compared to last year’s $563.49). Electronics will be the big winner with parents picking up computer and cell phones for students. However, the picture isn’t all rosy. Analysts expect ‘back to college spending’ to drop because the money students would use for shopping is now going into their gas tanks. Read how stores in Massachusetts are trying to lure back to school shoppers.
Saving an Industry
It’s no secret the news industry is ailing. Every few days, brings more gloomy news of ad sales being down, newsrooms cutting staff and news print shrinking. The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism puts the changes in perspective. In its assessment, daily newspapers have younger, ‘tech savvy’ staff that are less knowledgeable about the communities and beats they cover. There are fewer editors to catch mistakes today. In addition, less space is given to arts, national, foreign and business stories. News executives who participated in Pew’s project say they worry about the financial future of their product. Sound scary? Despite the transition, news executives say they are excited about how the web continues to open new opportunities for journalism. The news isn’t all doom and gloom. Education is getting more reporting resources than it did several years ago, the study says. EWA’s executive director Lisa Walker says in the Pew report that today education beats are “very local” with less emphasis on broader context and less coverage of national trends. A French executive thinks he may have found something to save the newspaper industry. Some French publications are experimenting with an electronic device that will allow readers to click to different newspapers on a portable screen (with advertisements). The publications hope the device will help turn a profit.
Coming to a Cineplex Close to You
A movie is in the works about the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case. Spiderman actor Tobey Maguire is expected to take one of the lead roles in the film that is inspired by the Supreme Court’s ruling that segregation in the nation’s schools is illegal. Terrance Howard and Laurence Fishburne have been rumored to be candidates to play Thurgood Marshall in the film.
Editor Position, Reporter Training/Webinars and Writing Contest
Nature is seeking an assistant editor for Naturejobs, its science careers section specializing in regional, disciplinary and science workforce trends. The editor should have a background in science, journalism and have writing and editing experience. A background reporting on higher education, blogging and podcasting skills are desirable. If interested, please send cover letter, resume, salary requirements, and 3 clips to admin@natureny.com by August 18. Please put “Naturejobs Assistant Editor” in the subject line. The job is based in Washington, D.C. and some travel is required.
The Spencer Foundation seeks an associate program officer. The person will be responsible for working with program staff on developing and sustaining research programs, writing analytic reviews to support developing new research initiatives, organizing conferences on emerging research, attending conferences and meetings on behalf of the foundation, and writing reports for various projects. The successful candidate should have a PhD, EdD or other comparable graduate/professional degree with substantial concentration in education or a related social science field is preferred. Send a letter of interest and current resume by October 1, 2008 to the: Director of Personnel, The Spencer Foundation, 625 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 1600, Chicago, IL 60611.
The Capitol Beat, the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors (ACPE) recognizes the best in statehouse reporting in the fields of print, broadcast and online media. Deadline for contest entries is August 1. Entries must have been published between June 1, 2007 to July 31, 2008.
The News University at Poynter Institute is offering a webinar for reporters wanting to learn beat basics. Click here for more information.
The Knight Center for Specialized Journalism will sponsor an online seminar called Immigration: Issues for a New America. The seminar will run November 17-21, but you must register by October 13 to participate.
<<From the Beat>>
The Trouble with 'Healthy' Kid Foods
Kathleen Kingsbury
Time Magazine
Most parents already know that sugary sodas and greasy potato chips are not the healthiest food choices for children. But what about the hundreds of other widely available and kid-friendly packaged foods that at least appear to be more wholesome?
Chicago Public Schools may need to dip into reserves
Carlos Sadovi
Chicago Tribune
Reluctant to go back to taxpayers after the biggest property tax hike in Mayor Richard Daley's tenure and two sales tax increases this year, City Hall and Chicago Public Schools officials are looking at dipping deeper into reserve funds to fill a nearly $100 million hole in the new school budget.
Livin' is uneasy
Ralph Ranalli and Brian Benson
The Boston Globe
Like many public school teachers in Boston's western suburbs, Deborah Harvell is economizing and taking on extra work this summer in the face of uncertain times. It wasn't supposed to be this way. After the rigors of the school year, the period from late June through early September is traditionally a time for teachers to relax, regroup, and recharge their batteries.
Business Schools Try Palm Scans to Finger Cheats
John Hechinger
Wall Street Journal
In a sign of increasing concern about cheating, the nation's top business schools will soon require a high-tech identity check for standardized admissions tests. Aspiring corporate executives taking the Graduate Management Admission Test, or GMAT, will have to undergo a "palm vein" scan, which takes an infrared picture of the blood coursing through their hands.
'Turning point' arrives as U.S. community colleges' purview grows
Mary Beth Marklein
USA Today
By Betty Young's count, it's been nearly three years since Jay Leno has made any cracks at the expense of community colleges. Young, a graduate and longtime president of community colleges, considers Leno's silence on the subject these days a victory. Perhaps more important, her public relations trek served as a sort of rallying cry for community college leaders nationwide. Tired of their image as the Rodney Dangerfields of higher education, they have become increasingly vocal in their demand for respect.
The Next Kind of Integration
Emily Bazelon
The New York Times Sunday Magazine
In June of last year, a conservative majority of the Supreme Court, in a 5-to-4 decision, declared the racial-integration efforts of two school districts unconstitutional. Seattle and Louisville, Ky., could no longer assign students to schools based on their race. The effect: In Louisville, integration would no longer focus solely on race but also on the barriers of class, of advantage and disadvantage. Other cities have been thinking along these lines. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision, four other districts — Des Moines, Burlington, Vt., Omaha and Beaumont, Tex. — announced a switch to class-based integration.
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.
