Nov. 16 EWA Newsletter - Reporting Tools for Swine Flu and More!
Don't Miss...
Get Ready for San Francisco!
"Examine the Evidence" is the theme and the Hotel Kabuki in Japantown is the place for EWA's 63rd annual meeting in San Francisco May 13-15, 2010. The conference will dig into research supporting the US Department of Education's "Race to the Top," as well as focus on how colleges take responsibility for student success. Check back for more details on conference registration, speakers, agenda and sponsorship. You can also look at the 2009 guidelines for exhibiting and sponsorship until the new ones are published.
Get Your Best Clips Ready
Mark your calendar for this year's EWA contest deadline January 22, 2010. Jump into the competition for EWA's top prizes for blogs, multimedia, online writing, and best of the beat, including the Fred M. Hechinger Grand Prize. All contest entries must have been published during the 2009 calendar year.
http://www.ewa.org/site/R?i=bCRgnRlesivY8o5h_EO2ig..
http://www.ewa.org/site/R?i=ZntmYZPQGIwudX8E-3VLOQ..
2010 Education Research and Statistics Bootcamp
The Education Writers Association, along with the Walter Cronkite
School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State
University in Phoenix, offers an opportunity for reporters to explore
education research, statistics and data-based reporting in depth. The
bootcamp runs from Thursday, Feb. 25, to Sunday, Feb. 28. Hotel
expenses and most meals will be covered, as well as up to $250 for
airfare. Admission is by application only. Contact Lori Crouch for more information at lcrouch@ewa.org.
<ON THE BLACKBOARD>
Looking for Work?
Check out EWA's Job Center for the latest reporting, public relations
and research vacancies on our website.
http://www.ewa.org/site/R?i=-E_1Dz3fjqUtpQO_KF3ebQ..
Press Release Center
Also you can now post your press release or read about organizations'
events or major reports on EWA's website. The cost is $50 to
post items. Just go to our home page and visit the press release
center to get your message out today!
http://www.ewa.org/site/R?i=xvlxJqO1X4kysBnfzPVFZw..
The Public Editor
Don't forget to read the Public Editor's Linda Perlstein's blog, The
Educated Reporter, for her thoughts on what's happening in education.
http://www.ewa.org/site/R?i=3Aq9aBliTTqchXouvqiV7A..
Follow EWA on
Twitter
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Myspace
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Subscribe to EWA's RSS Feeds
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EWA Notes
Congratulations to EWA member Ray Weikal, who won several awards from
the Missouri Press Association, including first place in Best
Education Story and an honorable mention in Best Education Story. The
awards ceremony was held Oct. 17 in Kansas City, Mo.
Reports: Flu, state tests, teacher reform
Covering Pandemic Flu
If you need a new resource to help you with swine flu coverage check
out the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University's
online guide. The website offers a history of pandemics, reporting
tips, glossary of important terms and other links to help with
reporting.
You can also find information about the flu at the following web
links:
* US Government website, www.flu.gov/
http://www.ewa.org/site/R?i=3kjTh59XOvAkbPG-kKpJKw..
* Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, Swine Flu
Resources,http://www.ewa.org/site/R?i=MKL-oKHlvddPpJuzXVHa3A..
* Association of Healthcare Journalists,
http://www.ewa.org/site/R?i=YwvR9IWw14UqZCbzy_hMyA..
* Poynter Institute,
http://www.ewa.org/site/R?i=1X7KYWLZyqsDaQhnvprANw..
Exit Exams
The Center on Education Policy (CEP) released its new report on high
school exit exams, closing eight years of research identifying state
trends in student performance.
Teaching Excellence
The Alliance for Excellent Education examines the need to reform
teacher preparation programs to improve achievement outcomes in high
school classrooms. The organization says prospective teachers need to develop competency in these areas before they take jobs in secondary schools: how to work with diverse learners, including special ed students and English language learners; how to teach adolescents literacy skills no matter the subject;
how to use assessment/data; how to teach in rural and urban schools; and how to teach content to students in an understandable way that still meets academic standards.
Upcoming Events
Don't miss Education Week's discussion on school choice and school improvement on Tuesday, Nov. 17.
Print journalists who want to write better on deadline for the web can
sign up for the Poynter Institute's webinar Wednesday, Nov. 18.
Cost is $29.95 but scholarships are available.
..
Want to be better at managing your newsroom? Apply to the Columbia
School of Journalism Punch Sulzberger Executive News Media Leadership
Program. For more information, contact Associate Dean Arlene Morgan at
am494@Columbia.edu or at 212-854-5377. Application deadline is Friday,
Nov. 20.
The Institute for Interactive Journalism at American University and
the McCormick Foundation is offering new grants for female media
entrepreneurs. Have an innovative project you want to share apply
today.
From the Beat
Case of the missing juniors
Stephanie Banchero, Darnell Little and Tara Malone
Chicago Tribune
Rich East High School in Chicago has seen state test scores for
its 11th-graders improve by a stunning 37 percent during the last two
years -- a gain so impressive that regional education officials asked
the Park Forest school to host a seminar to help others emulate its
success. There's only one problem: Rich East did not give the Prairie
State Achievement Exam to about 40 percent of its juniors last school
year. And it excluded the ones most behind academically. It's not
the only school to keep the most underachieving students off the
books, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis of new state report
card test data.
Early Lessons
Emily Hanford
American RadioWorks
The Perry Preschool Project is one of the most famous education
experiments of the last 50 years. The study asked a question: Can
preschool boost the IQ scores of poor African-American children and
prevent them from failing in school? The surprising results are now
challenging widely-held notions about what helps people succeed in
school, and in life. Part 1 of a series.
Bronx high school changed grades to graduate more students
Anna Phillips
GothamSchools.org
Teachers are accusing a Bronx high school principal hired with a
$25,000 bonus to improve the school's academics of instead
transforming the school into a "diploma mill. " Transcripts given to GothamSchools by current and former teachers show that in the last year, dozens of students at Herbert Lehman High School have been given credit for courses they failed or never took.
Federal complaint: Filipino teachers held in 'servitude'
Greg Toppo and Icess Fernandez
USA Today
It has been more than two years since Ingrid Cruz aced a
middle-of-the-night video interview in Manila, borrowed $10,000 from
her parents and flew halfway around the world to take a job here
teaching middle school science. Cruz is one of more than 300 teachers
imported to Louisiana from the Philippines since 2007, a group of
educators who say collectively they paid millions of dollars in cash
to a Filipino recruiting firm, PARS International Placement Agency,
and its sister company, Los Angeles-based Universal Placement
International Inc. The American Federation of Teachers and its state
affiliate, the Louisiana Federation of Teacher allege the teachers are
being kept in "virtual servitude" by holding onto their U.S. work
visas unless they kept paying inflated fees, commissions and
rents.
Please send your best stories and member news to Mesha Williams at
publications@ewa.org.
**About us**
Dale Mezzacappa, president, Public School Notebook; Tanya Schevitz,
vp/actives, free lance reporter; Marie Groark, vp/associates, Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation; Stephanie Banchero, secretary, Chicago
Tribune; Richard Whitmire, immediate past president, freelancer;
Kathryn Baron, George Lucas Educational Foundation; John Merrow, Learning
Matters, Inc.; Linda Lenz, Catalyst; Rodney Ferguson, Lipman Hearne,
Inc.; Cornelia Grumman, First Five Years Fund; Elizabeth Green, Gotham
Schools.org; Scott Elliott, Dayton (Ohio) Daily News; Kent Fischer,
GMMB.
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