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EWA's January Webinars Focus on Statistics, Freelancing
Our free webinar series for EWA members continues this month with Do the Math: Outsmarting Statistics on January 20 and Freelancing 101 on Jan. 26. Learn more about these events or register on our Events page.

Meet the EWA Research Roundtable
EWA has formed a roundtable of 12 researchers who will review upcoming studies and offer reporters guidance on covering research. The panel will review upcoming briefs for journalists on what studies say on various education topics. The researchers hail from think tanks, regional laboratories, and top universities.

2011 Contest Now Open For Entries
The Education Writers Association National Awards in Education Reporting honor exceptional work covering stories that add to the understanding of education from early childhood through college.

What Studies Say About Teacher Effectiveness
EWA has published a new research brief for journalists on what studies tell us about topics that arise often in the debate over teacher effectiveness. The first of a series of EWA research briefs, the paper tackles such timely questions as whether teachers are indeed the most important factor in student achievement; whether value-added measures are reliable; whether advanced degrees or merit pay make a difference; and how students are affected by having several effective--or ineffective--teachers in a row. You can read it all online or download the whole paper. Please give it a read and tell us what you think!

EWA Webinar Unlocks Secrets of SAT Data
States love to brag when their SAT scores go up, and are quick to offer reasons why they went down. How can reporters see through the spin and put their states in context?

Higher Ed Seminar Agenda Now Available
On Nov. 4-5, 2011, the Education Writers Association will hold its annual Higher Education Seminar in Los Angeles, hosted by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. We're excited to unveil our agenda. Learn more about the conference, submit your registration and apply for travel subsidies here.

Big Study Links Good Teachers to Lasting Gain

Elementary- and middle-school teachers who help raise their students’ standardized-test scores seem to have a wide-ranging, lasting positive effect on those students’ lives beyond academics, including lower teenage-pregnancy rates and greater college matriculation and adult earnings, according to a new study that tracked 2.5 million students over 20 years. Annie Lowrey, The New York Times, Jan. 6, 2012

Cashing In On Kids

The Miami Herald has an ongoing series of stories looking at charter schools in Florida. Among the issues it examines: The lack of check and balances for companies running charter schools; the lack of access to charter schools for special education students; and demographic imbalances. State Impact Florida/NPR collaborated on some of the stories. Kathleen McGrory and Scott Hiassen, Miami Herald; John O’Connor and Sarah Gonzalez, State Impact Florida

Florida Charter Schools: Big Money, Little Oversight

The state's charter school movement has grown into $400-million-a-year powerhouse backed by real-estate developers and promoted by politicians, but with little oversight. Scott Hiaasen and Kathleen McGrory, Miami Herald, Dec. 10, 2011

Finland Puts Bar High for Teachers, Kids' Well-Being

The country's education system has come to be regarded as one of the highest-performing in the world, and a growing number of foreigners are trying to figure out if and how they can emulate it. Erin Richards, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Nov. 26, 2011