EWA Announces 2009 National Awards Contest Winners!

EWA is pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 National Awards for Education Reporting. Prizes, including the announcement of the Fred M. Hechinger Grand Prize, will be awarded at EWA's National Seminar Saturday, May 15.

EWA's 63rd National Seminar, San Francisco, California

Participants will be "Examining the Evidence" at EWA's 63rd annual meeting in San Francisco May 13-15, 2010. Sessions for this year's meeting will be held at the Hotel Kabuki in Japantown. The conference will examine   issues around the philosophy of the US Department of Education's "Race to the Top,"  as well as focusing on how colleges should take responsibility for student success. For more details on conference registration, speakers, agenda and sponsorship, check out our 2010 guidelines.

EWA Announces New Directions, Search for new Executive Director

The EWA Board of Directors announced today it will shift from a traditional membership organization to an open community, embracing a wider net of people concerned about the quality of education information. Learn more here.

Tracking Education Stimulus Spending

If the federal government gave your school (or school district) a lot of money with few strings to  help it through the bad economy, would you want to know how that money was spent?  EdMoney, a new project of EWA, tracks spending in public schools across the country to help reporters find answers to their questions. Let us know what you've found by uploading your stories, tips and commenting on the EdMoney blog.

U.S. Education Secretary to announce Race to the Top Finalists during conference call
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will announce round-one finalists for the Department's two-round, $4.35 billion Race to the Top competition during a press conference call with reporters Thursday, March 4.

College- and Career-Ready Students: How Can We Tell?
EWA's public editor Linda Perlstein will moderate event sponsored by Education Sector and College Summit on March 11.

EWA announces Fellows for 2010 Research and Statistics Bootcamp
The National Education Writers Association (EWA) has selected 20 journalists from newsrooms around the country to attend its sixth annual research and statistics training program.

Miles to Go: College Completion under the Obama Plan
EWA held its annual higher education meeting for reporters and editors Feb.19-20 in Washington, D.C.

The Educated Reporter
Public Editor launches new blog

Campus Coverage Project

EWA, Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Student Press Law Center held a program in January to train college journalists in investigative skills and explore questions about college completion.

College completion gets new scrutiny
Janna Mendez didn't last even one semester in college-- a victim, she says, of not realizing how expensive it would be to pay for classes. As Indiana joins a nationwide effort to help college students such as Mendez stay on campus, statistics show the odds against success are enormous -- particularly for Indiana students at two-year community colleges such as Ivy Tech, where Mendez had attempted her career as a student. Dan McFeely, The Indianapolis Star, March 11, 2010

New Orleans charter schools work to sustain teachers' energy, results
Early every morning, Akili Academy's teachers gather for a daily bonding ritual. A growing number of schools particularly charters, embrace a "no excuses" or "whatever it takes" attitude toward closing the achievement gap between poor, minority students and their wealthier peers. But to overcome these obstacles, a school's staff and students must work harder -- in the evenings, on weekends and through the summer -- and give up some of their personal lives for their jobs. Sarah Carr, Times- Picayune, March 9, 2010

16 Finalists Announced in Phase 1 of Race to the Top Competition Finalists
The U.S. Department of Education announced that 15 states and the District of Columbia will advance as finalists for Phase 1 of the Race to the Top competition. US Department of Education, March 4, 2010

Scholar’s School Reform U-Turn Shakes Up Debate
Diane Ravitch, the education historian who built her intellectual reputation battling progressive educators and served in the first Bush administration’s Education Department, is in the final stages of an astonishing, slow-motion about-face on almost every stand she once took on American schooling. Sam Dillon, The New York Times, March 3, 2010