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How to Cover COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates and Bans at Colleges
Learn about the key players, find data, get story ideas and more.
The fast-spreading COVID-19 Delta variant is forcing rapid changes in colleges’ vaccination plans and requirements. And these changes are encountering backlash from state legislatures and students as they roll out.
Reporters covering the vaccine and its usage among students, faculty and staff at colleges need to provide context on how policies comport with state laws or preemptions, how students and local communities are affected by these decisions, and how to track vaccine mandates’ rollout and potential outbreaks.
Share Your Best Ideas for EWA’s 2022 National Seminar
The Education Writers Association is planning to celebrate its 75th anniversary at the 2022 National Seminar in Orlando, Florida, from July 24 to 26. But first, we need your help.
Suggest speakers you’d like to hear, topics to address, and training to help education journalists from around the nation.
Lack of Sleep Affecting Adolescent Learning? Coverage Tips for Early School Start Times
Get background, story ideas and advice.
“What’s keeping you up at night?”
Science journalist and author Lydia Denworth posed that question to a pair of experts on adolescent development during the Education Writers Association’s 2021 National Seminar.
“Sleep!,” speakers Adriana Galván of UCLA and Denise Pope of Stanford University both said at a panel. Adolescents, they agreed, don’t get enough of it.
EWA Announces Plans for In-Person Higher Education Seminar
The Education Writers Association will hold its annual Higher Education Seminar October 22-23 in Washington, D.C.
Centered on the theme of “This Critical Moment,” the event will offer journalists training on issues ranging from the ongoing health challenges confronting colleges, the changing finances of higher education, and the ongoing debate over what educators should be teaching about racism.
Brain Waves: Covering How the Science of Learning Translates to the Classroom
Cognitive science has vastly expanded the body of knowledge on how people learn in the last 25 years. Yet, little of that knowledge has trickled down to the classroom.
A small, but growing, number of schools and districts are working to change that. More educators are looking at the science of learning after concerns expressed about learning disruptions and recovering from the pandemic. To learn more, watch the webinar recording below.
Pulitzer Prize Winner: How to Cover Stonewalling or Antagonistic School Boards and Leaders
South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Scott Travis provides tips on ways to get beyond “No Comment.”
When a school district wants to hide corruption, mismanagement and misspending, it will do what it can to make a reporter’s job difficult.
As the education reporter covering Broward County Public Schools in Florida – a district plagued by a school massacre, an $800 million construction bond boondoggle and the arrest and resignation of its superintendent – my beat has been difficult.
JOIN OUR TEAM
Want to help improve journalism and the coverage of education? The Education Writers Association is hiring! EWA is the national membership nonprofit that supports journalists who cover education and learning from birth through adulthood.
Our mission is to strengthen the community of education writers and improve the quality of education coverage to better inform the public. We’re a small organization, so our staff members get lots of learning and leadership opportunities.
A Reporter’s Guide to Rethinking Grades Post-Pandemic
Experts explain how COVID-19 disrupted grading practices in schools and what's ahead
As with so many aspects of schooling, the pandemic exposed flaws in traditional grading policies and practices. As the number of Ds and Fs rose, educators altered, froze or suspended grades in an effort to hold students harmless for lack of Internet access and other circumstances beyond their control.
With Schools Reopening Full-Time, What Pandemic-Driven Changes Will Last?
Get 7 story ideas to help you cover K-12 and higher education shifts that may have staying power.
Despite the many hardships the pandemic caused, the COVID-19 disruption also sparked – or in some cases accelerated – changes to K-12 and higher education that leaders say should stick.
The speakers pointed to the power of flexibility, the need to focus energy and resources that will serve the “whole student,” and how increased outreach and new communication strategies with students and families could be transformative during a plenary at the Education Writers Association’s 2021 National Seminar.
Free College Tuition Isn’t Enough: Fresh Story Ideas on the Dropout Crisis
What education reporters need to know about social service programs that can help close the completion gap
When it comes to writing news stories about efforts to help low-income students earn a college degree, journalists may be tempted to focus on “promise” programs that provide free tuition and, occasionally, intense academic counseling.
Student Pays High Price for Reporting Teacher’s Misconduct
Tampa Bay Times investigation finds questionable actions by school officials in handling complaint, and raises concerns about loopholes for holding misbehaving teachers accountable (EWA Radio Episode 275)
For Madisyn Slater, a senior at Blake High School in Tampa, Florida, there was little question that popular biology teacher Tiffany Johnson crossed the line with students. Slater’s decision to report Johnson’s sexual comments and other inappropriate behavior led to the student – not the teacher — facing a school district investigation.
What Is Critical Race Theory?
As Oklahoma wrestles with 100th anniversary of Tulsa Race Massacre, critics and educators clash over how and what students are taught about race and society (EWA Radio Episode 271)
The Tulsa Race Massacre’s centennial has recently drawn headlines nationwide, but most Americans – including many educated in Oklahoma public schools – never previously learned about the tragic episode.
5 Questions to Ask Educational Leadership Before Schools Reopen This Fall
Principals share lessons learned from leading schools through COVID-19 pandemic
For education reporters writing about the impact of COVID-19 on school communities, it makes sense to pay close attention to the experiences of teachers, students, and families. But the principal often sets the tone for the school community, and helps shape and influence the campus climate in important ways.
During the pandemic, principals had to reimagine how schools operate, deliver instruction, serve students, and provide key programs and services.
How to Take a Solutions Journalism Approach to Reporting
The ongoing pandemic has cast a gloomy shadow over education news. Even the most celebratory, feel-good stories have been clouded with loss. News stories have tended to focus on education system failures, such as missing students, growing equity gaps and budget cuts.
What You Need to Know About HBCUs
Historically Black Colleges and Universities getting fresh attention amid big-dollar donations, but more than money is needed to help them thrive, experts say (EWA Radio Episode 274)
While only 3 percent of the nation’s undergraduates attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), they produce almost 20 percent of the nation’s Black college graduates.
‘Don’t Go Back to the Old Normal’: Opportunities for Adolescent Learning Revealed by COVID-19
COVID-19’s effects on childhood brain development and those up to age 25 provides some new insights.
Long before the COVID-19 shutdown forced schools to launch remote learning, the nonprofit Challenge Success tracked student wellness, using the findings to encourage schools and families to rethink what constitutes “success” for students.
LGBTQ Stories Reporters Should Cover After Pride Month
Hear about laws targeting LGBTQ athletes, mental health and data to inform your coverage.
Pride month is coming to an end, but LGBTQ issues will continue to make headlines this summer and fall – especially for education reporters – because of continuing controversies over new school policies and laws.
Equity in Education
Education is said to be the great equalizer. The modern U.S. school system was created in the 19th century with the intention of educating the masses — not just the privileged or religious elite. A public role for higher education, and systems for broadening access to it, was carved out over time, too — through the creation of land-grant colleges during and after the Civil War, the passage of the G.I. Bill after World War II, and the establishment of community colleges in the 1960s.