College & Career Readiness
College & Career Readiness
From a wide range of education advocacy groups, associations, think tanks, and state and federal policymakers, one now hears a remarkably consistent message about the purpose of public education: The most critical mission for K-12 schools is to prepare students for higher education. Among school reformers, “college readiness” has become a rallying cry.
Why the newfound sense of agreement, after generations of constant wrangling over the mission of the schools? Today’s young people cannot hope to find decent jobs and earn middle class wages, goes the current thinking, unless they have completed at least a couple of years of postsecondary education. And the country as a whole cannot hope to keep up with China, India, and other foreign competitors unless it greatly expands its college-educated workforce.
However, there’s a wide gap between the numbers of young people who aspire to get a college degree and the numbers that actually do so. For example, among students who enrolled for the first time at four-year colleges in 2001, only 56 percent had earned a degree six years later (and rates were considerably lower among minority and low-income students in particular). The evidence suggests that “somewhere between a third and a half of high school graduates leave high school prepared with a reasonable chance to succeed in college,” according to one study. This Topics section examines what “college readiness” means and what the pursuit of this goal means for reporters who cover education.
College Readiness: Why Now?
If it’s true that higher education has become absolutely critical to individual and societal well-being (and, of course, not everybody agrees with that premise), then the need for much greater K-12 achievement and, in turn, much greater college access, enrollment, and degree completion would seem to be so urgent that all other educational priorities pale in comparison. Thus, rather than continuing to ask the schools to pursue too many and often conflicting purposes, the college-readiness benchmark enables reformers to focus their efforts on a single, coherent goal, emphasizing rigorous college preparation for all students.
Skeptics question whether all of this fuss about college readiness is anything more than the latest in a very long list of educational fads that have come and gone. But for enthusiasts, the current round of reforms seems palpably different. This time, they argue, we truly are in the midst of a seismic—and maybe permanent—shift in Americans’ thinking about the purpose of public schools.
The idea that all students (and not just the talented few, or the children of the elite) can and should pursue a rigorous academic course of study has been gathering momentum over the past few decades (particularly since the publication of A Nation at Risk, in 1983). And in 2010, with the publication of the Common Core State Standards, the majority of state policymakers agreed, for the first time in history, to install a genuinely college-preparatory curriculum as the default option for every student.
What is “College Readiness”?
But what does “college readiness” mean, exactly? In one sense, students become “ready” to enroll in college as soon as they acquire a diploma from an accredited high school (or earn a Graduate Equivalency Degree). Of course, numerous critics have noted that the existing credential-based definition of readiness doesn’t ensure that students learn anything in the process. It would be far better, the argument goes, to define readiness as the ability to do college-level work, regardless of whether the students have reached a certain age or acquired a certain number of course credits.
However, short of dropping students into a first-year undergraduate class to see how they perform, colleges have no choice but to rely on some sort of proxy (or “indicator,” as researchers like to say) for readiness, whether it takes the form of a high school diploma, test scores, course transcripts, letters of reference, or a combination of such indicators. Which is to say the meaning of “college readiness” inevitably come around to the questions of how best to measure and certify students’ knowledge and skills.
A growing body of evidence suggests that students’ high school grade point averages (especially in core academic classes) provide perhaps the best information about how well students are likely to do in college courses. But even so, the ability to predict a student’s college success remains weak, with high school GPA taking away only a modest portion of the guesswork. Further, researchers caution that the more weight is placed on high school GPA, the more grade inflation is likely to occur, which would reduce the measure’s usefulness.
Of course, one could ask professors which skills they consider vital for first-year students to have. One major three-year study, involving more than 400 faculty and administrators at 20 universities, found that faculty in all departments tend to view two overarching academic skills—the ability to write well and the ability to select and use appropriate research methods—as critical to students’ success. Additionally, faculty said that some narrower kinds of knowledge and skill are important in their specific subject area classes. English professors, for example, focused on the ability to analyze and interpret literature, and math professors argued that students need a solid grounding in algebra.
Some analyses of student transcripts, test scores, and actual college performance suggest also that it is critical for high school students to complete an intellectually demanding core curriculum, to do well in high-level math and science courses (including Algebra II, at a minimum), and to become adept at reading and making sense of various kinds of sophisticated, complex texts.
Much of the research to date has aimed to identify and measure the specific academic skills (such as reading comprehension, writing, and the ability to solve quadratic equations) that contribute to the success of first-year college students. However, University of Oregon researcher David Conley—one of the leading figures in this field—has found that a variety of other factors (including intellectual habits of mind, such as inquisitiveness; self-management skills, such as budgeting sufficient time for assignments; and knowledge about higher education, such as understanding how to choose an appropriate college) have at least as much influence on college students’ success as do the purely academic factors on which most researchers have focused.
“College and Career Readiness”
And then there is the question of whether “college readiness” and “college and career readiness” are the same thing. The frequent pairing of those terms is fairly ambiguous, however. The call to pursue both kinds of readiness, simultaneously, could be taken to mean that these two distinct goals ought be viewed as equally important. A policymaker might stress college and career readiness in order to persuade the public to support both a rigorous college-prep education and robust workforce preparation programs (such as Career and Technical Education courses of study, Career Academies, or so-called 2+2 programs, which bridge high schools and two-year technical training courses).
Usually, though, the conflation of college and career readiness is meant to reinforce the idea that because of the rise of the global, information-based economy, the skills that young people need to succeed in rewarding careers are, in fact, the same skills that are needed to succeed in college—e.g., the ability to communicate effectively, to work in teams, and to reason logically.
Recently, however, some scholars and organizations have challenged the notion that the demands of college and the workforce are one and the same. For example, the Association for Career and Technical Education has argued that while some of the core academic skills may overlap, careers tend to require much more experience in and understanding of how to apply academic content, as well as various “employability skills” and specific “technical skills” that college-prep curricula rarely emphasize.
Hands-On Learning… From Afar: From Career-Technical Instruction to Physical Education, How Teachers Are Adapting Applied Learning Amid the Pandemic
Wearing navy scrubs, teacher Linda Romano reviewed bed-bathing on a new mannequin last month: an American Girl baby doll.
“She is completely set up in her bed, she has a visitor — Mr. Lamb — and she’s holding her [patient] call bell,” Romano told her students over online video from her grown daughter’s pink bedroom.
Miami-dade Online Learning Left Behind Immigrant Students
While Miami-Dade County Public Schools officials patted themselves on the back for quickly moving instruction online, they left 800 of their most vulnerable students offline.
A group of recently arrived immigrants, ages 16 to 18, at Miami Jackson Senior High and their teachers say they were forgotten about as the district rapidly rolled out online teaching to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
Teachers Spring Into Action to Help Medical Workers During Coronavirus Pandemic
Even as teachers scrambled last week to move instruction online because of the coronavirus, juggling their fears and family responsibilities in the mix, hundreds set aside time to use their shuttered schools’ resources to help medical staffers on the front lines of the fight against the illness.
Five Story Angles on College Admissions During the Coronavirus Pandemic
How higher ed reporters can plan for their next enrollment-related story
Amidst the tsunami of headline-making impacts from the coronavirus, this spring’s closure of nearly all the nation’s 4,200 college campuses could have some of the longest-term effects.
As higher education scrambles to provide instruction and prepare for whatever is next, “the big issue that’s out there is what will enrollment look like in fall 2020,” says Terry Hartle, a senior vice president at the American Council on Education, the largest membership organization of colleges.
High Schoolers Will Take Their AP Exams at Home, College Board Says
The thousands of Florida teens who planned to spend hours this spring in school testing centers trying to earn college credits on Advanced Placement exams will be taking the tests at home instead.
In response to social distancing efforts under way nationally to slow the spread of COVID-19, test administrator College Board announced Friday it would provide shortened 45-minute AP exams. They will be based on curriculum truncated to better reflect what classes already have covered.
‘You Just Want Answers’: High School Seniors Left Wondering on Prom, Graduation, College
Will Anderson wants answers.
Are his Omaha Central High School classmates doing all right? “You just want answers to all these questions you have,” Anderson said. “But no one has any answers.”
Will graduation ceremonies be held on time or at all? Is prom canceled? Will this affect his plans for college?
Five high school seniors from public and private districts around the metro area said they wonder if they have had their last day of high school.
This Year, Only 10 Black Students Got Into N.Y.C.’s Top High School
Last year, the news that only a tiny number of black students gained admission into New York City’s most selective public high school, Stuyvesant, touched off a maelstrom about race and merit in the nation’s largest school system.
On Thursday, education officials announced that, one year later, almost nothing had changed: Ten black students got into Stuyvesant, out of a freshman class of roughly 760, up from 7 black students last year. And only 20 Hispanic students gained entry, down from 33 last year.
Traveling To The African Diaspora To Prepare Black Students For College
Towana Pierre-Floyd said we’d reach the ocean soon. We’d flown over the Gulf of Mexico on our way from New Orleans to Belize, then boarded a bus south. Outside, the road was dust, pocked by craters our chartered bus swerved to miss, but Pierre-Floyd said she could sense it: the Caribbean Sea was close. It was mid-May, technically the first week of Pierre-Floyd’s summer vacation, but she was the kind of high school principal who preferred spending her first days of freedom with students.
2020: The Year That Shredded the Admissions Calendar
Take it down, rip it up, and forget it. The college-admissions calendar, on which an entire industry depends, is kaput.
Last week, as the threat of Covid-19 shuttered dorms and silenced quads, the lights in many enrollment offices stayed on late. Huddled around tables, scrawling on whiteboards, harried officials confronted a difficult question: How do you reel in a freshman class during an unprecedented national crisis?
A Proposed Bill Would Authorize $400 Million For Apprenticeship Programs
WASHINGTON, D.C. – While the Covid-19 virus was shuttering on-campus classes and emptying dorms at colleges across the U.S., it wasn’t the only education topic under discussion in Congress. Lawmakers were working on solutions to some of higher education’s pressing problems – voting to block a rule from the Department of Education that would have made it more difficult for defrauded borrowers to receive debt relief, for example, and proposing legislation to encourage alternative educational paths after high school.
Interactive: See Every Education Issue Prioritized by Governors in 41 State of the State Speeches — From Free College to Mental Health, Early Ed & Beyond
Governors’ annual State of the State addresses are windows into what’s likely to be at the top of state education agendas in the coming year — and what’s not. FutureEd, a think tank at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, analyzed the 41 gubernatorial speeches delivered so far this year and found that while every state leader highlighted the importance of education, the governors talked a lot more about expanding educational opportunities than improving the performance of the nation’s schools and colleges.
A Fairer Way to Judge High Schools? This State is Trying to Find Out Which Schools Really Help Students Graduate
A high school graduates only 65% of its students. Does that mean it’s a bad school?
Most would assume yes. In fact, federal law requires that high schools with graduation rates below 67% be flagged as low-performing.
But what if that high school serves only students who were unlikely to graduate at all — who arrive far below grade level and on the verge of dropping out? Is that school actually doing a worse job than the school with a 90% graduation rate serving mostly affluent students?
Louisiana Reinventing Career and Technical Education: ‘There Is Honor in All Pathways’
The rebirth of Louisiana’s career and technical education system could become one of the state’s biggest education success stories in recent years.
Not only has the number of students graduating with career diplomas skyrocketed: Some new high school graduates are landing jobs paying $40,000 or $50,000 per year or more and starting careers that are in no danger of disappearing.
Read the full story here.
How One Reporter Took Lessons Learned From Europe Back to Cleveland
The Plain Dealer's Patrick O'Donnell used his EWA Fellowship to explore career and technical education abroad
The Plain Dealer’s Patrick O’Donnell had a feeling his story was bigger than just Cleveland. His team heard reports of people graduating from high school and struggling to find gainful employment, while employers in the area complained of a mismatched skill level when hiring for trade jobs. What was it about Cleveland’s pipeline for trade workers that wasn’t lining up? Why was it so difficult to find and pair skilled workers with stable jobs in a depressed city so desperately in need of that stability?
5 Tips for Covering Students’ Paths to College
Reporters offer advice on tracking down students, getting past roadblocks
This school year, two Chalkbeat reporters in Detroit and Newark are examining whether low-income students from struggling schools are ready for the rigors of college.
Education statistics tell a sobering story: For many students, no. But Lori Higgins, the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit, and Patrick Wall, a senior reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, wanted to delve deeper into the challenges spelled out in the data.
‘Why Didn’t You Believe in Me?’ The Family Reckoning After the College Admissions Scandal
LOS ANGELES—Matteo Sloane was home on spring break when FBI agents showed up at his family’s Spanish-style house in the hills of Bel Air at 6:15 a.m. to take his father to jail.
By the time his father came home at the end of that day after posting $500,000 in bail, Matteo, then a freshman at the University of Southern California, was ready to confront him.
“Why didn’t you believe in me?” Matteo asked. “Why didn’t you trust me?”
How to Help First-Generation Students Persist Through College
Experts say assisting students takes a 'larger cultural shift'
When Pete Gooden went to college, he had an all-too-common experience.
“As a first-generation student, I was just coasting through college, and I was just trying to navigate on my own without support,” he said.
Eventually, he dropped out. After earning his degree at age 30, Gooden began working for KIPP Through College Chicago, where he’s now the director—amazed to find a program that offered the help he once needed.
NYC School Vocational Programs Threatened by Funding Cut
For the 130 students in the business program at Susan Wagner High School in Staten Island, the opportunity to design and run their own company has been life-changing.
The students are part of a class called Virtual Enterprise – a four-year high school business curriculum where students learn industry skills by creating a mock company. The course is offered in dozens of schools across the city through the Education Department’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) office.
Three Takeaways From Chicago’s Largest Charter School Network
At Noble campuses, it's 'college prep from the moment you walk in the door'
From the exterior, Muchin College Prep doesn’t look much like a high school. It’s located in an unremarkable office building in downtown Chicago, where an elevator carries visitors to the seventh-floor campus. There, the walls are festooned with college banners, classrooms are bustling with discussions and group work, and football helmets rest on top of a long row of lockers.
What’s Ahead on the Education Beat in 2020?
From school safety to the youth vote, it's going to be a busy year
As the calendar turns to a new year (and a new decade, at least according to some), plenty of education issues from 2019 will be tagging along.
73rd EWA National Seminar
Postponed
EWA’s National Seminar is the largest annual gathering of journalists on the education beat. This year’s event in Orlando will explore an array of timely topics of interest to journalists from across the country, with a thematic focus on with a thematic focus on the vital roles that education and journalism play in democratic societies.
How Schools Are Responding to the ‘Collapse’ of the High School Economy
Schools help students prepare intentional postsecondary plans
Getting a good-paying job with just a high school diploma is nearly impossible today. In response, schools across the country are increasingly reassessing what it means to not only graduate students, but prepare them for a more competitive career field.
Those were two key takeaways from the opening session of a recent Education Writers Association seminar in Chicago.
The Guidance Gap: How to Rethink School Counseling
Experts discuss how to effectively steer a student to, through life after high school
One of Joyce Brown’s former students was getting ready to board a bus to college for the first time when he changed his mind.
“His mom said, ‘Don’t go if you don’t want to,’” Brown recalled. So the student, who grew up in the Robert Taylor Homes housing project on Chicago’s South Side, didn’t go.
But Brown — who spent 40 years working as a school counselor in Chicago Public Schools — knew this student would thrive in a college setting because of the relationship she’d built with him. So she drove him to college herself.
No Easy Answers on PISA: U.S. Scores Flat in Reading, Math and Science
Experts urge caution in interpreting results as advocates call for major overhaul of public education
With the results of a global exam showing flat scores for American 15-year-olds in reading, math and science, education journalists were busy this week parsing the data, providing context, and explaining why comparisons among countries’ results can be a tricky business.
The U.S. saw its international rankings climb in all three subjects tested because scores slipped in some other countries on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) exam, the results of which were published Tuesday.
Agenda: Pathways From High School to College and Careers
Nov. 14-15, 2019
A Reality Check for Boston’s Valedictorians
The Boston Globe investigates K-12 and higher ed shortfalls in preparation and support for local students
(EWA Radio: Episode 195)
Ever wonder what happened to your high school’s valedictorian after graduation? So did The Boston Globe, which set off to track down the city’s top students from the classes of 2005-07. Globe reporters Malcolm Gay and Meghan Irons learned that a quarter of the nearly 100 valedictorians they located failed to complete college within six years. Some had experienced homelessness. Many have struggled in lower-skilled jobs than they had aspired to. What went wrong? To what extent did their high school education fail to prepare them? What should colleges do to better support students? Gay and Irons discuss their project, tell the stories of individual valedictorians, and share tips for journalists looking to undertake similar reporting in their own communities.
Education and the American Dream: Pathways From High School to College and Careers
Northwestern University • November 14-15, 2019
What will it take to make the U.S. education system a more powerful engine for economic mobility? What are the obstacles, especially for low-income families and students of color?
At this journalists-only seminar on Nov. 14-15 in Chicago, we will explore these and other questions, with a special focus on emerging efforts to create stronger pathways from high school to college and promising careers.
The Ugly Side of Beauty Schools
Students of for-profit career programs struggle with high loan debt, low paying jobs
(EWA Radio: Episode 196)
In this replay of a recent episode of EWA Radio, Meredith Kolodner and Sarah Butrymowicz of The Hechinger Report discuss their investigation into private cosmetology schools in Iowa that are reaping big profits at the expense of their students. Students are spending upward of $20,000 to earn a cosmetology certificate—comparable to the cost of two associates’ degrees at a community college.
Students Have an Uphill Battle to Degrees, But Montana Educators Push for Success
At Helena College, a 26-year-old student raising her daughter alone schedules class around her job at a grocery store. Stephanie Heitman’s paychecks were going toward unpaid medical bills until her small college helped with a grant.
When Tristin Bullshoe landed at the University of Montana after growing up in Browning, he struggled to pursue his dream of being a doctor. He landed in a college lecture hall with 300 people after graduating high school with a class of 12, and the Blackfeet student faced culture shock.
Redrawing the Map for Student Success
When Baltimore City Public Schools placed current education data on a map of the city’s historic racial redlining, it was apparent that not much had changed, as district CEO Sonja Brookins Santelises tells the story. The segregated neighborhoods created in part by policies that barred predominantly black communities from federally subsidized mortgages were the same neighborhoods that today showed lower academic outcomes.
Santelises said those findings motivated her district to take a closer look at what kind of opportunities it provides students.
Collaboration, Patience, Empathy: Higher Ed Reporters Share ‘How I Did the Story’
In 2018, Meghan Irons and her colleagues at the Boston Globe set out to document a troubling paradox: Their city is famous for its world-class universities, but working-class Bostonians were largely failing to thrive there and move up the economic ladder.
A School Where Career Training and Academics Go Hand in Hand
Popular magnet prepares youths for jobs in health sciences, plumbing and more
Leonard Ferguson is having the last laugh. A senior at the Western School of Technology and Environmental Science in Catonsville, Maryland, he’s on track to graduate this spring with both a good job and his continuing education paid for.
Pathways to Prosperity: Cleveland Can Learn From European Approach to Education, Training
Sharon Braat is glad she’s going to college in the Netherlands and not the U.S.
It’s not just the nearly-free tuition her country offers. It’s the practical and hands-on classes aimed at her career. In her case, it also includes real work for actual businesses while in school.
“Our system is better for preparing you for where you want to go,” she said. “You feel like you’re in a company… If you screw up, you can screw up big time. It’s the real world.”
Could Free College Classes In High School Put More Kansas Students On Track To Degrees?
Hefty college debt won’t saddle Bryan Medina. He’s on a fast track to an energy career that he hopes will pave the road to family dreams: Buying his own cattle and going in on the purchase of 300 acres of land with his dad. “We could grow and eventually own our own feedyard,” said Medina, who finished high school last May in the small southwest Kansas town of Sublette. “If things go great, if we put all the work into it, we’ll definitely get there.”
Plotting The Right Path To A Job Matters More Than Ever In Today’s ‘College Economy
College remains the single most reliable path to a lifetime of higher earnings. But burgeoning student debt and a job landscape transformed by computers and automation ratchet up the pressure on students to choose their majors wisely.
College Costs More Than Ever, But Can You Afford To Skip It? Consider These 5 Things
Life is expensive. Rent, health care, raising a family, saving for retirement — it adds up. But so does college debt. In fact, the cost of college shot up many times faster than typical U.S. earnings in recent decades. So, what to do after high school? Here’s what you need to know.
How Beauty School Students Get ‘Tangled Up in Debt’
For-profit colleges promise more than they deliver
(EWA Radio: Episode 196)
In Iowa, private cosmetology schools are reaping big profits at the expense of their students. That’s the key takeaway from a new investigation by reporters Meredith Kolodner and Sarah Butrymowicz of The Hechinger Report. Students are spending upward of $20,000 to earn a cosmetology certificate—comparable to the cost of two associates’ degrees at a community college. Additionally, Iowa’s requirement for 2,100 hours of training, significantly higher than many other states, means students have to wait longer to start their full-time careers. Additionally, they’re often required to work at their school’s salon while taking classes, and bring in revenue by selling services and products. How did Butrymowicz and Kolodner crunch the national and local numbers on outcomes for these for-profit colleges? Who’s holding such programs accountable? And what advice do they have for local reporters covering career certification programs in their own communities?
For These Boston Valedictorians, Good Grades Weren’t Enough.
K-12 and college systems both failed to prepare and support students, The Boston Globe's investigation finds
(EWA Radio: Episode 195)
Ever wonder what happened to your high school’s valedictorian after graduation? So did The Boston Globe, which set off to track down the city’s top students from the classes of 2005-07. Globe reporters Malcolm Gay and Meghan Irons learned that a quarter of the nearly 100 valedictorians they located failed to complete college within six years. Some had experienced homelessness. Many have struggled in lower-skilled jobs than they had aspired to. What went wrong? To what extent did their high school education fail to prepare them? What should colleges do to better support students? Gay and Irons discuss their project, tell the stories of individual valedictorians, and share tips for journalists looking to undertake similar reporting in their own communities.
An Epidemic of Untapped Potential
Over the past year, the Globe has tracked down 93 of the 113 valedictorians who appeared in the paper’s first three “Faces of Excellence” features from 2005 to 2007. We wanted to know, more than a decade later, how the stories of Boston’s best and brightest were turning out.
District Sends Teachers on Home Visits to Help Get More Students to College
West Virginia unveiled a campaign this year for 60 percent of adults ages 25 to 64 to have earned a degree or certificate by 2030. But in this county of fewer than 19,000 residents, just 38 percent of recent high school graduates sought more education, according to the latest available data from the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. That’s well below the statewide rate of 55 percent. And in 2016 just 8 percent of McDowell County residents of working age held an associate degree or higher, compared to 31 percent statewide.
Connecting Families and Schools Is a ‘Shared Responsibility’
Empowering parents pays dividends for student learning, experts say
There’s plenty of evidence that when their families are engaged in their school experience, students do better.
The trick, experts said during a recent Education Writers Association event, is finding ways for school officials to reach those families, particularly if there are cultural or language barriers, or if low-income working families struggle to find the time or transportation to participate in school events.
72nd EWA National Seminar
Baltimore • May 6-8, 2019
EWA’s National Seminar is the largest annual gathering of journalists on the education beat. This year’s event in Baltimore, hosted by Johns Hopkins University’s School of Education, will explore an array of timely topics of interest to journalists from across the country, with a thematic focus on student success, safety, and well-being.
Hitting the ‘60 Percent Goal’ Won’t Just Take Work. It Requires a Transformation.
In order to meet its top educational goal, Idaho will need to reinvent itself. And rethink success.
State leaders want more high school graduates to continue their education — to prepare young adults for a changing labor market, and to help Idaho compete economically. This ambitious aim runs headway into hard realities.
Homeboy Industries Offers Former Gang Members Job Training, a Second Chance
If a Los Angeles gang member decides to seek a new start, he or she can walk through the front door of Homeboy Industries in West Los Angeles and its founder, “Father G,” typically will come out of his office and welcome them with open arms.
Higher Ed ‘Deserts’: Who Lives in Them, and Why it Matters
For millions of would-be college students, convenient and affordable degree programs are out of reach
(EWA Radio: Episode 179)
About seven in 10 undergraduates are “nontraditional” students, according to the U.S. Department of Education, meaning they delayed starting college, have a job or children, or are attending part-time. Meanwhile,, millions of would-be college students live in what some have dubbed higher ed “deserts” without easy or affordable access to postsecondary education.
Are Schools Ready for A.I. and the Future of Work?
At Rocky Hill School, a private day school in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, it’s not unusual for education technology entrepreneurs to pop into the classroom or Skype in for a chat.
As it turns out, a captive audience of eight- and nine-year-olds can be useful in designing new products. Third-graders at the school had a hand in developing an award-winning plush duck that gives comfort to children undergoing chemotherapy, head of school James Tracy said.
Beyond the Numbers: Getting the Story on Latino Education
The Fifth Annual EWA Conference for Spanish-Language Media
The Education Writers Association is pleased to partner with NAHJ to offer a 1½-day institute on covering education at the NAHJ National Conference in Miami. The July 20-21 education coverage bootcamp, which will be held in Spanish, will feature some of the most important and influential researchers and educational leaders in the field of Latino education. They will help journalists gain a better understanding of the education issues affecting Latino students in the U.S., such as the impacts of school choice, teacher demographics, and student loans. You’ll also get training on data sources that can help you buttress or generate education stories.
How High Do States Set the Academic Bar for Students?
When measuring what students know and can do on statewide tests, how high (or low) are the expectations for determining academic “proficiency”? A forthcoming report from the National Center for Education Statistics offers insights on this question, including state-by-state analysis.
Beyond the Numbers: Getting the Story on Latino Education
Agenda
Counted Out
Investigative Reporting: General News Outlets, Print and Online
About the Entry
In a joint investigation, the Raleigh News & Observer and the Charlotte Observer looked at how — and why — thousands of qualified North Carolina students from low-income families were kept out of advanced classes.
Can Schools Make the American Dream Real for Kids?
Single-Topic News or Feature: Broadcast
About the Entry
Public radio reporter Linda Lutton spends a year with a fourth-grade class in Chicago trying to answer a question: Can a public school overcome the challenges faced by children growing up in high-poverty neighborhoods?
Entry Credit
Jenny Brundin of Colorado Public Radio
Single-Topic News or Feature: Broadcast
About the Entry
Jenny Brundin’s portfolio of work for Colorado Public Radio includes a close look at the growing push to arm teachers on campus, inequities in school funding, and the challenges facing Colorado’s rural schools.
What Really Happened at Ballou High School
Investigative Reporting: Broadcast
About the Entry
The District of Columbia school system lauded Ballou High School as a shining example of success, but a joint investigation by WAMU and NPR found many students were allowed to graduate despite chronic truancy and failing grades.
Hartford Schools: More Separate, Still Unequal
Investigative Reporting: General News Outlets, Print and Online
About the Entry
A team of journalists at the Hartford Courant in Connecticut take a close look at educational inequities in their city and the troubling legacy of a landmark court case that was intended to end segregation by creating a system of voluntary magnet schools.
Hard to Read: How American Schools Fail Kids With Dyslexia
Single-Topic News or Feature: Broadcast
About the Entry
There are proven ways to help people with dyslexia learn to read, and a federal law that’s supposed to ensure schools provide kids with help. But according to an audio documentary by Emily Hanford, public schools across the country are denying children proper treatment and often failing to identify them with dyslexia in the first place.
Bill Zeeble of KERA News in Dallas
Beat Reporting: Broadcast
About the Entry
Reporting for the NPR affiliate in Dallas, Bill Zeeble looks at school accountability, a growing number of high-need college students, and a push to boost K-12 family engagement.
Chemawa Indian School Is ‘Breaking Its Promise’ to Tribal Students
Investigative Reporting: Broadcast
About the Entry
A federally run boarding school intended to prepare Native American youth for college instead failed to provide adequate academic instruction even as some students suffered physical and mental health issues, according to the broadcasting team’s investigation.
“Are College Prep Classes Failing to Prepare Kids?”
Data Journalism
About the Entry
The Chicago Tribune analyzed remediation rates among Illinois college students, and examined how students’ academic coursework in high school aligned to their postsecondary readiness.
Word on the Beat: Chronic Absenteeism
What “chronic absenteeism” means: Researchers typically define chronic absenteeism as missing at least two days of school each month or 10 percent of all their classes. That amounts to about 18 days over the academic year in the average district. One out of every 10 students in public schools is chronically absent nationwide, according to the advocacy group AttendanceWorks.
How Careful Data Analysis, Shoe-Leather Reporting Exposed Inflated Graduation Rates
It began with a feel-good story: A struggling high school in Washington, D.C., had turned itself around and was sending all its seniors to college. When a reporter dug deeper, however, she discovered that many students should not have qualified to graduate—one in five had even missed more than half the school year.
Jury Still Out on Some ‘Innovative’ High School Approaches, Experts Say
As some high schools across the country try new ways to engage and educate students, they often turn to innovative approaches that are still being evaluated to gauge their effectiveness.
Ready to Design a New School? ‘Start With the Student.’
Educators share insights on building next-generation schools
Imagine creating a new public high school from scratch — not just the building, but the learning experience itself. How would you start? What would a typical day look like? How would it differ from most high schools?
At a recent EWA seminar, several educators who have faced this challenge shared their insights as they sought to better serve students by upending traditional school models.
Word on the Beat: Career and Technical Education
“Word on the Beat” is a regular feature of The Educated Reporter, breaking down the buzzwords and helping you understand the issues of the day. Send your suggestions to erichmond@ewa.org
Word on the Beat: Career and technical education (CTE).
What’s It Really Like to Attend an Unconventional High School?
Students Offer Candid Take on Project-Based and Personalized Learning
Amida Nigena very nearly quit the Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design before the first term of her freshman year had ended. It was 2015, the school was brand new and it wasn’t anything like other campuses in the Denver school system.
The district’s goal in creating the school was to educate a generation of innovators, graduates who had mastered the self-direction skills that would get them through college and help them flourish in the workforce.
Our Top 10 Blog Posts: From Open Records to Betsy DeVos
Principal leadership, innovative schools, teacher diversity top the list
The most popular Educated Reporter blog posts of 2017 covered a wide range of subjects, from tips for tackling the intricacies of the beat to getting a grasp on what the Trump administration will mean for federal policy, schools, teachers, and students.
71st EWA National Seminar
Los Angeles • May 16-18, 2018
EWA’s National Seminar is the largest annual gathering of journalists on the education beat. This multiday conference provides participants with top-notch training delivered through dozens of interactive sessions on covering education from early childhood through graduate school. Featuring prominent speakers, engaging campus visits, and plentiful networking opportunities, this must-attend conference provides participants with deeper understanding of the latest developments in education, a lengthy list of story ideas, and a toolbox of sharpened journalistic skills.
What is XQ and Why Is It Spending $100 Million to Reinvent High School?
Russlynn Ali discusses the foundation-backed 'Super School' project with journalists
At a gathering of education writers last week, the Emerson Collective’s Russlynn Ali walked not one but several fine lines, promising an “open source” ethos when sharing lessons gleaned from the group’s XQ Super School Project, but declining to commit the private philanthropy to transparency in its political spending and investments in education technology companies.
What You Missed at EWA’s Seminar on Rethinking High School
Education journalists from across the U.S. gathered this week in San Diego, on the campus of High Tech High, to explore efforts to rethink the American high school. Along the way, they heard from fellow reporters, as well as educators, analysts and students.
Could Silicon Valley Reinvent Public Schooling?
Student-centered, personalized learning is focus for charter school network
At Summit Public Schools, a network of charters primarily in California’s Silicon Valley, students are in charge of their own learning. Customized digital “playlists” map out — and track – their daily instruction, guided by teachers who serve more as coaches than lecturers.
Agenda: A Reporter’s Guide to Rethinking the American High School
San Diego • December 4–5, 2017
Monday, December 4, 2017
Campus of High Tech High
Registration and Lunch
12:00–12:30 p.m.
Welcome & Ice Breaker
12:30–1:00 p.m.
Anatomy of High School Redesign
1:00–2:00 p.m.
‘Raising Kings’: A Portrait of an Urban High School for Young Men of Color
Education Week-NPR series features social-emotional learning and restorative justice at new D.C. campus
Can schools ever fully fill the gaps in students’ life experiences that often keep them from succeeding in school? Two reporters, Education Week’s Kavitha Cardoza and Cory Turner of NPR, spent hundreds of hours at Ron Brown College Prep, a new boys-only public high school in Washington, D.C. that primarily serves students of color.
Getting Latino Students To and Through College
Michele Siqueiros recalled the day she arrived on a college campus.
“I thought I had arrived on another planet,” she told a recent gathering of journalists who attended the Education Writers Association’s fourth annual convening for Spanish-language media. “There were very few Latinos.”
Siqueiros, now the president of The Campaign for College Opportunity, a California nonprofit organization, said she was a straight A student in high school, but in college “I felt for the first time I wasn’t prepared.”
With New Research, Policy Shifts, Bilingual Education on Rise
Decades of restrictions on bilingual education in public schools across the country — and particularly in California — led to a dramatic reduction of bilingual teachers. Now that California voters have permitted bilingual education through Proposition 58, which passed in November 2016, the state faces a shortage of talent.
Student ‘Expeditions’ Help Drive, Inspire Learning at D.C. Charter School
The second-graders at a charter school in the nation’s capital recently discovered a problem: a lack of “green spaces” in certain parts of the city.
The students at Two Rivers Public Charter School conducted research. But they didn’t stop there. They also wrote letters to the city council to share their concerns about inequitable access to green spaces across Washington, D.C.
The letters described the situation, explained why having such spaces in urban environments is important, and offered solutions, including the idea of helping to plant gardens near campus.
Trump Urged to Renew Advisory Panel on Improving Education for Hispanics
For nearly three decades, a White House commission created to help boost Hispanic student achievement has advised four presidents and their secretaries of education. The advisory panel, however, is set to expire on Sept. 30 unless President Donald Trump issues an executive order to keep it going, according to Patricia Gándara, a commission member who is rallying to preserve it.
Slight Gains for Hispanics on ACT, but Achievement Gap Persists
More Hispanic students are taking the ACT college-entrance exam, and in some states their scores inched up, new data show. But the achievement gap persists for the class of 2017, with many Hispanic students failing to meet benchmarks for university-level work.
Biografías de los Presentadores
Can Fresh Attention to Rural Schools Fix Old Problems?
Telling the stories of the nation’s rural schools means better understanding what they offer the roughly 8.9 million students enrolled.
It also involves understanding the communities around those schools, the students attending them, and the challenges they face, a panel of educators and journalists explained recently during EWA’s National Seminar in Washington, D.C.
And one of the most important stories to tell about rural education involves inequality, said Alan Richard, a longtime education writer and editor.
Hispanics Now Nearly One-Quarter of U.S. Students, Data Reveal
New U.S. Census data show a dramatic increase in the number of Hispanics attending school, reaching nearly 18 million in 2016. The figure — which covers education at all levels — is double the total 20 years earlier.
“Hispanic students now make up 22.7 percent of all people enrolled in school,” said Kurt Bauman, the chief of Census Bureau’s Education and Social Stratification Branch, in a statement.
New Poll: Public Values Career Classes, Support Services at Schools
When it comes to judging a school’s quality, what matters most? A new poll suggests the American public puts a premium on offerings outside of traditional academics, including career-focused education, developing students’ interpersonal skills, and providing after-school programs and mental health care.
At the same time, even as local schools were generally viewed favorably in the national survey, parents said they would consider taking advantage of vouchers for private or religious schools if the price was right.
‘Eddie Prize’ Winner Kelly Field: Reporting on Native American Students
EWA Radio: Episode 134
Journalist Kelly Field recently won a top honor at EWA’s National Seminar for her compelling series, “From the Reservation to College,” on the education of Native American students. Field’s coverage for The Chronicle of Higher Education — supported by an EWA Reporting Fellowship — follows several students from the Blackfeet Indian reservation in Montana. Their experiences highlight the significant educational challenges facing Native communities in the U.S. today.
More Efforts Proposed in Congress to Help Undocumented Youth
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — or DACA — continues to make headlines, with several bills introduced in Congress this month aimed at protecting undocumented young immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children and providing them with a path to citizenship.
DACA provides recipients access to higher education, putting educators on the front lines of the debate over undocumented youth. Many colleges and universities have created special websites or designated personnel to help DACA students navigate college and feel safe on campus.
Rethinking High School: What Do Students Need?
Students at the MC2 STEM High School in Cleveland don’t sit through lectures all day. They learn through projects, like designing and building above-ground gardens, calculating the powers of a comic book superhero or constructing a recording studio to record a song.
Troubled by College Dropouts, High Schools Track Students Beyond Graduation
While many high schools focus a lot of energy on getting students into college, admissions is only the first step. And especially when it comes to low-income students and those who are first in their family to attend college, many drop out long before they complete a degree.
Growing concern about this problem is sparking efforts in the K-12 realm to ensure better college success rates for high school graduates.
What Keeps Public School Parents Awake at Night?
When it comes to their children’s education, what are parents’ biggest concerns? Paying for college is No. 1. After that, they worry about their children’s happiness and safety at school.
But academics? Not so much. Parents do care, but as long as their children are perceived to be happy and succeeding — especially if that’s what teachers are telling them – they figure everything is fine in that area.
For Career-Ready Students, the Sky’s the Limit
Kentucky Commissioner of Education Stephen Pruitt recently said his state is developing a system that “blurs the lines between career and technical education and what you might call traditional academia.”
And in Illinois, school districts like the one in Arlington Heights are “redefining our academic handbook around career pathways,” according to Lazaro Lopez, the associate superintendent of High School District 214.
A Houston High School’s Transformation
EWA Radio: Episode 129
Laura Isensee of Houston Public Media discusses Furr High School, which recently received a $10 million grant to help it reinvent what, when, and how students learn. The changes are already underway: a veteran principal was lured out of retirement to take the helm; students are able dig into their own areas of interest during regular periods of “Genius Time”; and even the hiring process for teachers and staff has taken some innovative turns. What’s been the response of the school community to these new developments?
At ‘High-Tech Hogwarts,’ Students Taught to Code Their Way to Success
On a recent Friday morning, students in Kalee Barbis’ English class at Washington Leadership Academy work diligently on laptops as they sit under the high, vaulted ceilings of the school’s Great Hall. Light filters through stained glass windows as the students put the final touches on essays about the lives of Matthew Shepard, Trayvon Martin, Pablo Escobar, and others.
D.C.’s ‘Opportunity Academies’ Aim to Get Students Back on Track
The rapid improvement over the past decade in Washington, D.C.’s district-run schools — as measured by rising test scores and graduation rates — has drawn national notice.
But officials with the District of Columbia Public Schools remain concerned that too many students still slip through the cracks, with 31 percent failing to graduate high school on time, based on the most recent DCPS data.
How Latino Parents Judge School Quality
So how do Latino parents judge the quality of their child’s school? The good old-fashioned way: by reviewing their child’s report card.
A recent poll conducted by the Leadership Conference Fund, a nonprofit civil rights group based in Washington, D.C., found that 86 percent of Latino families said their child’s report card topped the list in judging school quality.
Story Lab: Decoding Deeper Learning in the Classroom
A guide to deeper learning.
Reinventing High School
See how one New Hampshire school is retooling education.
Two-dozen high school students are gathered around a large work table as manufacturing teacher Dan Cassidy holds out boxes of metal bars and gears. The students choose among the parts to build model bicycles. “What else are we going to use today? Let me hear some vocab here,” he says. When a student shouts out “chains,” he nudges them until they recall another term for it: “linkage.”
USC Charter School Sets Students’ Sights on College
The waiting list to get into USC Hybrid High College Prep in downtown Los Angeles is long – about two students for every one admitted – and so is the commute for many of the students who go there. An hour-and-a-half each way by bus or car isn’t uncommon.
Go West, Young Students: California’s Free Community College Boom
EWA Radio: Episode 114
Ashley Smith of Inside Higher Ed discusses why the Golden State is leading the nation in free community college initiatives. Currently, a quarter of all such programs nationally are located at California institutions. The growth is a mix of grassroots efforts by individual campuses, cities, and community organizations. At the same time, California’s Democratic lawmakers are pushing for a statewide effort to add even more free seats at two-year colleges.
What Does Charter School Innovation Look Like?
At Summit Public Schools campuses, you won’t see PowerPoint lectures on “Antigone” in English class or witness lofty explanations of the Pythagorean theorem in geometry. Instead, you’ll hear a discussion about the morals and ethics in the ancient Greek tragedy tied to students’ own teenage identity formation and observe discussions on how real-life problem-solving skills can be applied to math.
Pursuit of College Tied to Trust of Teachers in New Study
The level of trust that middle school students of color have for their teachers could have long-term impacts on whether or not they enroll in college, according to a new study published in the journal Child Development.
For Trump Pick DeVos, Confirmation Hearing Is a Bear
Tuesday’s confirmation hearing for billionaire school advocate Betsy DeVos — President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. secretary of education — was a doozy.
DeVos sought to present herself as ready to oversee the federal agency, but some of her remarks suggested a lack of familiarity with the federal laws governing the nation’s schools.
In her opening statement before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, DeVos said:
Obama’s ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ Initiative Will Continue Under New Name
President Obama has renamed the My Brother’s Keeper initiative he created to close the opportunity gaps faced by black and Latino males, hoping the new moniker will more accurately reflect its mission and increase the chances of its longevity.
Students Can’t Recognize Fake News. That’s a Problem.
EWA Radio: Episode 103
Benjamin Herold of Education Week discusses why media literacy is in the spotlight in the wake of the presidential election, and the troubling findings of a new Stanford University study that showed the vast majority of students from middle school through college can’t identify “fake news.” Why are so many digital natives flunking when it comes to evaluating the reliability of material they encounter online? How are policymakers, researchers, and educators proposing that schools address this deficit in critical-thinking skills?
UCLA Study Offers ‘Counter Narrative’ on Black, Latino Male Achievement
News stories often state that black and Latino males have lower test scores and graduation rates than their white and Asian peers, that they’re more likely to be disciplined in school and be incarcerated. UCLA professor Tyrone Howard decided to produce a report that offers a different perspective.
‘Unprepared’ in Memphis: The Realities of College Readiness
EWA Radio: Episode 99
In a new series, Memphis Commercial Appeal reporter Jennifer Pignolet tells the story of Shelby County students working hard to make it to college — and to succeed once they arrive. And their challenges aren’t just financial: for some, like Darrius Isom of South Memphis, having reliable transportation to get to class on time is a game changer. And what are some of the in-school and extracurricular programs that students say are making a difference? Pignolet also looks at the the Tennessee Promise program, which provides free community college classes to qualified students, and assigns a mentor to help guide them.
THANKSGIVING BONUS: EWA journalist members share some of the things they’re grateful for this year.
How Will Education Fare Under President Trump?
The long, strange election cycle came to an end Tuesday with the election of Donald Trump as the next president. And while his campaign platform was scarce on education policy details, there’s no question his administration will have a significant impact, from early childhood to K-12 and higher education.
A Push for More Latino College Graduates in Texas, but Not by ‘Business as Usual’
Latino children will “pretty much determine the fate of Texas” during the 21st century, the state’s Higher Education Commissioner Raymund Paredes said in his annual address this week.
That’s why the state will need to get more creative in educating Latinos and ensuring they graduate from college. “Doing business as usual,” won’t work, he said, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
Why Appalachian Colleges Want More Latino Students
EWA Radio: Episode 95
Timothy Pratt of The Hechinger Report discusses why liberal arts colleges in Appalachia are making Latino student recruiting a top priority. A 2016 EWA Reporting Fellow, Pratt recently completed an in-depth reporting project on the implications of this shift for private colleges — many of which are struggling to keep enrollment counts up.
More Latinos Are Graduating High School, Yet Gaps Persist
A record 83.2 percent of students graduated from U.S. high schools in 2015, and the graduation rates of black and Latino students were also up. But there’s still work to be done, President Obama said in his “final report card” speech at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in Washington, D.C., Monday.
More Students Are Graduating, But That’s Not the Whole Story
As federal education officials tout a fourth consecutive year of improvement in the nation’s high school graduation rate, the reactions that follow are likely to fall into one of three categories: policymakers claiming credit for the gains; critics arguing that achievement gaps are still far too wide to merit celebrating; and policy wonks warning against misuses of the data.
¡Gradúate! 2.0: White House Releases Graduation Guide Aimed at Hispanics
In what the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics is calling a “culturally relevant” resource guide, Latino students and their families could find all they need to know about preparing, applying, paying for and succeeding in college.
Programs Providing ‘Excelencia’ in Latino Education
The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Excelencia in Education has released its annual list of college programs and community groups that are effectively supporting the educational advancement of Latino students in higher education, or “Examples of ¡Excelencia!“
Here’s a look at this year’s honorees.
Pathway to the Baccalaureate Program, Northern Virginia Community College
Same As It Ever Was: The Pitfalls of Remedial Education
EWA Radio: Episode 88
Millions of high school graduates show up for the first day of college academically unprepared for the rigors of higher ed. And that’s where remedial (or “developmental”) education comes into play. Students don’t get academic credit for these classes even though they still cost them in time and money. And there’s another problem: being placed in even one remedial class as a freshman — particularly at a community college — can significantly reduce a student’s odds of ever completing a degree.
Ensuring College Readiness and Success for Latino Students
The number of Hispanics taking the ACT exam jumped 50 percent from 2011 to 2015. But only 15 percent of those test takers are scoring well enough to be deemed college-ready in all four subjects, compared to 28 percent of other students.
These figures starkly reflect “the gap between the level of aspiration and the level of readiness” required to thrive in college, said Juan Garcia, senior director of the ACT’s Office for the Advancement of Underserved Learners.
Back-to-School: You Need Stories, We’ve Got Ideas
The boys (and girls) are back in town. For class, that is.
See how forced that lede was? Back-to-school reporting can take on a similar tinge of predictability, with journalists wondering how an occasion as locked in as the changing of the seasons can be written about with the freshness of spring.
Recently some of the beat’s heavy hitters dished with EWA’s Emily Richmond about ways newsrooms can take advantage of the first week of school to tell important stories and cover overlooked issues.
Broken Promises: The Education of Native Students
EWA Radio: Episode 86
What will it take for the federal government to provide American Indian and Alaskan Native students with the schooling and services they’ve long been promised?
From Pre-K to Higher Ed: Inequities Latino Students Face
Margarita is a four-year-old girl living in East Harlem. She speaks Spanish at home with her Mexican-born parents, is obedient, well-behaved and plays well with kids her age, younger and older.
The Learning Landscape
Bellwether Education Partners
This report examines the status of education in the United States by aggregating high quality research and data from numerous credible sources. Each chapter describes the context and the current state of play in each focus area – including student achievement, standards and testing; school finance, and charter schools, among others. It highlights key policy issues and trends affecting public education now and in the future.
Back-to-School: You Need Stories, We’ve Got Ideas
For education reporters, coming up with fresh ideas for back-to-school stories is an annual ritual. And if you’re balancing the K-12 and higher education beats, it can be an even bigger challenge.
The U.S. Elections & Education: Part 1
Washington, D.C. • August 30, 2016
Now that the White House race has narrowed to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, how is education playing out as an issue in the campaign? Will it prove an important fault line between the Democratic and Republican candidates? Will Trump offer any details to contrast with Clinton’s extensive set of proposals from early childhood to higher education? What are the potential implications for schools and colleges depending on who wins the White House? Also, what other races this fall should be on the radar of journalists, whether elections for Congress, state legislatures, or governor?
Affirmative Action, #BeckyWithTheBadGrades and Latino Students
If you haven’t yet heard of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the use of race as a factor in college admissions, you may have at least seen the #BeckyWithTheBadGrades buzz on Twitter and wondered what it meant.
Though it is in part a reference to Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” sensation, the hashtag has more to do with higher education than pop culture.
Is the AP Program Helping Disadvantaged Students?
Participation in the Advanced Placement program has more than doubled over the past decade, with nearly 2.5 million students taking one or more AP exams in 2015. But with that growth has come questions about the push to ramp up the AP presence, especially initiatives that target low-income and minority students.
How well do AP courses prepare students for the rigors of college? And are students who may lack adequate preparation benefiting from the coursework?
Teaching Adolescents to Become Learners: The Role of Noncognitive Factors in Shaping School Performance
Teaching Adolescents To Become Learners summarizes the research on five categories of noncognitive factors that are related to academic performance: academic behaviors, academic perseverance, academic mindsets, learning strategies and social skills, and proposes a framework for thinking about how these factors interact to affect academic performance, and what the relationship is between noncognitive factors and classroom/school context, as well as the larger socio-cultural context.
Testing and Test Prep: How Much Is Too Much?
It’s not hard to find a teacher willing to bend your ear about the volume of standardized testing in schools today, and the pressure for “test prep.” But how widespread are such concerns among educators? And what’s the on-the-ground reality they experience?
New survey data suggest these impressions about over-testing and test prep are more than just anecdotal: They are the norm for the majority of public school teachers.
Why Do Massachusetts Public Schools Lead the Nation?
When it comes to the story of Massachusetts’ public schools, the takeaway, according to the state’s former education secretary, Paul Reville, is that “doing well isn’t good enough.”
‘Linked Learning’ the Focus of Innovative High School
Like many of their counterparts across the country, 10th graders at the School of Business and Tourism, part of the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex near downtown Los Angeles, read To Kill a Mockingbird. But they also read the works of self-help writer Dale Carnegie. Eleventh graders study The Great Gatsby but earlier in the year they pondered Contagious: Why Things Catch On, by Jonah Berger.
Nine Years of 100 Percent College Acceptance for This All-Minority Boys School
“If you’ve made the commitment to go to school here, then you’ve made the commitment to go to college.”
Angela Duckworth: Raising Test Scores Is Not a Sign of Grit
In the dozen years that Angela Duckworth has researched the concept of grit, she’s found new ways to test its validity, identified examples of it in popular culture, and worked to bust myths about its application in schools. But she hasn’t developed a just-add-water curriculum package that interested schools can use to develop the character trait in their students.
New Initiative Is Covering ACT Fees in Arizona
Some students throughout Arizona won’t have to add a $40 ACT fee to the list of bills they’ll encounter on the path to college.
Study: Big Benefits to Career and Technical Education
When students feel engaged and connected to their schoolwork, it’s no surprise that they tend to have better academic outcomes. But a new study of career and technical education programs suggests the benefits can extend well beyond high school graduation.
‘Lives in Limbo’: Supporting Undocumented Students
When Yehimi Cambron crossed the U.S. border from Mexico with her parents, they told her she would not have documented legal status in this country. But as a third-grader, she had no concept of how that would affect her.
It wasn’t until she was 15 and denied a $50 prize in an art competition because she didn’t have a Social Security number that she grasped its meaning.
Construction Ahead: Are State Policies Building Bridges, Detours, or Roadblocks to College?
New America
Far far too many students, the path between high school and higher education is littered with detours and roadblocks. … “Mapping College Ready Policies 2015-16,” a data visualization project released earlier today by New America’s Education Policy Program, analyzes individual states’ progress towards addressing these challenges to ensure all students are on a sturdy bridge on their route from high school to higher education.
Does Expanding Access to Advanced Placement Courses Help Kids?
In the Long Beach Unified School District, Superintendent Chris Steinhauser actively recruits students to take Advanced Placement classes.
“Hey ‘John,’ according to our data, you qualify for these AP,” he says he would write in a letter to students in the district. “You need to talk to your mom and dad.”
The Dispute Over Whether Good Colleges Help or Hurt Average Students
According to a leading economist, the public debate over affirmative action’s role in higher education is missing the point, and could actually lead to worse academic outcomes for students who get a boost from a college’s affirmative action policies. That view, however, is hotly contested by a wide range of scholars.
Two Places at Once: The Growth of Dual Enrollment
Programs that allow students to take college classes in high school have been gaining popularity in schools across the country.
How Colleges Can Help Students Who Are First in Their Families to Attend College
A few weeks ago Reina Olivas got on the phone with a freshman college student. “She was having a hard time with the cultural experience, the college experience,” said Olivas, a college mentor who’s in her third year at the University of Texas at Austin. “So I asked her this initial question – ‘Have you gone to office hours?’”
Olivas is part of an eight-person crew at the Dell Scholars Program that connects with 1,500 college students across the country who could use a helpful hint from other students who also are wending their way through higher learning.
New Ways to Find Out Who Is Ready for College
Do tests or high school grades better determine whether a student is ready for college-level math and reading? For public universities and community colleges, increasingly the answer is both – or no tests at all, reporters learned during a seminar hosted by the Education Writers Association in Los Angeles last month.
SAT Makes Bid to Better Serve Poor Kids
The SAT has been called out of touch, instructionally irrelevant, and a contributor to the diversity gaps on college campuses because the test arguably benefits wealthier students who can afford heaps of test preparation.
But now the SAT is fighting back. The College Board, the test’s owner, is hoping that a major makeover of the assessment that’s set to debut this weekend will persuade critics that students, teachers and colleges still need an exam that has been a centerpiece of the admissions landscape for 90 years.
Chicago’s Noble Charter Schools: A Model Network?
EWA Radio: Episode 60
In the Windy City, one out of every 10 high schoolers is enrolled at a campus in the Noble Network of Charter Schools. And while Noble students typically perform well, the network is facing some growing pains in the nation’s third-largest school district. Among the challenges: An increasingly diverse student population, competition for enrollment from traditional Chicago Public Schools campuses seeking to reinvent themselves, and concerns about Noble’s strict discipline policies and emphasis on preparing for the ACT college entrance exam.
Can ‘Pushy Moms’ Nudge Community College Students to New Heights?
EWA Radio: Episode 59
Many community college students dream of making the transition to a four-year institution but the application process can be daunting – especially if you don’t have experienced family members to ask for help. Enter the “Pushy Moms” at LaGuardia Community College, a volunteer group of mothers well-versed in the ins and outs of the higher education admissions maze.
Does the College Admissions Game Need New Rules?
EWA Radio: Episode 56
A new report from a coalition of educators suggests it’s time to rein in ambitious students (and their families) when it comes applying to the nation’s top colleges and universities.
Exam Gives Glimpse of How Schools Stack Up Globally
The many complaints about the large quantity of standardized assessments American students take may make giving another test a hard sell. But some U.S. high schools have recently added a voluntary exam that puts their student achievement in reading, math and science into an international context.
This Is What’s New in 2016 from EWA
Here’s something to add to your list of New Year’s resolutions, and it might even make it easier to keep that pledge to exercise more often: Subscribe to EWA Radio! Each week, we feature education journalists sharing the backstory to their best work. You’ll hear tips for managing the daily beat, as well as ideas for localizing national issues for your own audience.
Here are a few more opportunities from EWA to help ramp up your reporting in 2016:
EWA Radio: Here Are Your Favorites of 2015
It’s been a terrific year for our scrappy little podcast, and we’re thrilled to report an equally stellar lineup coming to EWA Radio in 2016.
I’d like to take a moment to thank the many journalists and education experts who made time to join us for lively conversations, and to all of you who have offered suggestions for stories and guests to feature. Please keep the feedback coming!
Here’s a quick rundown of the 10 most popular episodes of the year:
Shopping for Holiday Stories? Hit the Mall
With most schools closed until after the New Year, the holidays can be a dry spell on the education beat. But there’s no shortage of ideas for creative reporters who are willing to venture into less-familiar territory.
Nation’s High School Graduation Inches Upward
The U.S. Department of Education is celebrating a new milestone for the nation’s high school graduation rate, with just over 82 percent of seniors earning diplomas in 2014. But these statistics, like so many others in the education realm, should come with a warning label: The numbers don’t tell the full story.
Cafécolleges Offer Unique Approach to Higher Ed Help
A cup of coffee in a comfortable lounge may be just what students need to keep them relaxed about the college application process. At least, that’s what a new education-focused center in Houston is going for.
Cafécollege Houston opened last week, modeled after San Antonio’s successful center with the same name – a “one stop shop” for teens and adults looking for guidance on college applications, financial aid, the college transfer process and more.
Deeper Learning, Smarter Testing
Since 2003, more information is produced every two days than the total sum of information produced between that year and the dawn of time, the CEO of Google said in 2010. Easily web-accessible facts, names and articles have grown exponentially, so much so that some say students can’t be taught like they were in the past, when rote memorization was the gold standard for learning and information wasn’t at almost everyone’s fingertips.
Should Affirmative Action Help Wealthier Students?
Should race-based college admission policies prioritize minority students from affluent families over those from low-income households?
That’s the question at the heart of a heated debate as the Supreme Court prepares to hear another round of arguments in the high-profile Fisher v. University of Texas affirmative action case next week.
College Readiness: What Does It Mean for Higher Ed?
“College and career readiness” has become the rallying cry for what high schools should aim to achieve for their graduates. But large numbers of students still arrive on college campuses needing remedial courses, and many of those who are academically ready still struggle to adapt to college and earn their degrees.
711 S Hope St, Los Angeles, CA 90017
Teaching & Testing in the Common Core Era
Despite persistent political debates, the Common Core State Standards are now a classroom reality in public schools across the country. Yet much is in flux as educators wrestle with how best to teach the Common Core — or their own state’s version of it — and some states rethink the tests tied to the new K-12 standards.
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Philosophers vs. Welders: Can’t We Have Both?
There was plenty of levity on Twitter in the wake of Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio’s declaration that “we need more welders, less philosophers.”(This English major would have preferred he said “fewer” philosophers, by the way.)
LOCKED OUT: Improving Educational and Vocational Outcomes for Incarcerated Youth
The Council of State Governments Justice Center
There is perhaps no population of young people who have a greater need for access to quality education and who experience more barriers to access than incarcerated youth. How are educational and vocational services being made available to them? How are states collecting and tracking student outcome data? How are juvenile correctional agencies and education agencies working together to ensure that these youth transition to a community-based educational or vocational setting after release from incarceration?
Saving on College by Doing Some of It in High School
Last week the White House announced a new higher education experiment that will direct federal grants to some high school students who want to enroll in college classes.
The plan is to start small, with the administration offering $20 million to help defray the college costs of up to 10,000 low-income high school students for the 2016-2017 academic year. The money will come from the overall Pell Grant pot, which is currently funded at more than $30 billion annually and used by 8 million students.
How Ethnic Studies Programs Might Help Latino Students
Ethnic studies programs have had their fair share of controversy in this nation, but researchers maintain they can be a way to improve engagement and student outcomes.
How Community Colleges Are Helping Transfer Students
Students who transfer between colleges and universities on their path to achieve a college degree often encounter obstacles – barriers, like lost credits, that could keep them from finishing their degree altogether. At EWA’s recent seminar in Orlando focused on higher education, reporters got a lesson in the data on transfer students and heard from experts who are making the process of transferring and going on to earn degrees easier for students at their community colleges.
Florida Colleges Face Life Without Remediation
Each year, hundreds of thousands of new college students arrive on campus unable to handle freshman level work and wind up in remedial classes. That’s a major frustration not only to the students but also to lawmakers who believe public dollars are being used twice for the same instruction – once at the K-12 level, then again in postsecondary financial aid.
White House Celebrates Hispanic Education During Heritage Month
In a speech honoring Hispanic Heritage Month and the 25th anniversary of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics Thursday, President Obama praised Hispanic students for helping drive the U.S. high school graduation rate to an all-time high and also announced the commitments of hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to boost student academic success.
Boosting Higher Ed Success for Low-Income Students
EWA Radio: Episode 42
Why do so few students from low-income families earn college degrees, even when they were academic standouts as high schoolers? And what can be done to help these students make a smoother transition to higher education?
Kavitha Cardoza tackles these questions in “Lower Income, Higher Ed”, a new documentary for WAMU Radio in Washington, D.C.
Does the United States Need a Department of Talent?
The United States government needs a Department of Talent to coordinate its education, labor and immigration agencies, the head of one of the nation’s largest education foundations said last week.
California Latino, Black Student Scores Slide with New Tests
California supporters of the Common Core had hoped the new standards emphasizing college readiness would help narrow the achievement gap for black and Latino students in the state, but the latest test results show that gap might be even bigger than it was previously thought to be.
Secretary Duncan’s Bus Tour: Preschool, Higher Ed. Top List
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan launches his sixth annual back-to-school bus tour this week, and the chosen locations offer some insights into the department’s priorities in the waning days of the Obama administration.
Latino, Black Advanced Placement Scores Highest in California
Latino and black students who took and passed Advanced Placement exams in California outscored their peers in other parts of the country.
The Common Core Test Results Are Coming—Are You Ready?
Reporter-Only Webinar on Assessment Results
Many states are rolling out the first round of test scores this fall from brand new assessments pegged to the Common Core standards. Join EWA for a Sept. 10 webinar designed to help reporters better understand what’s coming and how they can report on the data in meaningful ways.
Teacher, Student Voices in Back-to-School Spotlight
It’s easy to get cynical about back-to-school stories – especially when you’ve been an education reporter for many years. But it’s important to remember that for many children and their families – one of the prime audiences for such reporting – this might be the first time they’ve gone through the experience.
69th EWA National Seminar
The Education Writers Association, the national professional organization for journalists who cover education, is thrilled to announce that its annual conference will take place from Sunday, May 1, through Tuesday, May 3, 2016, in the historic city of Boston.
Co-hosted by Boston University’s College of Communication and School of Education, EWA’s 69th National Seminar will examine a wide array of timely topics in education — from early childhood through career — while expanding and sharpening participants’ skills in reporting and storytelling.
Hispanic ‘Disconnected Youth’ Numbers Improve
Fewer Hispanic 18- and 19-year-olds are disconnected from school and jobs than before the Great Recession, a new Pew Research Center analysis of federal data shows.
The percentage of Hispanic youth who are unemployed and not enrolled in school is the lowest it has been in 10 years, with a dramatic drop from 21 percent in 2009 to 16 percent in 2014.
Connecting Education, Workforce Data Key to Strong State Labor Markets
National Governors Association
As the individual with the platform and budget authority to guide public education and economic development at the state level, the governor plays a central role in ensuring that public educational institutions provide students with the knowledge and abilities required for a successful life and career. The systemic use of data from education and labor markets informs governors and other policymakers of the effectiveness and efficiency of their existing postsecondary systems and students and employers of labor market conditions.
Professor’s Advice to Latino Freshmen: ‘Believe You Belong’
Latino professors from universities across the country give incoming college freshmen advice in a recent post on NBC News Latino, sharing both practical reminders — like “use the class syllabus” and “get to know your teachers” — and heartfelt sentiments about what it means to be Latino on a college campus.
Pew: K-12 Students ‘More Racially Diverse than Ever’
The 53.5 million K-12 students heading to the classrooms in America’s public, charter and private schools this fall are more racially diverse than ever before, according to a recent analysis by the Pew Research Center.
Back-to-School: Story Ideas That Shine
While it may seem that every back-to-school story has been written, the well is far from dry. Are you following the blogs teachers in your district write? Have you amassed the data sets you’ll need to write that deep dive explaining why so many local high school graduates land in remedial classes when they first enter college?
No? It’s OK. You’re not alone.
Study: Hispanic, Black Students Choosing ‘Safety Schools’ Over Elite Institutions
In a new study evaluating the college application habits of recent high school graduates in Texas, researchers found that academically talented Hispanic and black students were likely to pass up a chance at an Ivy League education and apply to colleges closer to home.
How to Boost Student Motivation
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
With its new report, “Motivation Matters: How New Research Can Help Teachers Boost Student Engagement,” Carnegie Foundation writers Susan Headden and Sarah McKay bring needed clarity to this growing field. They define key terms, discuss research findings, and explain promising approaches to boosting motivation. The report is organized according to three major factors that contribute to student motivation: rewards and value, mindsets, and relationships. It also explores the system-level supports that are necessary for the scaling and long-term success of this work.
Schools With Tough Tests Send More Low-Income Kids to College
Schools that that teach low-income students a notoriously demanding curriculum are almost twice as likely to see those students enroll in college, a new report shows.
This news comes on the heels of growing research suggesting that challenging assessments, which are a staple of the International Baccalaureate program featured in the report, help students develop a deeper understanding of key subjects like math and history. That “deeper learning,” in turn, may lead to more college opportunities.
The New Frontier For Advanced Placement: Online Ap Lessons, For Free – The Washington Post
The explosion of free online education, known mainly for targeting adults, is reaching ever further into high schools.
On Wednesday, a new sequence of lessons for high school Advanced Placement courses in calculus, physics and macroeconomics went live on a free Web site founded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. The lessons, developed by Davidson College for the site called edX, represent a new step in the evolution of ties between the popular AP college-level program and the “massive open online courses” known as MOOCs.
College Board Goes ‘All In’ to Attract Latinos to Advanced Placement
Latino students might shun Advanced Placement courses if the only students they see in them are mostly affluent whites.
That’s essentially what Jeremy Goldman, head of counseling at a Baltimore high school told NBC last week in an article about the College Board’s new campaign to boost the number of minority high school students enrolled in AP classes.
Summer Reading List: ‘The Boy Who Played With Fusion’
EWA Radio: Episode 29
In The Boy Who Played With Fusion, journalist Tom Clynes tells the story of Taylor Wilson, a boy genius with a passion for nuclear fusion who makes his way from his modest home in Arkansas to center stage in world of international science competitions.
Affirmative Action: What Could Policy Changes Mean for Latinos?
With the Supreme Court set to take another look at a controversial affirmative action case in Texas college admissions, some worry what a second decision from the nation’s highest court will have on college-bound minorities.
Rethinking Career & Technical Education in a Global Context
2015 EWA National Seminar
Amid worries of a “skills gap” for U.S. youths and young adults, some experts call for rethinking and ramping up career and technical education. Panelists explore the skills and achievement of American young people in an international context, and highlight ways to improve CTE with an eye toward promising practices in other countries.
At Catholic High School, Chicago Students Earn While They Learn
When Carolyn Alessio assigned her students to prepare to act out a trial to probe the themes of “Frankenstein,” she was surprised at what she found at the top of a few of their supporting documents — perfectly formatted docket numbers.
AP Participation, Performance Improving Among Illinois Latinos
Illinois Latinos’ participation and performance in Advanced Placement courses is improving, state education data show.
Madhu Krishnamurthy of the Daily Herald, a newspaper which identifies itself as “suburban Chicago’s information source,” recently wrote a story analyzing the numbers.
Chicago Students Soar at Noble Charter High School
The Noble Network of Charter Schools is arguably Chicago’s most famous charter chain. Despite having schools only in one city and operating exclusively at the high school level, charter advocates now consider Noble to be in the same tier as KIPP and Achievement First — national brands in the no-excuses charter arena.
Report: More Latinos Earning STEM Degrees
More Latinos are earning degrees in science, technology, engineering and math fields; yet more are needed, a new report by Excelencia in Education claims.
According to the study, “Finding Your Workforce: Latinos in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math,” Latinos earning credentials in STEM increased to 9 percent in 2013 from 8 percent in 2010.
National Journal Identifies Cities With Most Educated Latinos
Four East Coast cities and one in California made the list of the top five metropolitan areas with the most educated Latino population in a recent National Journal analysis.
Mindset Interventions Are a Scalable Treatment for Academic Underachievement
Stanford University
We quickly discovered two good reasons schools weren’t implementing mindset interventions: Schools didn’t know how to implement mindset interventions, and Schools didn’t know whether mindset interventions would work for their students. We had something important in common with them: We didn’t know either! To turn mindset interventions into something that schools could (and should) practically use, we first needed to develop a mindset intervention that schools could easily implement. We also needed to test whether this easy-to-use intervention was effective for various kinds of students.
Florida Schools Add ‘Latinos in Action’ Course to Schedules
An elective course designed to motivate Hispanic students to finish high school and go to college will be piloted in six Broward County, Florida high schools this fall.
Scott Travis of the Sun Sentinel reports the class, Latinos in Action, will focus on four major areas:
N.J. College Recognized for Making Strides in Educating Latinos
It may be nestled near the middle in a list of the Top 100 Colleges for Hispanics, but Montclair State University in New Jersey received front cover-worthy recognition in the latest edition of the Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine.
For Students With Disabilities, Life After High School Can Be Harder
The shift from high school to college or the workforce is harrowing enough, but for the 6 million students diagnosed with a disability, the stakes are higher and the transition all the more challenging.
The Global Context: Rethinking Career and Technical Education
The United States should look to countries like Switzerland and Singapore – both seen as having strong, successful vocational education systems – if it wants to address the widening skills gap among young people.
That was the consensus of two of the three panelists during a discussion on rethinking career and technical education during the Education Writers Association’s 68th national seminar in Chicago.
Latino Dropout Rate Going Down, College Enrollment Going Up
Fewer Latinos are dropping out of high school, and more are heading for college.
With graduation season well underway, these are a few educational highlights mentioned in a Pew Research Center Hispanic Trends article Tuesday. The Pew article used data from 2000 and 2013 to examine national trends.
Rising English Proficiency Among Hispanics Affected by Nativity, Education
Latinos older than age 5 are speaking English better now than the same demographic group did in 2000, a new Pew Research Center study shows. Among those driving the statistics are the U.S.-born and those who have completed a high-school education.
According to the study — an analysis of 2013 U.S. Census Bureau data — 33.2 million Hispanics in the United States speak English proficiently, a record high.
Report: School Reform, Not Improving Economy, Explains Rising Graduation Rates
The nation’s students are graduating from high school at record rates and the reasons can be attributed to school reform efforts, not improving economic trends, argues a new report released by several organizations, including an advocacy group backed by former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Students, Teachers Don’t Study The Way Science Says They Should
Most students don’t study using methods backed by scientific research, panelists at the Education Writers Association’s deep dive on the science of learning told reporters in Chicago at the association’s 68th National Seminar.
“Why do people find learning so hard?” asked Henry Roediger, a psychology professor at Washington University in St. Louis, who participated in the April event.
‘Real World’ + Academic Learning = A High School Diploma
A few months ago I spent time with students at Pittsfield Middle High School in rural New Hampshire. They’re participating in a program known as “Extended Learning Opportunities”, which lets them step out of the traditional classroom setting and explore their personal interests. A central goal is to help them find the connective tissue between their academic studies and potential career goals.
Howard University Teams Up With D.C. High Schools
University is one of thousands to offer college courses to high school students
Another university in Washington, D.C., has partnered with high schools to offer their students college-level courses for free, allowing them to earn high school and college credit at the same time.
Follow-Up Friday: Rolling Stone’s Retraction, Recipe for Common Core Math
Rolling Stone retracted its story that supposedly detailed a University of Virginia student’s brutal rape by several members of a campus fraternity, and a report by the Columbia University Journalism School called the debacle “a journalistic failure.”