EWA Fellows Class 14
EWA Announces Spring 2022 Class of Reporting Fellows
The Education Writers Association is pleased to welcome its 14th class of EWA Reporting Fellows. This program is part of the organization’s drive to support enterprising journalism that informs the public about consequential issues in education.
EWA selected 12 projects in this round. Each EWA Reporting Fellowship provides up to $10,000 to help cover reporting costs, plus other assistance.
“These new reporting fellows will bring fresh depth and breadth to their coverage of school communities, from K-12 through higher education,” said Caroline Hendrie, EWA’s executive director. “We are proud to support essential coverage of the critical challenges and opportunities facing our nation’s education sector and the public that sector serves.”
The new class of EWA Reporting Fellows represents a diverse mix of news outlets, with most projects to be published during the 2022 calendar year.
Meet the Fellows:
Josie Albertson-Grove
New Hampshire Union Leader
In New Hampshire’s less-affluent cities, schools are helping students boost their chances at economic mobility through early college or career training – as well as some innovative programs that combine the two paths.
Chandra Bozelko
The National Memo
The 2020 federal policy change restoring access to Pell Grants for incarcerated students may not address many of the significant hurdles they face in seeking a college degree. This project will look at challenges as well as possible paths to improve access and outcomes.
Rafael Garcia
The Topeka Capital-Journal
How are schools in western Kansas – one of the most diverse and rapidly growing portions of the state – adapting to the needs of an increasing population of immigrants from all over the world? What lessons might these efforts hold for the rest of Kansas, and other schools nationally with similarly shifting demographics?
Mira Gordon & Taylor McGraw
The Bell
Reported alongside high school students from inside New York City public schools, this podcast series will examine declining, racially disparate access to school journalism programs and a new effort to reverse the trend.
Robby Korth & Kateleigh Mills
StateImpact Oklahoma
At the Oklahoma state capitol, the mostly white legislature is passing a slate of bills banning books and critical race theory. This engagement-driven series will focus on the impact of these decisions on BIPOC students, especially in the fast-diversifying city of Tulsa.
Nirvi Shah
Education Next
As COVID-19 disrupted public education, policymakers and state legislators seized on the opportunity to advance policies that support the growth of charter schools and private school vouchers. What’s been the response of teachers’ unions, and how might the growth in school choice options for some families impact public education for years to come?
Elizabeth Shockman
Minnesota Public Radio
This project will look at the ways in which Minnesota students, inspired by the activism for racial justice following the murder of George Floyd, are making efforts to improve racial equity at their schools.
Ashley Sloboda
The (Fort Wayne) Journal Gazette
This data-driven project will explore how the national debate over how schools should approach diversity, equity and inclusion is playing out in Allen County, Indiana’s school districts, which have seen their diverse student populations grow in recent years.
Jemma Stephenson
The Montgomery Advertiser
Set against the background of a struggling public school system in Alabama’s capital, this project will investigate how race and socioeconomic factors influence which local students are accepted into high-achieving magnet schools.
Aisha Sultan
St. Louis Public Television
This documentary film project will follow a single mother in one of the highest-poverty ZIP codes in the country, as she fights to keep her three children learning amid the unprecedented shutdown of in-person schooling amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nancy Walser
The Hechinger Report
How, and where, are public schools adopting the concept of “learning pods” – pioneered primarily by middle-class, college-educated parents during the pandemic – in order to bring the benefits of personalized learning to their most disadvantaged and disengaged learners?
Arianna Prothero &
Madeline Will
Education Week
Through reporting and original surveys, the reporters will examine how students’ learning, physical well-being, mental health, and post-graduation futures are affected by the changing climate. How is climate change taught in schools; how do students feel about the world they are inheriting, and what student-led efforts are making a difference?