EWA Radio

The Washington Monthly’s new college rankings are out, and this year’s top performers are an eclectic mix of publicly funded institutions, innovative upstarts, and a handful of familiar Ivy League names.

The field of education-only news organizations has gotten surprisingly crowded in recent years, with a surge in coverage of policy and practice at the city, state, and national levels. Who are the players behind the surge? Do the organizations advocate a point of view, or hew closer to traditional objective news coverage?

Conversations about classroom discipline typically focus on ways to teach kids there are consequences to their actions as a means of controlling future behavior. But a new approach gaining ground removes the sliding scale of punishment from the equation.

Clinical psychologist Ross Greene — whose books are well known to parents of so-called “problem kids,” is rewriting the rules for how some schools respond to challenging students.

With Hispanic students accounting for the largest growth in college enrollment, how are higher education institutions reshaping programs and services to meet their needs? What are the most popular colleges for Hispanic students, and what’s driving their choices?

After nearly two years of public debate, and vociferous pushback from the higher education community, the White House announced it is pulling back on plans to rate the nation’s colleges based on a complex matrix of performance measures and student outcomes. Paul Fain, news editor for Inside Higher Ed has been following this story closely since the beginning, and he helped break the news that the Obama administration was scrapping the most controversial parts of its original proposal.

He spoke with EWA public editor Emily Richmond about who’s surprised by the decision (hint: not a lot of people), and the role played by aggressive lobbying against the rating plan by much of the higher education community. Fain and Richmond also discussed college ratings and consumer tools already available, and how to answer parents and students who ask for advice on choosing a school.

For students with disabilities, it can be a rocky transition from a supportive school environment to the “real world” of college and career. What programs and services are helping to clear their path? Which districts and states are doing the best job at preparing students with disabilities to advocate for themselves? And where is the policy and practice falling short? Education Week delves deep into these issues.

Education Week staff writer Christina Samuels, the lead reporter on the Diplomas Count 2015 report Next Steps: Life After Graduation, talks with EWA Radio about the national trends, examples of best practices, and story ideas for local reporters writing about special education issues.

This spring marks the debut of online assessments aligned to the Common Core, and so far the rollout has been uneven as many states struggle with technical logistics.

EWA public editor Emily Richmond talks with education reporter Charlie Boss of the Columbus Dispatch about how Ohio’s districts, schools, teachers and students are adjusting to the demands of the new standards and tests.

Boston public radio reporter Kirk Carapezza (WGBH News) spent a week in Germany examining the country’s tuition-free higher education system. What lessons are there for the United States, which is grappling with issues of equity and cost at its own colleges and universities? How is Germany successfully training its next generation of vocational workers? Could Americans ever embrace a public school system that rigorously “tracks” students toward specific careers at an early age?

Grappling with achievement gaps between their rich and poor students, a growing number of schools and districts are resolving to add more minutes or days to the academic calendar, and Boston has emerged as a leader in this trend.

Two journalists, a local reporter who covers education in Bakersfield and national reporter for NPR, discuss how they approach their beats, reflect on surprises they encountered in 2014, and provide predictions for the stories of 2015. Teaser: What grabs attention nationally may not be on the minds of local readers. 

Earlier this month, Rolling Stone magazine published a story about an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia, which resulted in outrage, shock, and a temporary suspension of all fraternities and sororities at the vaunted institution of higher education. But now, serious questions have been raised about freelance writer Sabrina Rubin Erdely’s reporting, as well as Rolling Stone’s decision to publish the story without stronger verification.

Politico’s Allie Grasgreen and Alyson Klein of Education Week join EWA Radio hosts Emily Richmond and Mikhail Zinshteyn to discuss the changing education priorities of Congress now that the GOP controls both houses. The reporters share their election surprises and provide tips for reporters on what to expect in federal legislation through 2016.

A year-long investigation into Michigan’s charter schools by the Detroit Free Press uncovered wasteful spending, cozy contracts, and missed opportunities to shut down long-struggling campuses, according to the newspaper.

On this week’s show, Emily and Mikhail talk with Tampa Bay Times reporter Lisa Gartner about whether Florida’s evaluation system might be falling short when it comes to identifying the state’s best teachers.

In episode 3 of EWA Radio, Michele McNeil and Alyson Klein of Education Week’s Politics K-12 blog stop by for some post-State of the Union analysis.