About the Entry

Erin Einhorn’s coverage of Detroit schools portrays a system struggling to stretch its resources to better serve students. Her reporting included breaking the news that Michigan was planning to shutter schools statewide, and close looks at the realities for families exercising school choice.

• Six hours, eight buses: The extreme sacrifice Detroit parents make to access better schools
• Detroit just created its first intentionally diverse charter school. Here’s why it might not stay that way
• Scores of Michigan schools to be shuttered based on test scores they were told wouldn’t count
• As the threat of closure looms, this Detroit charter school says it’s worth a second look
• Detroit’s vicious cycle: National education groups aren’t coming to help some of the country’s most troubled schools
• The unconventional way Detroit is filling Head Start classrooms
• Facing an uncertain future, a principal and his staff have one year to prove their school should survive

Entry Credit

• Erin Einhorn, Detroit Editor, Chalkbeat

Comments from the Judges

“Einhorn’s beat reporting is solid, insightful, and impactful — and focuses a city in desperate need of sunlight. Her piece on students’ commutes uses real-life stories of desperation to illustrate what is essentially a policy problem: what happens to families in a poor city where the few good options don’t offer transportation.”

“I love this writing. It is smart, sensitive, clear and thoughtful, and tells all sides. Conveys complicated context smoothly. Shows the forest and the trees. The diverse charter enrollment story is an honest look at a tough dilemma.”

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