When students are unwell — whether they have a run-of-the-mill
cold, a chronic illness, or a mental health condition like
depression or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — it is
more
difficult for them to learn. Many more students face chronic
physical and mental health challenges than in years past, making
this a vital area about which education reporters should learn.
Student health encompasses a wide range of issues that include
physical and mental health diseases, the consequences of risky
sexual behavior, food and housing insecurity, and the effects of
personal and community violence. Layered over these issues are
the health threats that loom large from the spread of the
coronavirus in communities, child care facilities, and schools.
These concerns have an effect from preschool classrooms to
university lecture halls and dorms, and, in many cases,
disproportionately harm Black and Hispanic students who are more
likely than their white counterparts to experience chronic
illnesses, sexually transmitted diseases and community violence.
The leading chronic physical illnesses for students are asthma,
diabetes and obesity. One out of 12 school children has
asthma; childhood obesity has more than tripled since the
1970s to one in
five school-aged children. And about 187,000 U.S. children
and adolescents have
diabetes.
Access to school nurses is essential in helping to manage these
and other conditions, and to avoid emergency room visits and lost
days of school. Yet many schools don’t have a nurse on campus
every day. A lack of funding has created a shortage of school
nurses as districts struggle to come up with money to hire them.
And when they do, salaries for school nurses are often lower than
for nurses working in other settings. Though the National Association of School
Nurses has lobbied for dedicated federal funding for nurses
in schools, the majority are funded through regular and special
education funding.
One-quarter of schools nationally do not have a nurse, either
full- or part-time.
Other major threats to student health and safety are suicide,
which increased 56% between 2007 and 2017 among those ages 10-24,
and other forms of
violence, which can have long-lasting
mental health effects for victims and witnesses. In addition,
about 20% of
U.S. students reported being bullied, with many encountering it
online
or via text. Hunger and homelessness remain major problems for
college students and among
students in the pre-K-12 system.
The following information will help journalists find reliable
data and understand more about the health issues facing students
at all levels.
Updated March 2021
Investigating How Politics Is Affecting Education? Here’s What to Know
Amid an ‘all-time high’ in partisan polarization in the U.S., get background and tips to better cover the politicization of education and how it affects students.
Political influence over what students are learning in the classroom has been at the forefront in recent years, but its impact goes back decades.
Panelists discussed how public school districts and higher education institutions are handling the current political climate during the 2022 National Seminar in Orlando last July.
Educators are dealing with fatigue related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and political stress, including accusations of teaching critical race theory to school children, researchers said.
Why Education Reporters Should Approach Rising Anti-LGBTQ Sentiments As a Public Health Issue
What do journalists need to know to effectively cover LGBTQ students? Those knowledgeable on the issues provide insight.
Classrooms are bearing the brunt of anti-LGBTQ sentiments surging in the U.S. How are educators and school districts responding? How do journalists go about unpacking the issues, especially when vulnerable groups – children and teenagers – are personally affected? What are the risks to sources in doing this reporting?
Covering Parent Activism and Engagement? Go Beyond Critical Race Theory
‘Sexy headlines’ about the latest education controversy often grab attention. Learn why reporters shouldn’t limit their coverage. Plus, get research and the history of parent engagement in education.
A new generation of parent activists has arrived, and its members are far more concerned with “ballot boxes, legislative agendas and school district policy priorities than bake sales,” according to a new report from the public policy think tank FutureEd.
Why Reporters Should Cover Middle School
Learning about the middle school years will help journalists better cover youth learning and brain development.
Although middle school is often treated as just a way station between elementary and high school, there’s much more to the story. In fact, the middle school years are a time of profound change for young people – physically, emotionally, and intellectually. These years are a crucial time for learning and brain development, a reality that is often overlooked or misconstrued.
A Guide to the Guides: What to Know About LGBTQ Style Guides for Journalists
There are numerous LGBTQ style guides for journalists. Most include similar advice for what is and isn’t appropriate to ask gay and trans sources as well as how to steer clear of some oft-repeated misinformation. Offering your pronouns — e.g. she/her/hers, they/them/theirs — at the start of a conversation invites your interviewee to reply with the information they want you to have about their identity.
Getting Out of the Statehouse and Into the Schoolhouse When Covering LGBTQ Students
A consistent criticism from LGBTQ organizations of media coverage of assault on gay and trans rights is that it features too few of the people most affected. Here are three suggestions for education reporters seeking to counter this.
Challenge the narrative: Francisco Vara-Orta is a former Education Week staff writer and EWA board member who is now director of diversity and inclusion for Investigative Reporters and Editors. Reporters need to push back on misleading or false assertions, he says.
How to Better Cover LGBTQ Students in the Pandemic Era of ‘Don’t Say Gay,’ Book Bans and Other Issues
This deep dive catches reporters up on the legislation and issues affecting LGBTQ students. Read this main story and two other related pieces to improve your coverage.
Ranging from “Don’t Say Gay” laws to bans on transgender students’ participation in sports and on gay- and trans-themed books in schools, a record 238 anti-LGBTQ bills were filed in U.S. statehouses during the first three months of 2022. Even before the first were signed into law, the new measures had an impact in K-12 schools and on college campuses.
Responsible Reporting on ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Legislation
In at least 16 states, lawmakers are considering legislation that would limit or even prohibit the teaching and discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in certain grades.
75th EWA National Seminar
Orlando • July 24-26, 2022
Celebrating 75 Years!
As those in education and journalism work to recover from an extended pandemic, bringing together the community has never been more critical. The Education Writers Association’s 75th annual National Seminar will provide a long-awaited opportunity to gather in person for three days of training, networking, and inspiration.
Lack of Sleep Affecting Adolescent Learning? Coverage Tips for Early School Start Times
Get background, story ideas and advice.
“What’s keeping you up at night?”
Science journalist and author Lydia Denworth posed that question to a pair of experts on adolescent development during the Education Writers Association’s 2021 National Seminar.
“Sleep!,” speakers Adriana Galván of UCLA and Denise Pope of Stanford University both said at a panel. Adolescents, they agreed, don’t get enough of it.
With Schools Reopening Full-Time, What Pandemic-Driven Changes Will Last?
Get 7 story ideas to help you cover K-12 and higher education shifts that may have staying power.
Despite the many hardships the pandemic caused, the COVID-19 disruption also sparked – or in some cases accelerated – changes to K-12 and higher education that leaders say should stick.
The speakers pointed to the power of flexibility, the need to focus energy and resources that will serve the “whole student,” and how increased outreach and new communication strategies with students and families could be transformative during a plenary at the Education Writers Association’s 2021 National Seminar.
LGBTQ Stories Reporters Should Cover After Pride Month
Hear about laws targeting LGBTQ athletes, mental health and data to inform your coverage.
Pride month is coming to an end, but LGBTQ issues will continue to make headlines this summer and fall – especially for education reporters – because of continuing controversies over new school policies and laws.
Adolescence on the Mind: Helping Teens Out of the Pandemic
Building social connections outside the family, especially with peers, is key to healthy adolescent development. Yet isolation wrought by the pandemic has curtailed social opportunities.
What works to help adolescents overcome such setbacks? What do surveys of students in high school and middle school show about the impact of the past year?
Two national experts answered these and other questions during a May 5 session at the Education Writers Association’s 2021 National Seminar.
The participants were:
Knowing and Addressing Students’ Social and Emotional Needs
The pandemic has interrupted social interactions and hurt student well-being. Understanding students’ social and emotional needs will be crucial in the coming year.
What new methods are emerging for gauging social and emotional needs, competencies and learning? How has the pandemic affected SEL and what does that mean for teaching and learning?
Speakers addressed these and other issues at a May 3 session at the Education Writers Association’s 2021 National Seminar.
The participants were:
How Kids Think
Evolving science around adolescent brain development has implications for mental health and education
(EWA Radio Episode 269)
How do adolescents learn to make healthy choices? When does the desire for status and respect most influence the teenage brain?
Children, Schools, and Guns
Millions of young people experience trauma related to gun violence, and the harm is overlooked in statistics about campus shootings or community incidents (EWA Radio Episode 267)
America’s gun violence crisis is leaving its mark on multiple generations of young people, who don’t need to be victims or even direct witnesses to shootings to suffer lasting harm.
74th EWA National Seminar
Virtual, May 2-5, 2021
The Education Writers Association’s 74th National Seminar will focus on the theme of “Now What? Reporting on Education Amid Uncertainty.” Four afternoons of conversations, training and presentations will give attendees deeper understanding of these crises, as well as tools, skills and context to help them better serve their communities — and advance their careers.
To be held May 2-5, 2021, the seminar will feature education newsmakers, including leaders, policy makers, researchers, practitioners and journalists. And it will offer practical data and other skills training.
Investigative Reporters: What to Do When The Story Changes
Three strategies for piloting journalistic projects through news and change.
It’s hard enough these days for journalists to get the time, resources and editorial support they need to pursue ambitious projects. So when the story changes, or news, of, say, a pandemic breaks, reporters may fear that their story and hard work will be abandoned.
But reporters who build good rapport with their editors, stay organized, and work out ways to incorporate new developments into their stories can save and even elevate their projects, according to teams of journalists from The Washington Post and APM Reports.
What Education Reporters Need to Know About the Science of COVID-19
As scientific understanding of the novel coronavirus continues to evolve, states, school systems, and higher education institutions must weigh what is known — and unknown — about the risks to guide decision-making. What’s the appropriate threshold to reopen or close schools? What safety precautions are most important on campuses? The list of questions goes on.