Best Education Journalism Of The Week (May 13-19, 2017)

BEST OF THE BEST

The Washington Post got the scoop of the week, ferreting out details from the proposed federal education budget. EdWeek and others followed up. The Obama-era Race to the Top is not really a good comparison, however, because those were new dollars not cuts to other programs. (Also good for eveyrone to remember: the Trump budget is a proposal, not a final budget.)

The Post also got hold of the D.C. Inspector General report showing how VIPs in Washington DC bypassed the school district lottery process, and unearthed several names. A deputy mayor, a former mayor, and a former Obama education adviser were all reportedly among VIPs who asked for and got special transfers for their children.

The LA Times, KPCC, and LA School Report/The 74 did good work covering the LAUSD school board elections this week. As they should have. LAUSD is the largest district in the nation run by an elected school board. The two-seat race set records for outside spending. The results were remarkable—unseating an incumbent—and shifted power back in the direction of charter supporters during a period of time in which charter schools have been on the defensive. Strange that nobody at the Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, the New York Times, or Washington Post seemed to think this was news worth covering.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

I really appreciated the way the Seattle Times talked about emergency teachers (vs teacher shortages) in their piece this week. All too often, journalism talking about teacher shortages makes it sound like there might not be enough teachers to stand in front of classrooms. The reality is more often the lowering of prerequisites (certification, etc.).

The AP-NORC education poll found that Americans have a largely positive view of school choice, but know little about it. Now that they’re more available, polling numbers should be a more regular part of education coverage, along with quotes and anecdotes, so that readers know the general sentiment of the public along with what individuals and advocates have to say.

The NYT had an interesting piece about how some folks can make money through school donations, which isn’t what most lawmakers envisioned.

EdWeek reported that the popular edtech platform Edmodo was hacked. Not with ransomware, but worth noting.

Remember that proposal to merge an overcrowded gentrified Chicago school with an under-enrolled school in the former projects? It’s been approved, according to WBEZ Chicago.

FROM “THE GRADE”

Last week’s column, about the lack of racial diversity among education news organizations, generated a lot of attention and criticism – much of it misguided from my perspective. Check out the updated version of the piece to see an editor’s note and a corrected diversity figure from EdWeek. Crossed fingers that the Education Writers Association will come up with additional ways to address these issues at the upcoming conference, which is currently short on time to discuss newsroom diversity.

This week’s column, by contributor Amy Shuffelton, delves into the decision by PBS and WNET to air the three-part series called School Inc. last month. PBS didn’t respond to our queries about the motivation behind the decision, so it’s hard to know exactly what they were thinking.

Other tidbits:

There were zero open press/media availability events on the EdSec’s schedule this past week. DeVos won’t speak at the EWA conference. Keeping her away from the media is a bad idea, says Bellwether’s Andy Rotherham. However, the instinct is understandable: “For much of the press corps, especially the education media, she might as well be a zoo animal.” Indeed.

This week’s NPR story about vouchers for special ed kids shared an unfortunate feature with a recent NYT piece on the same subject, according to Fordham Institute head Mike Petrilli: it didn’t include anyone who was happy with school choice. NPR’s Anya Kamenetz, who reported the piece, disagreed with Petrilli’s assessment.

PEOPLE PLACES THINGS

There was LOTS of education journalism recognized for the 2017 Green Eyeshade Awards (focused on 11 Southern states). Congrats to Kendi Rainwater (Chattanooga Times Free Press), Jeff Solochek (Tampa Bay Times), and Rowan Moore Gerety (WLRN-Miami Herald), among others. Their pieces – about stealth suspensions, grad rate tampering, segregation, and other topics are great to know about.

Speaking of awards, congrats to Lillian Mongeau for being a Livingston Award finalist for her deep dive into the state of US preschools. Other finalists with education-related stories include the Arizona Republic’s Caitlin McGlade and Richard Cano for their piece on school bus safety, former Houston Chronicle reporter Brian Rosenthal for his well-known series on special education in Texas, the Salt Lake Tribune’s Alex Stuckey for her Pulitzer-winning story on campus sexual assault, and New York Magazine’s Reeves Weideman for “The Sandy Hook Hoax.”

Speaking of Hechinger, they’re looking for a reporter to cover education innovation around the country. Travel required.

Another journalist had a run-in with security officials – this time trying to question FCC commissioners. Along with the verbal abuse, these kinds of encounters are getting scary.

KICKER

Curious why “every American graduation plays the same song?” Vox has you covered. Speaking of graduations, have you heard about swag surfing? It’s all the rage this year, according to Twitter.

CORRECTION OF THE WEEK

There was an unfortunate big correction to a recent AP story about political spending on education issues, apparently caused by database confusion between Bill Gates Sr. (the father) vs. Jr. (the Microsoft founder) and lack of familiarity on the part of the journalists working the story.