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Making Sense of Research Literature Reviews and Meta-Analyses
When journalists want to learn what’s known about a certain subject, they look for research. Scholars are continually conducting studies on education topics ranging from kindergarten readiness and teacher pay to public university funding and Ivy League admissions.
One of the best ways for a reporter to get up to date quickly, though, is to read a study of studies, which come in two forms: a literature review and a meta-analysis.
Higher Education Seminar Fall 2019
University of Michigan • September 23-24, 2019
The Education Writers Association will hold its 2019 fall Higher Education Seminar September 23-24 on the theme of “Demographics, Politics, and Technology: The Forces Reshaping Higher Education.”
Held on the campus of the University of Michigan, this journalist-only intensive training event will offer two days of high-impact learning opportunities, including sessions on timely topics in higher education and practical advice for covering them effectively.
Dollars and Sense: Understanding Teacher Pensions
In states across the country, rising retirement costs are outpacing overall education spending—with consequences for classrooms and teachers’ pocketbooks. At the same time, efforts to reform pensions in places like Kentucky and Colorado have sparked fierce political backlash and even teacher walkouts.
What do reporters need to know about teacher pensions—how they work and how they’re connected to the wave of teacher unrest? Why hasn’t increased education spending boosted teacher pay? And how can reporters cover these complex topics accurately but also succinctly?
How to Better Understand and Cover Student Suicides
After a 10-year-old boy died by suicide in the middle of doing his chores, reporter Allison Ross was tapped to interview his grieving mother.
Ross struggled with how to share the Louisville family’s story sensitively, without being sensational in her coverage for the Courier-Journal newspaper.
Summer Story Ideas on the Education Beat
Tips for tapping national issues to fuel localized reporting
(EWA Radio: Episode 209)
School might be out, but that doesn’t mean education issues take a vacation: Two experienced education journalists offer compelling story ideas to beat the summertime blues. Delece Smith-Barrow of The Hechinger Report and Lauren Camera of U.S. News & World Report join this week’s podcast to discuss a wide range of national topics ripe for localized summer coverage.
EWA Tip Sheet: Using Facebook to Report
Reporters can use Facebook to create communities, start conversations, find story tips and sources, and build their individual brands. Lynn Walsh, a veteran reporter, walked journalists through ways to make the most of Facebook at the Education Writers Association’s 2019 National Seminar in Baltimore
The Financial and Emotional Costs of School Security
School safety is an important part of every education journalist’s beat, as states and districts invest billions in preventative measures, including those intended to stop the next campus shooting.
But how much of those investments are reactions to public perceptions about potential risks rather than grounded in best practices? And what questions should reporters ask when it comes to not just the financial costs but also the potential emotional toll such efforts take on students and staff?
Mental Health: A Hidden Crisis in Schools?
Mental health can influence all sorts of basic issues in education, from test scores to attendance and school discipline. Yet it’s a topic that education journalists often overlook.
That was the message of Steve Drummond, education editor and an executive producer at NPR, who moderated the panel, “Mental Health: A Hidden Crisis in Schools?” at this year’s EWA national conference. NPR chronicled the problem in a 2016 package called “A Silent Epidemic; The Mental Health Crisis in Our Schools.”
Gun Violence in Schools and Communities: A Conversation With Journalists
It’s probably every reporter’s worst nightmare: Your co-worker rushes over from the police scanner and blurts out, “Active shooter at Such-and-Such School.”
When that happened to South Florida Sun-Sentinel education reporter Scott Travis on Valentine’s Day 2018, “I headed there hoping more than anything that this was a false alarm,” he told EWA seminar attendees May 6. But he was headed to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
A School Where Career Training and Academics Go Hand in Hand
Popular magnet prepares youths for jobs in health sciences, plumbing and more
Leonard Ferguson is having the last laugh. A senior at the Western School of Technology and Environmental Science in Catonsville, Maryland, he’s on track to graduate this spring with both a good job and his continuing education paid for.
Can Kansas Keep Its Best Students?
Sunflower State students face realities of 'College Economy'
(EWA Radio: Episode 203)
Kansas, like many states, is pouring millions of dollars into dual-credit programs, technical colleges and other initiatives aimed at preparing more students for the so-called “college economy,” where advanced training is a prerequisite for well-paying jobs. But are those investments paying off? In an eight-part series for the Kansas News Service, reporters Celia Llopis-Jepsen and Stephen Bisaha look at the state’s push to get more students into postsecondary programs, and to keep them from taking their highly desirable skill sets to employers in other states.
How Higher Ed Is Confronting Hunger and Homelessness
As calls grow for colleges to open food banks and assist homeless students, a debate is stirring over just how widespread student hunger and homelessness really are, and what colleges should do about it.
The Criminalization of Black Girls
How biases are influencing discipline and punishment, in school and out
(EWA Radio: Episode 208)
As a teacher and later as a criminal justice reporter, USA Today’s Monica Rhor saw firsthand that black girls were often treated more harshly than their white peers. That awareness drove her determination to investigate the prevalence of the problem. She found stunning examples of how bias among educators and law enforcement drive what researchers call the “adultification” of black girls.
Betsy Devos Keynote Address & Interview
EWA 72nd National Seminar • Baltimore
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, one of President Trump’s longest-serving Cabinet members, discusses her agenda and priorities. Following opening remarks, she sits down for an interview with EWA board member Erica Green, an education reporter for The New York Times.
Big Promises for Little Learners: What’s Next for Early Education?
Governors across the country are pledging to pump billions of dollars into early childhood education – historic investments that could have a far-reaching impact on the lives of young people.
But their success will depend on how well states implement those initiatives and the scope and quality of the programs put in place, advocates said during the Education Writers Association’s annual conference this month. And it will be up to journalists, the speakers said, to hold those states accountable.
EWA Announces Inaugural Winner of Lifetime Achievement Prize
The Education Writers Association announced today that Claudio Sanchez, a longtime education reporter for NPR, was awarded EWA’s inaugural Lifetime Achievement Prize, which was inspired by the late EWA board president Mike Bowler.
Lessons From the Higher Ed Beat
David Jesse of Detroit Free Press wins top EWA Award for coverage of MSU, Larry Nassar scandal
(EWA Radio: Episode 206)
Reporter David Jesse’s scoops went so deep in covering the Larry Nassar sexual assault scandal at Michigan State University that some campus officials wondered if he was being cc’ed on internal emails. Nassar, a physician affiliated with MSU’s athletics program, was sentenced to 70 years in prison for sexually abusing students who were his patients at the campus clinic, as well as members of the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team. The university’s president also resigned in the wake of the fallout. Jesse, who’s been covering higher education at the Detroit Free Press for nearly a decade, won the Moskowitz Prize in this year’s EWA National Awards for Education Reporting.