2025 Investigative Reporting (Education-Only Outlets) Winners

About the Winners:

Investigative reporters Meredith Kolodner and Marina Villeneuve set off on an eight-month investigation, which took them into school districts throughout New Jersey. They deftly overcame roadblocks. They mined school board documents and spoke with dozens of parents who poured out their frustrations at watching their children languishing in separate classrooms. They spoke with educators and advocates. And they filed public records requests.

They brought in early education reporter Jackie Mader to explore possible solutions. Mader’s reporting took her to Nebraska, where a statewide effort to improve inclusion rates was yielding positive results for students with disabilities. 

Comments From the Judges:

“Impressive reporting that exposed the problems in New Jersey. The Hechinger Report, to its credit, also reported on a state where progress is being made to get more special needs students in general education classes. The reporting does a nice job explaining the progress and challenges, even in schools that are putting more special needs students in general education classes.”

“This team has focused admirably on a crucial topic — NJ’s colossal failure to educate disabled children alongside the non-disabled — in one of the richest states in the union. They hit on the enormous complications of the issue, including racial disparities and the wildly variable levels of disabilities, blending individual stories with context. They correctly point to NJ’s unusually prolific network of expensive private schools as a huge disincentive. Nailed it.”

Photo credits: Yunuen Bonaparte, Jackie Mader