Getting Teachers on the Record

Working with kids is hard. Being a teacher is hard. I’ve worked in classrooms as a teacher and covered them as a journalist. Now, I am sharing my imperfect insights and tips for how journalists can better involve teachers in their reporting.

First, why should reporters bother talking to teachers? Education reporting, at its best, strives to uncover what happens between teachers and students. Stories about test scores, graduation rates and school funding are all imperfect proxies for understanding what teachers are doing. Even long-form investigations into the system’s unrealized potential are often about teachers, too — if only as the failure to put good educators in the right place. 

And finding these stories usually depends on access to teachers. 

But getting teachers on the record can be difficult. Privacy protections for students and schools often don’t allow for sharing specific information — and rightfully so in many cases. Meanwhile, most American schools these days are locked down like Fort Knox. Metal detectors, enhanced police presence and advanced cybersecurity makes it sometimes feel impossible to pop in on educators.

Yet, reporters manage to get teachers on the record every day. And students, parents, administrators and teachers (yes, them too!) are better informed for it.

Before diving into the reporting tips, it’s worth mentioning that “teacher” is a broad term. Readers may associate “teacher” with early education professionals and day care workers, paraprofessionals, professors, or those coffee-stained public employees carrying calculus books or “The Cat in the Hat” — they’re all considered teachers.

Some of the tips below are tailored for these far-flung corners of the education beat, but most offer sound reporting advice no matter what level of education you’re covering.

How to Build Trust With Teachers 

A teacher first reached out to me with an anonymous tip last year when they suspected criminal wrongdoing at their school. At the time, this teacher didn’t know me at all. Between the school, district, state and even law enforcement agencies, there were many places to bring such a tip. So why go to a reporter at all?

“That was the only way I knew for certain that I would not be named” to the person suspected of wrongdoing, this teacher told me. 

And how did they choose which reporter to contact? “It was helpful to see that there’s a specific person trying to keep a pulse on education in the city,” they said.

Basically, I was just kind of around.

Your outlet’s policy on anonymity aside, I share this story because the most basic challenge with getting teachers on the record, in my experience, is fear. The way to combat that fear is by building trust — specifically by being consistent with your presence and coverage.

“Even just getting a call from a reporter can be a scary thing,” this teacher said.

Your presence at every school board meeting, parent-teacher organization gathering or union demonstration is the sometimes boring part of the job that pays dividends in ways you never expect. Writing about the things that teachers are talking about is the important but often unsexy coverage that circulates your byline in the places you want it circulating.

And the best advice is to attend in-person whenever possible. Let people see that you care.

Beyond those basics, consider these other ways to build trust: 

• Go to school sporting events while wearing your outlet’s garb. 
• Attend school arts performances, and hand out your business card.
• Share the stories you write in Facebook groups, and email them directly to teachers and principals.

I have also stood outside a school dismissal, hastily explaining my rights while an anxious assistant principal shooed me back to the sidewalk (where I belonged). This is often embarrassing and weird, but I have gotten good sources by awkwardly calling out to teachers on the way to their cars.

Why Some Don’t Teachers Want to Talk, Anyway?

Reporters hurrying toward their deadline can underestimate the fear that teachers experience when the phone rings. While teachers invest hundreds of hours into the success of their students (and forgo higher pay to do so), today’s educators also face fierce public scrutiny.

When I first started as a teacher, almost a decade ago, an administrator showed faculty and staff Google search data that demonstrated the higher interest in crimes committed by teachers, compared to interest in those committed by high-ranking public officials — a trend that holds true today. 

Teachers, he said, are a lightning rod for public outrage. Our conduct, he said, could influence the public’s opinion of teachers everywhere.

Now that I’m on the side of writing those headlines, I try to remember that teachers contend with more privacy concerns and perhaps a more intense court of public opinion than almost any profession in America, not to mention the overwhelming workload of teaching kids.

Of course reporters have to do a lot to earn their trust.

Organize and Personalize Your Reporting Workflow

To put yourself in the position to succeed when deadlines are near, you can organize a list of sources to turn to as part of your reporting workflow. Reporters Matt Barnum, of Chalkbeat, and Katherine Kokal, of WUWM 89.7 in Milwaukee, suggest keeping all teacher sources in a dedicated spreadsheet.

Barnum suggests looking for teacher sources in unconventional ways. “Say you read an interesting op-ed by a teacher — add them to your list. Also if that’s the case, drop them a note saying you liked their article,” he said. “When you are on deadline, you’ll be so thankful you have a broad list of teachers to pull from.”

Kokal said her spreadsheet includes “a Dungeons and Dragons-style alignment chart” — basically, a fun guide to her own sources’ motivations. In practice, this means Kokal lists the name, school, and contact information of a source, but she may add that they feel “Lawful Neutral” about their district (a D&D character trait for a rule-following character without strong moral proclivities). “This is really helpful when I need to quickly determine who to call about an issue,” she said.

If you’re just starting out, reach out to local union leadership. Unions can be a helpful starting place for meeting teachers and advocates.

Be aware that teachers may have different tolerances for participating in news coverage. Frequently this has to do with their tenure status. In your teacher-source tracker, consider updating with tenure or licensure status (In some states, this is public information, but it’s not sensitive. You can just ask someone if they have tenure!). When teachers retire, they may feel more comfortable speaking freely and participating in news coverage.

After building your source list, audit it for diversity of all kinds. Is the union leadership over-represented? Are certain school buildings or demographic identities easier to access? What might be causing that? Ask people on your source list to connect you with the types of teachers who can fill your blind spots. 

My own reporting has been improved by talking regularly with paraeducators — who in your state may be known as teachers’ aides or paraprofessionals — who take on teaching and caring duties for many of the system’s most vulnerable learners. 

Treat Teachers as Experts

By some estimates, there are roughly 50 million PK-12 students in American public schools today. You may be tasked with covering higher education, private schools, non-traditional public schools, or the small but growing number in pre-Kindergarten classrooms. 

Whatever your focus, the millions of teachers who staff these various classrooms are experts, and reporters can get them on the record by treating them as such.

In higher education, of course, faculty earn their position by distinguishing themselves in particular areas of study. Even if you’re covering K-12, look to higher education for people who study education, from teaching methods to student mental health. “They might not express their personal opinions, but they can lay out the arguments on all sides,” said Jon Marcus, a reporter and editor at The Hechinger Report. 

In early education, especially Head Start programs, teachers can serve as expert, frontline sources on issues that local families face every day — from housing insecurity to transportation. Using teachers as expert sources on their communities builds trust for when they can serve as expert sources on their own schools or students. (Importantly, these teachers are experts on their communities, but reporters shouldn’t substitute them for content-area experts on housing or transportation or other issues.)

And every teacher is an expert — though with a particular bias — on the education system itself. Talk with the teachers who show up at school committee meetings, and ask what they think about the newest policy, enrollment figures or funding debate. At the end of the discussion, ask if there’s anything they’d like to put on the record, and explain the importance of elevating teacher voices.

Even if teachers choose not to, they should have ample opportunity to participate in news coverage — and ample evidence that you value their input.