A quarter million unexplained absences, climate is an education story, & ‘Sold a Story’ on NPR: Best Education Journalism of the Week (2/10/23)

In this week’s newsletter: Over a million kids are no longer enrolled in public schools since the pandemic began — and nearly a quarter million of them can’t be accounted for. The climate crisis should be a core element of education coverage — like poverty or racism, argues former NPR reporter Anya Kamenetz. APM Reports’ blockbuster “Sold a Story” podcast is slated to air as a one-hour segment on NPR this weekend. And one ed reporter shows an extremely high level of commitment to her craft. 

UNEXPLAINED ABSENCES
The big story of the week

Above: The AP’s Thousands of kids are missing from school. Where did they go?

The big education story of the week is news that public schools lost over a million kids during the pandemic — most of them to private schools and homeschooling, as well as to demographic trends. “It was the largest single-year decline since World War II,” notes Chalkbeat. And, “defying hopes of a rapid rebound, enrollment barely budged the following year.”

But that’s not all. There are almost a quarter of a million kids — over a third of those who are no longer attending public schools — whose educational whereabouts are unknown. “These students didn’t move out of state, and they didn’t sign up for private school or home-school,” notes the AP. “They’re missing.” They might be unreported homeschool or private school students. Or they might just … not be going to any school. It’s not a good thing. 

Above: When the largest single category of kids no longer in public school is “unexplained,” that should worry you.

The new estimates of abandoned kids are almost certainly low, given that they’re based on just 21 states — excluding Texas or Illinois, for example — and don’t include “ghost” kids who are nominally still enrolled but not attending (or the informal removal kids the New York Times describes). 

Most important of all, the loss of over a million kids is not just an enrollment decline or a budget story, a framing that focuses attention on school systems and school closures. It’s also a story about kids that were abandoned by the school system and not fully re-engaged.

For the full story, check out coverage from the LA Times, AP, Seattle Times, and Chalkbeat. As part of its effort to help local newsrooms, AP says it shared data and reporting with 36 newsrooms in areas most affected. An outfit called Big Local News was also involved. 

Other big stories this week: 

FUNDING: Pennsylvania’s big school funding challenge is over. Nearly a decade after a lawsuit was filed arguing that funding for K-12 education was inadequate for poorer districts, a Republican judge agreed and declared the funding system unconstitutional (WHYY, Philadelphia Inquirer, AP, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor).

SHOOTING: A series of incidents leading up to the Richneck shooting went unaddressed, according to firsthand accounts and a review of text messages (Washington Post). A pending claim against the Newport News school district points a finger at the assistant principal for failing to react to several warnings about the 6-year-old who shot his teacher (Daily Press, AP). In the meantime, parents of two students are preparing to sue the district for the trauma the shooting inflicted on their kids (AP).

CHOICE: If there’s one story you should pay attention to, but might not be, it’s school choice of various kinds. More parents and lawmakers are pushing for it (EdWeek, KUER). More states are providing it (Washington Post). Iowa recently passed an extremely broad school voucher program — a trend gaining momentum in nearly 20 states (Des Moines Register, Wall Street Journal). In some places, it’s dividing candidates and legislatures, not always on party lines as you might think (Idaho Capital Sun, Texas Tribune). Stay tuned for a future column from us on this.

MEALS: U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack proposed new nutrition standards for school meals, limiting added sugars and sodium (AP, New York Times, CNN). But flavored milk somehow remains. 

PRESCHOOL: Efforts to expand universal preschool in Colorado and Michigan have inspired both excitement and doubt (Colorado Public Radio, Chalkbeat CO/Colorado Sun, Chalkbeat Detroit).

VIOLENCE ENCROACHES
The best education journalism of the week

The best education journalism of the week is Liz Bowie and Shreya Vuttaluru’s Baltimore Banner story, How violent neighborhoods threaten otherwise safe Baltimore schools (above), which captures the everyday danger that some students are exposed to even though the school building remains safe. 

The story features interviews with several students about their experiences, vivid details from inside the school, and helpful statistics about school-adjacent shootings that have spiked in Baltimore since the pandemic. Most of all, the story distinguishes between dangerous surroundings and safe schools — countering the misleading narrative that school gun violence is pervasive. 

There are so many things that make this a standout story: 

First and foremost, it features insights and experiences from students at Edmondson Westside High School who must make difficult decisions figuring out how to get to and from school safely each day — and who are trying to complete their education under increasingly daunting circumstances. 

It details the shabby building in which students are educated, noting stained ceiling tiles and fogged-up windows. And it describes how the school keeps students safe, both through strong relationships with caring adults and metal detectors (and — something I haven’t read about before — colored wristbands to signify which students have been screened). 

Last but not least, the story provides data on school-adjacent shootings both in the city and in surrounding districts — avoiding the media tendency to focus on one urban district’s challenges without context. 

Reading this piece, I’m reminded of two memorable pieces of journalism on similar topics: Linda Lutton and others’ 2013 This American Life segment, Harper High School – Part One, which describes how kids walked down the middle of the street in traffic rather than risk sidewalks with parked cars that might hide attackers; and Sonali Kohli and Iris Lee’s 2019 LA Times masterpiece, What it’s like to go to school when dozens have been killed nearby, which explored the intense stress created by community gun violence even when schools remain relatively safe. 

Other great stories published this week:

How Educators Secretly Remove Students With Disabilities From School (NYT)
Chicken Coops, Trampolines and Tickets to SeaWorld: What Some Parents are Buying with Education Savings Accounts (The 74) 
Why California still doesn’t mandate dyslexia screening (CalMatters)
Va. school struggles after a student overdose then a lockdown in same week (Washington Post)
Yoga, media leaks & ‘special access’ feature in battle of CMS email requests (WFAE)
Education issues vault to top of GOP’s presidential race (NYT)
Some kids dodge trains & cars walking to school. More buses could help (WBHM Birmingham)
This power couple were behind the S.F. school board recall. (SF Chronicle)* 
Black families are changing the educational landscape through communal home-schooling (NBC News)
*Reported column (Heather Knight) 

CLIMATE & THE COLLEGE BOARD
What we’ve been up to at The Grade

📰 Former NPR education reporter Anya Kamenetz tells education journalists that climate isn’t just a once-a-year story but rather a core lens for understanding schools, comparable to poverty or racism: “You or your audience may not give a fig for climate; you still need to cover it.” 

📰 Historian Adam Laats points out that — despite coverage to the contrary — the College Board was almost certain to water down its new African American AP course, based on its past behavior. “It wasn’t heroic,” writes Laats. “But it also wasn’t out of the ordinary.” 

📰 Corrections and additions: In last week’s newsletter, I should have credited this Washington Post story for being the first to review the College Board’s documents claiming to have made its decisions before Governor DeSantis weighed in. Apologies to all. For two more good new pieces about school and student experiences about the new AP African American AP class, check out the Miami Herald and the Baltimore Banner. 

TAILORED PROGRAMS BOOST OR GRAD RATES
Coverage of promising school innovations & signs of progress

💡 Several Oregon districts saw graduation rates increase for high schoolers who took part in programs targeting migrant students, homeless students, Black students, and tribal members (Oregon Public Broadcasting).

💡 As other schools take a cautious approach to Black History Month, this Pittsburgh-area district has planned a wide-ranging slate of classes and events based on the theme of Black empowerment (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).

💡 Teachers in New York City schools are using ChatGPT and other AI tools to spur critical thinking in their students (New York Times).

💡 The latest update to a long-term study shows that attending preschool (and after that, a magnet school) was associated with higher educational attainment for students in Tulsa (Hechinger Report). 

💡 A NJ superintendent transformed his financially strapped district by empowering staff, reimagining its approach to special education, investing in preschool, and forming community partnerships (EdWeek). See also this interview with the superintendent about the preschool expansion. 

Read more about the importance of covering promising innovations and preliminary successes.

PEOPLE, JOBS
Who’s going where and doing what. Plus job openings.

Above: When I first became an education journalist 20 years ago, Lisa Walker (left) was the executive director of the Education Writers Association (EWA). Then it was Caroline Hendrie (middle), who recently resigned. I’m hoping the board makes a bold choice for the new head. 

 Appearances: WBEZ Chicago’s Sarah Karp talked about the education challenges facing the city’s next mayor. WBUR Boston’s Max Larkin talked about the recent Woburn teachers’ strike. Anya Kamenetz was interviewed about bringing solutions-oriented climate storytelling to children. Chalkbeat CEO Elizabeth Green was quoted in the Washington Post on how newsrooms can move beyond “objectivity” to build trust. 

 Career moves: GBH’s Meg Woolhouse is moving from education reporter to editor. We hear a job opening will be announced soon for her replacement. Las Vegas Review-Journal education reporter Lorraine Longhi is also getting a promotion: she’s the paper’s new assistant city editor and she tells us she’ll still be editing their education coverage. Post and Courier education reporter Devna Bose is going back home to Mississippi to report on community health for Mississippi Today, a “real dream come true.” Congrats to all!

 Job openings: WAMU is hiring an education reporter. See previous versions of the newsletter for more jobs that may still be open. 

 Opportunities: You can register here for Georgetown’s Spring 2023 Certificate in Education Finance. Feb. 17 is the deadline to apply for the NAHJ student training program. And you can enroll now in Poynter’s Beat Academy virtual workshop series, which is kicking off next month. So far, none are directly related to education, but there are TBD spots in July and August and you know what we’re rooting for!

EVENTS, RESOURCES
What’s happening and new research

Above: Education was featured in this Meet The Press segment, Partisan divide over education goes beyond critical race theory.

 This weekend, an hour-long version of “Sold a Story” is scheduled to be featured on the Center for Investigative Reporting’s “Reveal,” which is aired by NPR stations nationwide. But that’s not all. APM Reports’ Emily Hanford was also on Slate’s “Mom and Dad Are Fighting” to talk about why schools aren’t teaching kids to read. And a New Hampshire legislator cited “Sold a Story” in introducing a bill on teaching literacy. But not everyone fully endorses the series — here’s a recent critique from Tim Shanahan.

 Segments & podcasts: WNYC’s The Takeaway had two education-related episodes this week: Florida Attacks Black Studies and How AI Like ChatGPT is Changing Education. A new episode of The Bell’s Miseducation podcast — led by current NYC students — delves into the persistence of school segregation in the city. 

 Media criticism: National coverage of DeSantis education proposals has been weak, argues Media Matters for America, but local and regional coverage has been a national model. Ari Drennen, who covers LGBTQ news at Media Matters, warns reporters not to repeat the New York Times’ mistake in  printing “the ‘grooming’ slur against trans people without providing immediate pushback.” Parker Molloy also sounded off on the mainstream media’s anti-trans bias in this Q&A.

 Upcoming: The Pulitzer Center is hosting their second annual 1619 Education Conference on Feb. 18-19, featuring Nikole Hannah-Jones and others.

 Reporter resources: Chalkbeat Colorado’s Jason Gonzales writes for EWA about how newsrooms can cover and edit diverse career and technical education stories. If you’re not subscribed already, the free weekly newsletter Local Matters almost always features a great education story, like last week’s Central Bucks County school district book ban fiasco. 

Research: The white population increased in the last decade in hundreds of neighborhoods at the center of many large cities — even as it declined almost everywhere else in the country — with obvious impacts on schools. According to a report by CRPE’s Erin Richards, more than 40% of district leaders say they are managing debates over CRT, but the problem is more acute in majority white districts. And a report from scientists calling themselves the Norfolk Group asks why the U.S. media sought to discredit Sweden in 2020 for its pandemic response, including keeping schools open, when it had one of the lowest excess mortality rates in the world. (See chapter 3 on school closures here.)

THE KICKER

“I was DREADING this, regretting all my life choices the morning of,” tweeted MPR education reporter Elizabeth Shockman about her frigid dip. “But actually going through with it wasn’t as terrifying as I thought it would be.”