Here are the education stories that defined the decade that’s now winding down.

By Alexander Russo

Last corrected 12/11/19 at 4:26

It was a whole different world back in 2010 — can you even remember?

Newsrooms had much bigger education teams. Nonprofit news outlets were in their infancies. Few of us had even heard of folks like Nikole Hannah-Jones, much less written about segregation.

Now, with the end of the decade fast approaching, let’s consider the defining pieces of education journalism of 2010-2020.

These aren’t just standout stories, award-winning pieces of journalism, or Alexander’s favorites.

These are the pieces that in some way defined what was going on in education and how those events got covered.

They shaped or changed our understanding of the education world, of what was important or possible to do as an education journalist.

Without further ado:

Who’s teaching L.A.’s kids?

When the LA Times published roughly 12,000 teacher performance scores in 2010, the move put education journalism in the spotlight — not necessarily in a good way. It was one thing for districts to try to determine which teachers were more effective than others to make internal decisions. But producing and publishing individual elementary school teachers’ scores seemed like a massive overreach, then and now.

Investigation into APS cheating finds unethical behavior across every level

Focused on teachers and administrators who felt pressured to raise scores by any means necessary, this 2011 Atlanta Journal-Constitution series was an amazing investigation, a crushing blow to the school reform movement, and a tragic illustration of black educators bearing the brunt of it all. Other, similar stories emerged in other places over the years, but Atlanta was — and to a certain extent remains — ground zero.

Bonus: Sara Mosle’s exquisitely reported 2018 NYT Magazine feature story —Can Good Teaching Be Taught? — is set at one of the Atlanta schools where cheating had been found.

Harper High School

This American Life’s two-part series on a struggling school in a violence-afflicted part of Chicago came out almost seven years ago but was so deeply and exquisitely done that I still remember some of it vividly. The series was a stark reminder of the communities and conditions that so many kids must navigate, and how, for some kids, just getting to and from school is dangerous. It was also a mind-expanding piece of storytelling, thanks in large part to WBEZ education reporter Linda Lutton.

How Bill Gates pulled off the swift Common Core revolution

This 2014 Washington Post piece gave too much agency to the foundation that supported the state standards, but it proved tremendously influential in promoting the backlash against Common Core and the problematic but now-widespread notion that foundation support makes pawns out of everything they fund.

Bonus: Dale Russakoff’s 2014 New Yorker article, Schooled, which was later turned into a book, also framed school improvement efforts in Newark largely through a funder’s largesse.

The Teacher Wars

Though I worry that it contributed to something of an overcorrection in how classroom teachers are portrayed, Dana Goldstein’s 2014 book played an inarguably large role in helping to reconsider criticism of individual classroom teachers and to codify a more positive, sympathetic narrative around educators.

Bonus: TIME’s 2014 cover story, Rotten Apples, made Goldstein’s case that the American public was going through a “moral panic” about classroom teachers.

At Success Academy School, a Stumble in Math and a Teacher’s Anger on Video

This 2016 New York Times metro story, accompanied by a viral video showing a teacher ripping up a young student’s worksheet, amplified the notion that charter schools like Success Academy were cruel places for children. The critique may or may not have been fair, but it was all but impossible to dislodge.

Choosing a School for My Daughter in a Segregated City

It might not be her best piece, but Nikole Hannah-Jones’ 2016 New York Times Magazine feature story combined much of what she’d been writing into an incredibly compelling narrative, forcing the rest of the world to take notice. Hard to believe that, until Hannah-Jones came along, few education reporters were writing about the return of segregation in American schools and the problems of systemic inequality in the traditional school system.

Louisiana School Made Headlines for Sending Black Kids to Elite Colleges. Here’s the Reality:

This 2018 New York Times exposé detailed the use of faked transcripts and college admissions essays to help one Louisiana private school gain widespread fame. It also represented something of a coming out for Erica Green, the star education reporter who was tapped to join the Washington desk in 2017.

America to Me

Renowned filmmaker Steve James’ 10-part 2018 miniseries captured the contradictions between liberal white desires for integration and the pervasive, nearly unconscious tendency among many white, affluent families to hoard educational opportunities. The series also represented a much-needed shift toward depicting the beneficiaries of the inequitable American school system, not just its victims.

Bonus: With footage that became iconic almost instantly, local cable news station NY1 captured affluent New York City parents screeching over a proposed school diversity plan at a 2018 community meeting.

Why aren’t kids being taught to read?

APM Reports’ long-form 2018 audio documentary showing how schools tend to avoid phonics instruction when teaching kids to read, despite evidence in support of its use, has had an unexpected and enormous effect, galvanizing a wave of coverage focused on problems with schools teach kids to read.

There you have it: the education journalism that defined the 2010-2020 period.

Picking from among the scores of standout stories that have been produced since 2010 was no easy task.

However, it was a great reminder of how important it is that education journalists pick the most important topics to write about and tell them in the best ways possible.

Stories like these make a real difference, not only in the lives of those who are depicted but also in shaping the public conversation.

 

*Correction: The initial version of this post listed 2015 for the publication of Dana Goldstein’s book, and named Erica Green to the national desk.  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alexander Russo

Alexander Russo

Alexander Russo is founder and editor of The Grade, an award-winning effort to help improve media coverage of education issues. He’s also a Spencer Education Journalism Fellowship winner and a book author. You can reach him at @alexanderrusso.

Visit their website at: https://the-grade.org/