A commencement-season call for change.
By Alexander Russo
What would it take to transform education coverage into something dramatically different — and better?
As the 2022-23 school year wraps up, that’s the question that keeps coming back to me.
Education journalists are working hard under difficult circumstances. They are producing admirable work despite many challenges.
And there have been glimpses of important changes in how journalists cover schools: increased collaboration, more attention to progress, somewhat more focus on everyday parents’ experiences, and enhanced protection for vulnerable sources.
However, much more needs to happen. Not tweaking. Radical change.
This past year, education coverage has too often been toxic, superficial, and corrosive, amplifying simplistic narratives, fanning readers’ fears, and downplaying schools’ core academic function.
Change is hard. But those of us who love and believe in this beat need to talk and take action. The old ways of doing things just aren’t really working anymore.
Here’s my commencement-season call for change — featuring ideas from the American Journalism Project, the Poynter Institute, and The Trace — along with three initial steps that need to be taken.
What would it take to transform education coverage into something dramatically different — and better?
There’s a growing urgency around the need to revamp the traditional ways of doing things:
The American Journalism Project finds that readers want trusted information and actionable information from local news coverage, not just policy stories.
Based on the superficiality of traditional political coverage, media observer Jay Rosen is calling on reporters to focus on the stakes, not the odds, as the 2024 elections loom.
In the aftermath of revelations about ethics concerns on the Supreme Court, Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick is calling for more aggressive and independent coverage, with increased attention to internal dynamics and more focus on the court’s impact on real people.
In a few instances, the journalism reform conversation has turned into concrete action:
The Poynter Institute is currently hosting a seminar on transforming traditional crime coverage that “amplifies inaccurate narratives and harms the communities that are most affected.”
The Trace, an outlet focused on documenting gun violence, recently announced an intention to implement “a different model” for its coverage, moving away from practices that often frighten readers and stigmatize communities.
In a few instances, the journalism reform conversation has turned into concrete action.
Independence. Attention to powerful behind-the-scenes dynamics. Care for the impact of the coverage on the communities being covered.
Many of these ideas and efforts are easily adapted to the education beat.
I would add my own long-held calls for education journalism to hold school systems accountable; center parents, kids, and communities; and diversify newsrooms, expert sources, and story subjects.
To transform itself, the education beat must expand its gun violence coverage beyond schools, make teachers unions a regular coverage element, and reinvigorate its efforts to provide firsthand in-school observation.
Education coverage needs to take readers behind the scenes, become more independent of school systems, and exhibit much more urgency on behalf of kids. Along with traditional investigative work, it must include community- and service-oriented coverage.
Education coverage needs to become more independent of school systems and exhibit much more urgency on behalf of kids.
A good starting point for changing the way the beat is covered would be if leading education journalists communicated their feelings about what most needs changing.
There’s no reason that education journalism should miss out on the debate over the future of journalism that’s taking place all around. Beat leaders — you know who you are — need to speak up.
A second step is for education journalism organizations to encourage vigorous debate and consideration of much-needed changes.
Organizations like Education Writers Association, whose board members and new leadership are meeting in Atlanta this week, should take an ongoing role in improving beat coverage.
Revamping its awards program and public editor position might go a long way to signaling an urgency for change.
In their grantmaking decisions, journalism funders should prioritize coverage improvements and innovations.
An education version of Poynter’s crime beat transformation course would be a great place to start.
Most of all, we need a handful of forward-thinking teams and outlets to try new things.
Trade newsrooms like Chalkbeat, EdWeek, and the Hechinger Report should be represented, along with national education teams like AP and the Washington Post.
Back in the 2010s, Nikole Hannah-Jones told education journalists they were overlooking racial segregation in schools.
We need that same kind of leadership now.
There’s no reason that education journalism should miss out on the debate over the future of journalism.
For eight years now, I’ve been reading and writing about education news pretty much every day — shining a light on the best work I can find while trying to hold newsrooms accountable for the coverage they produce.
This year’s coverage has been increasingly difficult to read.
All too often, the current approach to covering schools results in superficial, polarized coverage that focuses on politics, culture wars, and school systems rather than whether or not schools are meeting student learning and community needs.
I’m increasingly frustrated by the traditional approach and the lack of leadership for change.
And yet, I think that positive changes are both necessary and possible — and that the education beat could still show the rest of journalism valuable new ways of doing things.
But the only way that’s going to happen is if the field’s top names and leaders step forward with honest self-reflection and efforts at making change.
If 2023-24 is going to be any better, the education beat needs candor, urgency, and action.
Previously from The Grade
New rules for education journalism
Tabloid-style education news is all the rage
The case against focusing on school gun violence
Hope, agency, and dignity: how the education beat could save journalism
Education journalism is stuck. What’s holding it back?
Cover teachers unions like you cover school districts
Concrete examples & avoiding ‘emotionalism’: How to cover school culture war stories
How to improve book ban coverage
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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/
