#CoveringCOVID19, a daily update from The Grade to help education journalists cover the COVID-19 crisis.
THE TOP FIVE
Five great education stories about how schools are responding to the COVID-19 crisis:
As Nashville Parents Adapt To Distance Learning, Many Say The School District’s Plan Is A Little Too Late – Nashville Public Radio (above)
Without in-person classes, many teachers have been completely ghosted by students. – Greenville (SC) News
Paranoia about cheating is making online education terrible for everyone – Vox
Boston Public Schools Updates Remote Learning Plan With More Structure – WBUR Edify
Wi-Fi holdup: Social Security question still a barrier, Colorado teachers say – Chalkbeat CO
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THE COVID COLLECTIVE
There are many opportunities for collaboration in education journalism, whether it’s the Chalkbeat network of sites, NPR and its local affiliates, the New York Times local and national desks, or the Hechinger Report and its publishing partners. ProPublica Illinois and the Chicago Tribune have done some great work together recently.
But the organization that is coordinating the most systematically and regularly, making best use of their combined resources, has to be the USA Today team and its Gannett local education desks.
They communicate regularly among each other, avoid duplication of efforts, and seem to enrich each others’ reporting and their readers’ experiences. Given the immensity of the COVID story and the lack of resources, even the best-resourced newsrooms face, you’d think there would be far more collaboration among newsrooms and organizations. But, as I point out in a new column that’s in the works, it’s not too late.
One or several of the big education news organizations could easily set up a Slack or Zoom and hash out a plan of action, divvying up the labor and producing great work as a result. NPR’s Elissa Nadworny has done this several times in the past. Plenty of people in education journalism possess the organizational and leadership skills to come up with a smart, efficient way to cover the COVID story and its impact on schools with far less repetition and duplication of efforts. If there’s any way that I can help support such efforts, I’m all for it.
Disclosure: The USA Today education team receives funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which also supports The Grade.
Above: Here’s another newspaper editorial about major problems with remote learning, this time coming from the Chicago Sun Times editorial page. I still feel like there’s more urgency and concern coming from editorial pages than anywhere else.
TIDBITS
EWA is holding a webinar on the challenges of reporting remotely later this week. You should check it out. But we’ve already covered the topic several times. Read Amber C. Walker’s piece, featuring insights with several education reporters: Writing great profiles in the age of remote reporting.
There’s been lots of coverage and controversy regarding small business loans going to the wrong people, including private schools and public corporations. Did you see? CalMatters applied for — and got — a $500,000 small business loan from the federal government, and wrote about it. Any other news operations doing the same? I’m curious to find out.
On Wednesday, Poynter is hosting an event on making diversity a priority even during the COVID crisis. It’s a great topic. Here’s what newsroom diversity in education journalism looked like a year ago. Will things be any better in 2020?
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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/
