#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:
America’s schools are likely to stay shut for months — and reopening will bring significant changes, educators say – Baltimore Sun (pictured)
San Francisco schools abandon all A’s grading policy – SFChronicle
What California schools’ devastating cuts could mean for classrooms: 15% less per student – SF Chronicle
Some School Districts Plan to End the Year Early, Call Remote Learning Too Tough – WSJ
Newsom: California schools could reopen as early as July – Los Angeles Times
ICYMI: Friday’s newsletter features tons of great stories, media commentary, and newsroom comings & goings. Check it out here and sign up today!
HOW ARE CHARTER SCHOOL KIDS FARING?
I’ve spent the past five years complaining about what seemed to me like excessive (and excessively negative) coverage of charter schools, but now, a million days into the COVID-19 crisis, I have to say that I’m wondering where all the charter school coverage has gone.
Charter schools could be doing a great job or a horrible one, or a wide range depending on the network, but either way we need to know. With a couple of exceptions, including The 74 and Chalkbeat, charter schools seem to have all but disappeared from the education media landscape.
How are charter school kids doing, compared with everyone else? Are there any charter school lessons, models, or trends that would be useful or interesting to know about? Ways in which they’re letting kids down? I’m all ears.
ICYMI: In yesterday’s roundup, I pointed out that while US school districts seem like they’re staying remote for now, there were SO MANY stories about re-opening.
BRINGING WORK AGREEMENTS INTO THE STORY
District-union agreements have had a woefully under-reported role in shaping remote learning for most of the past few weeks, from what I’ve been seeing. Jenny Manriques wrote about how they affect working hours and student interactions for The Grade last week. The NYT also addressed the union’s pushback against remote learning. And now EdWeek has taken a big-picture look at the work agreements, including 12 district contracts. That’s not a lot of coverage, however. So you’ve got no excuse not to look into the provisions in your district-union MOU. And, when the time comes to start planning for summer school or re-opening schools in the fall, don’t forget that the teachers will have a lot to say about if and when that happens — as they should. Crossed fingers the district-union negotiations will attract your attention.
The day’s best new education news stories are shared out every morning via @thegrade_. Then between 4 and 5 PM Eastern, the daily #coveringCOVID19 roundup comes out. You can find it here.
Above: Since March 16, @LASchools has distributed 13 million meals to people in need during the coronavirus pandemic. Journalists @carlamjavier and @chavatweets1 followed the journey of one grab-and-go meal.
TIDBITS
On Day 3 of her furlough journal, the Providence Journal’s Linda Borg describes what it’s like to watch competitors beat you to stories and the feeling of actually missing the morning video call. Meantime, Delaware Online education reporter Natalie Almadari is back from furlough and the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Max Londberg is out but may have won a heap of cash.
If you’re looking for solutions-oriented COVID-19 education stories, you can find them here. I’m sure the SJN folks will add yours if you have a good one.
If you’re trying to do better at including vulnerable populations in your COVID-19 coverage, check out IRE’s new Behind the story tip sheet for ideas and strategies.
The Pulitzer Prize announcements are being made Monday, but who cares about that? I’m told by a little birdie that the EWA education journalism award finalists are being announced TOMORROW!
That’s it! See you back here tomorrow. Sign up for the weekly email, Best of the Week, which comes out Fridays around noon Eastern.
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/
