The Grade’s most-read pieces of 2019

All the pieces that readers loved most during the past 12 months — some obvious, some surprising.

One last 2019 list!

It was the longest year ever, but now it’s almost gone.

I’m desperate for it to be over but sad to see it go.

To help the time pass quickly (and ease the pain), here’s one last list of The Grade’s most-read pieces for 2019.

Several of the pieces — on gun violence coverage, Ebonics coverage, newsletters, memorable stories from 2018 — are from previous years or about long-ago events. To be honest, I don’t entirely understand their popularity during 2019.

Others of the most-read pieces are more familiar and predictable: critiques of flawed stories, contributor-written pieces, and upbeat appreciations of education journalism and journalists.

Surprises or otherwise, thanks to everyone for reading and sharing during 2019!

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10: Lessons from the media’s coverage of the 1996 Ebonics controversy

I have to admit that the appearance of this piece on the 2019 most-read list is a total surprise, given it’s about the controversy over a school district’s effort at using kids’ home dialect in schools that’s more than 20 years old and was published 18 months ago. But it’s a very good piece, I have to say — one of the ones I’m proudest to have written. It highlights the way that opinion pieces and TV news can dominate the narrative in the absence of abundant, high-quality reported news coverage.

“Few in the general public would ever know that the district went ahead with its program under another name, or that several of those most opposed at the outset would later modify their positions [or that] a handful of districts have quietly created programs using their home dialects as a bridge around the country.”

9: ‘I used to be an education reporter.’

By contrast, it’s no surprise at all to see Dorie Turner Nolt’s February reflections on making the transition from being an education reporter to doing communications work on this list. The former AP education reporter’s first-person essay was insightful and honest, and she’s made a switch that many others have made or contemplated. 

“I had gone through periods of unhappiness before in my more than a decade as an education reporter, first for the Chattanooga Times Free Press and then for the Associated Press. But this was different. I had fallen out of love with being a journalist, and I didn’t know where to turn.”

If you enjoy first-person pieces like this, check out last year’s essay from Lauren Camera, On motherhood and education journalism. Or check out Ann Doss Helms’ recent piece about how her career swerved in a surprising way: An education reporter’s unexpected ‘second act’.

8: Where ProPublica’s Teach For America takedown went wrong

Critiques of media coverage like these are one of the most distinctive features of The Grade, and the most popular, but I always feel ambivalent about writing them. The need for scrutiny of media coverage is clear, especially when it comes to the simplistic narrative around philanthropic funding and education. But the reporters and outlets involved are ones I often admire.

“The central finding — that TFA has become an ‘arm’ of the charter school movement — is under-supported by the provided evidence and assumes that coordination between these groups is problematic… The piece also features a handful of nagging inaccuracies and omissions that undercut readers’ confidence in what they’re being told.”

If you like postmortems like this, try last year’s popular read, How the Washington Post missed the DC schools graduation rate scandal so badly, for so long.

7: A Q & A with George Packer, author of that contentious Atlantic magazine essay

When George Packer’s critique of progressive education in Brooklyn went viral this past September, I realized that it might be interesting and useful to hear what the author himself had to say about the reaction. It turned out Packer had a lot to say in his own defense, and people wanted to read it.

“According to Packer, the piece was never intended to be a condemnation of the school or the city’s education system, the polarized response has been an illustration of the intolerance his essay laments, and the questions raised by education journalists and others arise from misinterpretations of the piece or the personal essay form in which he was writing.”

6: A star reporter explains why she left journalism — and ways to fix education news

Contributor Kristen Doerer was already halfway done with her piece on WAMU education reporter Jenny Abamu when word got out that the reporter was going to leave the job — and journalism — after a very successful first year. Abamu’s honesty about the reasons behind her departure made for absolutely compelling reading.

“Still in her first year on the local beat, Abamu was one of education journalism’s rising stars. But she was also increasingly frustrated and exhausted by the work she was being asked to do.”

5: 15 newsletters you need to know about if you really love education journalism

We live in the era of email newsletters, so it’s not entirely surprising that this 2017 roundup appears on the 2019 most-read list (as it has for the past two years). Readers like newsletters, and at least some journalists (including me) like writing them. It would be great if some exciting new ones were to appear in 2020.

“For journalists and outlets, newsletters turn out to be a great way to engage with devoted readers and provide additional tidbits of information…They can be fun to put together, like an old-fashioned mixtape or Spotify playlist where you get to include some of your own songs.”

4: 11 amazing education stories from 2018

The Grade’s annual roundup of best/most memorable/definitive education journalism is a pleasure and a challenge to pull together. Good thing that readers seem to like it so much. Perhaps busy reporters who haven’t had a chance to read much during the year see it as a chance to catch up on what they’ve missed. Or maybe they’re just hoping to see their own names.

“Some selections have had an immediate, real-world impact. Others have shaped public understanding and generated a conversation that lasted long after they were first published.”

 Here’s another popular roundup, from last year’s list: 11 essential books for education reporters in 2018, by Kristen Doerer, that you might enjoy reading.

3: The New York Times wrote a big story about online learning in Kansas. It didn’t go well.

There’s lots of understandable excitement and concern about the use of technology to help kids learn. And the New York Times is under constant scrutiny over the quality of its work. So it’s no surprise that readers were curious when a Times’ front-page story about a parent rebellion against one online learning program turned out to have factual errors and under-supported claims. The appeal may also have something to do with the fact that it was written in the form of lessons (i.e., fact-check your sources, credit others for their work). 

“Upon close examination, the story’s own reporting doesn’t actually support the notion of a parent rebellion — in Kansas or nationwide. Just as important, the story details the concerns being expressed by these parents without helping us assess their merits.”

2: What makes New York Times education reporter Erica Green so good?

I’m both happy and embarrassed to see this piece appear so high on the 2019 list. Happy because Green deserves the admiration, embarrassed because, well, the July piece is a bit over the top in its gushy enthusiasm for Green:

“Over a decade in which she’s twice been tapped for major journalism jobs, Green has won numerous awards, appeared on NPR and numerous other broadcast outlets, and raised the ire of at least one United States senator. Oh, and she’s also written some amazing stories. I mean, seriously good stuff. Lots of it.”

If you like to read admiring journalist profiles like this, you might also enjoy 2018’s How Bethany Barnes became a star education reporter.

1: Why gun violence journalism needs graphic images

Unfortunately, the need to write about school shootings coverage doesn’t seem to be going away. This March 2018 essay was on last year’s most-read list as well.

“Without these awful images, unsettling as they may be, the American public is likely to remain unclear about the impact of school shootings and gun violence in general. The horror remains in our collective intellect and imagination, without the raw power to make it real and visceral.”

If you’re interested or concerned about school shooting coverage, you might want to read 2018’s Misleading coverage of school shootings in 2018, or Parkland coverage, 12 months later, from earlier this year.

Each week, The Grade takes a deeper look at education journalism. Sign up for the free newsletter. 

I’m happy to report that a few of the pieces listed here — the Erica Green and Jenny Abamu profiles — are also among my favorites from the past year.

Other personal favorites of mine — the annual newsroom diversity survey, Joseph Williams’ profile of Laura Meckler, Danielle Dreilinger’s piece on “unpublishing” stories that do harm to vulnerable sources, and Mareesa Nicosia’s feature on the hidden role of editors in education journalism — didn’t make the list but are still points of pride.

That’s OK. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that predicting which pieces and topics are going to be popular with readers is more of an art than a science. I’ve come to enjoy the surprises. Here’s to more of them in 2020!

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The Grade’s top 10 most-read columns of 2018

Top 10 most-read stories of 2017