The 9 most memorable K-12 education stories of 2022

The most powerful, compelling, & effective K-12 media coverage over the past 12 months

By Alexander Russo

Be warned, however: Highly selective and admittedly arbitrary, this collection is meant to celebrate standout education journalism and start a conversation. But there’s no attempt being made to be comprehensive or consensus-minded.

Along with well-known pieces of journalism like Sold a Story and The Stolen Year, you’ll find much less-noticed standouts like The Trojan Horse Affair and School’s Out Forever.

You’ll also see some selections whose inclusion you may find curious or even disagreeable, including one Washington Post piece that debunked the whole “red wave” school board narrative and a New York Times profile of reading guru Lucy Calkins. Sometimes, stories are memorably inadequate.

Most important of all, this collection leaves out entirely some of some of popular and widespread storylines that I find overdone or misleading. I’d rather focus attention on amazing stories about core education issues affecting millions of kids and families.

Highly selective and admittedly arbitrary, this collection is meant to celebrate standout education journalism and start a conversation. 

The Trojan Horse Affair 
Produced by the New York Times, this under-appreciated podcast series has it all: ambition, xenophobia, and media mayhem. Students attending a neighborhood school in an immigrant community begin to make remarkable progress. The accolades grow. But then an anonymous letter claims its teachers and administrators are grooming the children to be radical Muslims. The government — and the media — spring into action, though there’s precious little evidence of any problem. I worry that something like this may well happen here in the US, if it hasn’t already.

Other notable podcast episodes and series: School Colors Season 2 (Brooklyn Deep), School’s Out Forever (This American Life).

SILENCED PARENTS

Parents can be silenced in special education settlements. A proposed bill would change that.
In a year full of great investigations, the most memorable one for me was about something I’d never heard of: Hollywood-style non-disclosure agreements some parents are forced to sign in order to secure services for their kids with disabilities. The investigation by WFYI Indianapolis’ Lee Gaines led to some important changes, and I’m hoping more states and reporters will examine school NDAs in the future.

Other stories about how school systems treat parents: How Rochester schools targeted parents critical of COVID-19 policies (Detroit News), Inside the exodus from Bay Area neighborhood schools (Mercury News), Why do so many families opt out of OUSD schools? It’s complicated (The Oaklandside).

MISMATCHED EXPECTATIONS

Rafael expected he would go to a university — the system never did
There are countless stories about the mismatch between what schools expect of kids and what kids can do — or hope to, if given the chance. But this memorable Open Campus story makes the systemic disconnections explicit in ways that seem fresh and powerful and gives the story intimacy by focusing on one kid and one school system.

Other stories about school inequality and systemic racism: Portland’s Black and Latino students shortchanged from the earliest grades (The Oregonian), Hidden toll: Thousands of schools fail to count homeless students (CPI, Seattle Times, WAMU, Street Sense Media), Nearly 90% of kids at one S.F. school were chronically absent last year. What is SFUSD doing about it? (SF Chronicle).

Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong
APM Reports’ six-part series investigating the ineffectiveness of so-called “balanced literacy” is the breakout education podcast series of the year. A masterful mix of dramatic storytelling, vivid details, and deep investigation, the series features clear explanations of extremely complicated topics. “A pivotal moment in education for both reporters and educators,” noted one national education reporter. You don’t have to guess.

Other notable pieces about literacy and related issues: Between the Lines (Courier Journal), The Rise and Fall of Vibes-Based Literacy (New Yorker), For People With Dyslexia, Support Requires Time Or Money, Or A Lot Of Both (LAist).

DEBUNKED NARRATIVES

School culture war campaigns fall flat in some tight races
There’s nothing better than a story that tells you everything you’ve been reading is wrong or hasn’t turned out quite as badly as many expected. This Washington Post piece was memorably brave in pointing out that — despite all the coverage and hype in the weeks leading up to the November midterms — conservative school board candidates and campaigns didn’t sweep blue or even purple parts of the country.

Other notable counter-narratives and stories of unintended consequences: The education culture war is raging. But for most parents, it’s background noise (NPR), ‘Careless’ Child Abuse Reports Devastate Thousands of NYC Families (The 74), Their school reopened quickly. They flourished. (Washington Post).

STOLEN YEARS

The Stolen Year: How COVID Changed Children’s Lives, and Where We Go Now:
The most memorable book of the year has to be former NPR reporter Anya Kamenetz’s look back at the first awful year of the pandemic. While some of us were disappointed that Kamenetz refrained from holding school systems and government officials responsible, the book makes clear that too many vulnerable kids and families were unnecessarily and heedlessly abandoned. By whom? I guess that’s still up for debate.

Other notable education books: Your Children Are Very Greatly in Danger: School Segregation in Rochester by the Democrat and Chronicle’s Justin Murphy, Trigger Points by Mark Follman.

Virtual Nightmare: One Student’s Journey Through the Pandemic
This story from The 74 about one student’s experience with remote instruction will make you rethink your understanding of what it was really like, focusing on the horrific experiences of a student who struggles mightily with the prolonged school closures experienced by so many.

Other notable pieces about families’ struggles with remote instruction and interrupted learning include Boston schools lost 15,000 Black students in the past 20 years. Where did they go, and will they ever return? (Boston Globe), Doin’ It Our Way (St. Louis Public Radio).

EXPERTISE UNDER SCRUTINY

Lucy Calkins Retreats on Phonics in Fight Over Reading Curriculum
The profile wasn’t nearly as hard-hitting as some of us wanted it to be — hardly as devastating as the Times claims. And we now know that its subject’s “retreat” was only temporary. The retrenchment seems in full force now. But former NYT education reporter Dana Goldstein’s profile of embattled literacy guru Lucy Calkins has to be the most memorable education profile of the year.

Other notable profiles: How a High School Debate Team Shaped Ketanji Brown Jackson (NYT), Teachers from Philippines help struggling U.S. schools amid teacher shortage (Washington Post), ‘The Mary Lyon way’: A Boston inclusion school’s successful approach to re-engagement (Boston Globe).

TROUBLED TEACHERS

Arrested Teacher Offers His Side
In this amazing New Haven Independent interview, a teacher arrested for a much-publicized confrontation with a student is given something that we rarely see (or that teachers rarely trust journalists enough to do): an opportunity to tell his side of what happened. The result is a standout piece of journalism that will generate sympathy and concern.

Other notable stories about teachers: Fault Lines (The Atavist), He was my high school journalism teacher. Then I investigated his relationships with teenage girls (Business Insider), Feds Call on States to Stop Shielding Teachers Accused of Sex Misconduct With Students (US News).

Young and Homeless in Rural America (NYT)
What Happens When an Élite Public School Becomes Open to All? (New Yorker)
Investigation Finds Broward Schools Delayed, Hid Key Details of Cyber Attack (Sun Sentinel)
Jo just wants to read. For years, no one in Michigan helped this 12-year-old go to school. (Detroit Free Press)
“Lunch Ladies” Are Tired of Being Underpaid and Overlooked (Jacobin)

Previously from The Grade
The 14 most memorable pieces of education journalism of 2020
Previous yearly roundups: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016