The Grade's most popular pieces of 2022

The 10 most popular essays, and reported pieces we’ve published during the past 12 months — along with some personal favorites

By Alexander Russo

Every week, The Grade publishes first-person essays, interviews with journalists, advice from top reporters, and the occasional reported piece about education coverage.

And every year, we look back at which of these pieces were the most popular with the reporters, educators, and parents who read The Grade — a few of which are always surprises.

This year is no different.

As you’ll see, the 10 most popular pieces published by The Grade this past year span how to cover hot topics like CRT and SEL, profiles and interviews about coverage of predatory teachers and leaving the beat, along with advice from outside experts about how to cover a story better.

There’s a story about Burbio’s school data and one about covering district nondisclosure agreements.

Since popularity isn’t everything, I’ve added some personal favorites to go along with the most-read examples.

And, as a bonus for those of you who make it to the end of the piece, you’ll see some stories published in previous years that remain popular even now.

Enjoy!

#10 MOST POPULAR: After Sold a Story, what comes next?

No surprise that this recent roundup of reporters’ advice about how to cover reading is among the most-read stories of the year. The advice from Hanford, McLaren, and others: Go deep. Follow the money. Avoid the jargon. Skip the “reading wars” focus. Don’t forget to tell a story.

My favorite 2022 story about coverage of inadequate literacy instruction was former AJC education reporter Patti Ghezzi’s excruciatingly candid first-person essay, How I missed the phonics story.

#9 MOST POPULAR: Secret agreements in special education

This Lee Gaines piece about Hollywood-style nondisclosure agreements required by districts as part of special education service agreements is a favorite of mine because I hadn’t known about this practice until recently. But I’m pleasantly surprised to see it among the most-read stories of the year.

My favorite 2022 story about covering topics that most education reporters might not know about: What education reporters should know about covering students in foster care, by Colleen M. Connolly.

The debate over what anti-CRT laws actually said and did was a loud one, and will likely continue to be contentious. But Natalie Wexler’s popular piece attempted to tease out what the laws require, as opposed to how they’re being interpreted..

My favorite 2022 roundup of reporters’ insights about covering school culture war stories: Demand concrete examples & avoid ‘emotionalism’: How to cover school culture war stories in 2022.

Former Howard education dean Leslie Fenwick wrote this great piece for The Grade about the relative inattention to Black educators’ displacement in the years after the Brown decision — and how it connects to the current lack of Black educators in the present.

My favorite 2022 piece about a misunderstood aspect of education that affects Black educators: Former Minneapolis teacher Jasmine Lane’s first-person piece about the hidden challenges some Black teachers experience.

Above: Readers loved our interview with Matt Drange about a popular high school journalism teacher (above) who was rumored to have been grooming students for sex.

No surprise that this interview with Insider’s Matt Drange makes the most popular list, given that it’s about a charismatic high school journalism teacher (above) and is written by a former student who’s looking back at the complicity of the school system, other teachers, and even students like himself. It was happening right under their noses.

My favorite 2022 journalist interview about a story is the Washington Post’s Eli Saslow on writing about a rookie teacher from the Philippines.

#5 MOST POPULAR: Making education news more useful

Publishing a series of pieces from longtime education reporter Greg Toppo was among the biggest pleasures of this past year, and this one extolling the value of useful information that parents need is a great example. “If the people most affected by our coverage are finding other sources more useful, perhaps we need to believe them and rethink our offerings,” he writes.

My favorite Toppo column of the year: The great Math Textbook Hoax of 2022.

#4 MOST POPULAR: Toxic coverage of SEL and how to fix it

Social and emotional learning was another hot topic for 2022 and so it’s no surprise that this piece by CASEL’s Justina Schlund found an eager audience. “Use policies and polling data to ground your coverage,” she urged. “Show readers what SEL looks like. Cover a broader range of parent perspectives.”

My favorite 2022 story about how to cover topics with greater depth and context: Kate Rix’s piece about a recent teacher diversity story she wrote, Solutions stories that aren’t puff pieces.

#3 MOST POPULAR: Hidden truths about substitute teachers

This piece by experts Amanda von Moos & Jessie Weiser is probably the biggest surprise for me on this list. However, there’s no doubt that substitutes are critical and under-covered, and von Moos and Weiser call for a better variety of stories that go beyond the usual doom and gloom.

My favorite 2022 story about covering school staffing issues: Your teacher shortage stories are all wrong; here’s how to improve them.

#2 MOST POPULAR: The story behind Burbio

For nearly three years now, a small mom-and-pop company has been providing data that reporters have relied on to write about school closings, mask policies and ESSER spending. But who is Burbio, and is their data any good? Contributor Betsy Ladyzhets went to find out.

This interview with former WHYY Philadelphia education reporter Avi Wofman-Arent is difficult to read but important, because Wolfman-Arent is trying to describe the complex factors that led him to leave the beat and become an on-air host at the station. It wasn’t just burnout or novelty-seeking, that much is clear. I’m grateful that so many others liked it, too.

My favorite 2022 stories featuring reporters’ self-reflections about the beat: An interview with longtime Providence Journal reporter Linda Borg, We wasted a lot of time, and an interview and profile with former NPR education reporter Anya Kamenetz, ‘We could have been a lot louder’.

As in the past, there are also some extremely popular stories that were written in previous years, including two 2018 retrospectives about media coverage of the Clinton-era Ebonics controversy and the 1968 New York City teachers strike, a long-ago interview with Emily Hanford about why reading hadn’t received the robust coverage it warranted until recently, and a prescient 2020 Colette Coleman piece about the need for more coverage of inadequate literacy instruction provided to Black kids.

Some of these topics are almost certain to come up again in 2023, but we clearly need to circle back to others or consider new events to re-examine.

Previously from The Grade

The 9 most memorable K-12 education stories of 2022

Most-read commentary of 2021

The Grade’s most popular stories from 2020

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/