A definitive list of the year’s most memorable stories, podcasts, books, and TV shows.
By Alexander Russo
Disappointing test scores. The Southern Surge. School cellphone bans. Public money for private schools. School closings. Education may not be a top national priority these days, but it was still a momentous year.
Each Friday, The Grade features the very best education journalism we can find covering these important topics. Here’s the week-by-week list for 2025, if you want to look back.
And every year — going back to 2016! — I pick the best education stories of the entire year — standouts for impact, quality, and for how memorable they are. Past collections are listed at the bottom of this piece, along with other 2025 roundups.
This year’s most memorable list includes traditional journalism, podcast episodes, books, and TV, covering topics as diverse as school sexual misconduct and toxic masculinity. Maybe next year we’ll add Substackers and TikTokers?
What did I miss? What did I get wrong? Feel free to add your own suggestions, rebut these choices, or make any other insights in the comments below or anywhere else.
TRADITIONAL JOURNALISM
Empty desks: This Washington Post investigation takes an unsparing look at how the District’s failure to curb truancy in middle schools fueled the biggest youth crime surge in a generation. A memorable examination of bureaucratic ineptitude and district-level discontinuity, this investigation by Robert Samuels, Lauren Lumpkin, and John D. Harden connects education and community challenges like few other stories I can recall.
The Outlier: The first of a small handful of 2025 updates from the APM Reports team behind “Sold a Story,” The Outlier introduces listeners to Steubenville, Ohio schools, where the vast majority of kids learn to read. By Kate Martin, Carmela Guaglianone, and Emily Hanford, the segment gives place and specificity to a discussion that’s too often conducted at the state and national level — and it reminds us that teaching kids to read requires more than passing laws or revising curricula.
The Homemade Scholar: Chandler Fritz’s Harper’s magazine cover story is certainly one of the most memorable stories of the year, for its detail and insight — and for the fact that it found a home in such a prominent and traditionally liberal magazine. But mostly it stands out for giving us a peek inside an ESA-funded private school, one of the year’s most talked-about education trends. Coming soon to at least a couple of blue states.
See also: Inside one new school cashing in on Alabama’s CHOOSE Act (AL Education Lab) & In the Wild West of School Voucher Expansions, States Rely on Untested Companies, With Mixed Results (ProPublica).
A Parent’s Guide to San Diego Schools: Voice of San Diego’s annual guide is one of the biggest and most impressive efforts I’ve seen out of a local outlet in a long while — including both a demographically-adjusted school ratings component and a series of workshops and a print version. “Voice” has been doing it for seven years now, along with producing great accountability and investigative work. You can be both bold and service-oriented.
See also: Enrollment Decline Can’t Be Explained Away by Shift to Private Schools, Homeschooling, & Only 96 Schools Are Performing Better Than Before the Pandemic.
Illiteracy is a policy choice: The Argument’s Kelsey Piper stirred up a lot of attention when she jumped into the literacy reform debate earlier this year — and she hasn’t stopped since. The former Vox writer has published deeply reported and energetically argued pieces on a variety of important education issues — all the more powerful because they come from the left.
See also New England schools are failing — and ‘nobody seems to care’ (Boston Globe), Has America Given Up on Children’s Learning? (NYT), & How Public Education Failed in the Liberal Enclaves That Care About It Most (New York Magazine).
Were the Covid Lockdowns Worth It?: This episode of the New York Times’ “The Daily” podcast came out during the fifth anniversary of the pandemic and was the most prominent mainstream media re-examination of the decisions made during that time. It was also a major exception for the show, which almost always features Times reporters rather than outside experts.
See also The Miscalculations of COVID School Closures (New Yorker), AN ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION (MIT Press), & What We’ve Learned About School Closures for the Next Pandemic (NYT).
Accommodation Nation: The Atlantic’s education offerings aren’t what they used to be when it had a dedicated page and staff, but, coming at the 50th anniversary of IDEA, Rose Horowitch’s recent piece on overuse of special education accommodations raises alarms not just for colleges but also for the entire special education system in America.
See also: Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College (New York Magazine).
BOOKS
Wards of the State: This book by former Seattle Times education reporter Claudia Rowe not only became a finalist at the National Book Awards but also revealed the awful truth that kids who enter the foster care system have worse academic and life outcomes than kids who’ve experienced homelessness. It’s a searing read for anyone who cares about kids and wonders why so many struggle.
See also: PAPER GIRL (Beth Macy), SLOW VIOLENCE (Ranita Ray), INTEGRATED (Noliwe Rooks), THE LOST DECADE (Steven Wilson), and THE CONTAINMENT (Michelle Adams).
BROADWAY & TELEVISION
John Proctor Is the Villain: This Broadway play won lots of Tony nominations for its timely depiction of rural Alabama high school students re-examining a classic play and the predatory men in their midst. Needless to say, John Proctor isn’t the only villain the students encounter.
See also Dismissed: Educator sexual misconduct and grooming in Wisconsin (Cap Times), The Girls (Louisville Publica Radio), and Silence & Secrets (Courier Journal).
Adolescence: While American audiences didn’t give it the full treatment it got in the UK, this grim Netflix hit provides a compelling look at toxic masculinity, indifferent staff, and social media run amok at an English middle school. You’ll want to look away, but hopefully you won’t.
See also English Teacher (FX/Hulu) & School Lunch Lady (This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von).
Other 2025 lists:
Best Journalism of 2025: Bloomberg Businessweek Jealousy List (Bloomberg)
Best of 2025 (Longreads)
The Jealousy List: A Shout-Out to 19 Education Stories We Admired in 2025 (The 74)
The Best Podcasts of 2025 (New Yorker)
Previously from The Grade
The 12 most memorable education stories of 2024
The 7 most memorable education stories of 2023 (2022, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016)
