The Education Show

It won’t take long for you to get hooked on Adults in the Room, a new eight-episode series from KUOW Seattle Public Radio about a charismatic high school teacher named Tom Hudson and the two student journalists whose accusations of improper conduct lead to his suspension and who eventually committed suicide.

One of the two self-described best friends became a lawyer. The other became a journalist. And you can probably guess what happens next: After 20 years wondering if they had done the right thing, the two decided to start interviewing former classmates and searching for long-ago records.

In this new interview, KUOW managing editor Isolde Raftery — the journalist half of the best friends duo — tells the story behind the podcast. The station wasn’t initially interested. The listener response has been massive. The reactions have been sharply divided. And the surrounding ethical questions are up for debate.

“There was one call I think [we made] to Kelly McBride at Poynter,” says Raftery about the external part of the vetting process, which was extensive within the station. “But I don’t feel like I need someone else — people I don’t know, who don’t know the context, who don’t know me, don’t know how I work — I don’t need them to weigh in.”

Watch or read the interview transcript above (or on YouTube), or listen to the conversation on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Previously from The Grade

Your high school journalism teacher was a serial sexual predator. (Matt Drange)

Sexual predators & self-protective school systems (Courier Journal / Jess Clark)

Other pieces from The Grade about school sexual misconduct.

Requiem for a parent-run education podcast (Seattle Hall Pass)

How I unintentionally became an education reporter (Minneapolis)

How the Seattle Times’ COVID coverage missed the mark

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If the name James Traub sound familiar to you, there’s a reason for that.

A prolific author of several books including CITY ON A HILL, Traub has also written several memorable education-focused magazine articles for the New York Times magazine and other national publications.

In this new interview, Traub discusses his latest book, THE CRADLE OF CITIZENSHIP, about the Classical schools model and other promising approaches that prioritize civic education.

It’s a fascinating time for the 275-school Classical schools model, given the growth of private school choice, growing concerns about the lack of rigor in too many public schools, and the seeming lack of accountability in too many private ones.

Traub also describes what makes covering education so difficult to do well — and so easy to do poorly:

“It’s hard to really describe well the central transaction of a school, which is to say this transaction between a teacher and a student, this act of learning, because it’s something in a way impalpable — because it happens inside a kid’s head,” says Traub.

“It’s so much easier to describe things like the atmosphere in the hall — you know, is it crazy or not? — or all of the political questions or demographic questions or racial questions that surround the classroom.”

“The hard thing is to really try to understand and show, and show what is happening — or isn’t happening — between a teacher and a student. Because all the other stuff is surround.”

Watch or read the interview transcript above (or on YouTube), or listen to the conversation on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Previously from The Grade

I was wrong about the school culture wars. (by UPENN’s Jonathan Zimmerman)

Who killed school reform? (with Steven Wilson about THE LOST DECADE)

Literacy, blue-state politics, & media reluctance (with The Argument’s Kelsey Piper)

Inside the Harper’s magazine story about teaching at an ESA-funded micro-school (with Chandler Fritz)

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I hadn’t seen Christine Pitts’ name in a while when I came across her recent Oregon Journalism Project (OJP) interview — part of an interesting new effort to rebuild accountability-oriented journalism in the state.

In this new interview, the former NWEA and CRPE staffer talks about education coverage, the startling differences between teaching in North Carolina and Oregon, and her work with Open Schools, a Portland-area nonprofit.

Like many states, Oregon is dealing with funding issues, declining enrollment, and — until recently — a new but still-too-weak school accountability law — as well as not enough high-quality education coverage.

However, the Oregon Journalism Project might be a big help, says Pitts who was interviewed for the inaugural overview.

“From what I can tell they are establishing somewhat of an objective and critical publication series around lots of things in Oregon, but specifically how education relates to it.”

Watch or read the transcript above or on YouTube. Listen to it on Spotify or Apple.

Above: Over the past year, OJP has produced seven education-focused stories including Oregon’s Education Workforce Climbed While Student Enrollment Slid, Leaving It Up to the Locals Impedes Oregon’s Much-Needed Reading Recovery, and Statewide Graduation Rates Are Up for Nearly All Student Groups.

Until recently, “there was this sense that not everything is on the table — not everything is being discussed publicly. There are some things that we’re talking about in private that we’re assuming other people might be talking about, but nobody’s really putting it out there for us to fully look at as a community.”

According to Pitts, these little-discussed issues include the role of the teachers union, the state’s low ranking on NAEP, the influence of the state education agency. But OJP appear to be willing to ask hard questions — with urgency.

“They’re willing to unpack this and I think what is so different about the reporting happening at OJP is they’re acting with urgency.”

According to Pitts, the coverage of the Portland teachers strike was also a key moment.

“After the strike, you kind of saw some of these reporters really understanding like where the shadowy corners were in our coverage of K-12 education,” says Pitts. “That to me was a critical turning point.”

In particular, Pitts praises schools coverage from Willamette Week’s Joanna Hou and the Oregonian’s Julia Silverman.

Previously from The Grade

How to survive covering a teachers strike (2024)

Lessons from Portland (2023)

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One of the hardest things to do on the education beat is to cover private school choice in a way that isn’t narrow-minded, superficial, or simplistic.

At Education Week, that difficult job has fallen to assistant managing editor Matthew Stone, who oversees policy and politics and school finance coverage — including private school choice.

In this new interview, Stone describes how fast-moving the school choice space has been — now at roughly 1.5 million students and 18 states with universal programs.

“That landscape has just ballooned over the past four or five years, especially in the past three,” says Stone. “Just keeping up with the sheer number of developments has been a challenge.”

Watch or read the transcript above or on YouTube. Listen to it on Spotify or Apple.

Every state’s program is a little bit different. The outcomes and effects of the efforts aren’t yet entirely clear. “One challenge is not knowing a lot of answers at this point.”

Three years ago, school choice was mostly a state thing. Now Stone and his colleagues are tracking whether or not states will participate in the federal program coming online next year.

Here are some recent EdWeek stories about school choice by Stone, Mark Lieberman, and Brooke Schultz (who now works at the Philadelphia Inquirer):

They Said No to the Federal School Choice Program. Now, 3 Dems Are Reconsidering

Which States Have Private School Choice?

Federal Program Will Bring Private School Choice to At Least 4 New States

Private School Choice Is Growing. What Comes Next?

The Legal Fight Over Private School Choice: Who Is Suing and Why?

Previously from The Grade

Full-time reporting on school choice (with Josh Snyder / Arkansas Democrat Gazette)

Surprises a reporter experiences inside a newly-opened private school in Alabama

Inside the Harper’s magazine story about teaching at an ESA-funded micro-school

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Now a statewide investigative reporter, Jess Clark has been an education journalist for more than a decade.

In this new conversation, she describes how she came to report and produce a powerful new four-part audio podcast called The Girls — which tells the story of three young women who were abused by two football coaches and educators — and the education system that did little to protect them.

The Girls is an amazing podcast, and you should listen to it if you haven’t already.

But what’s most remarkable about it may be the story Clark tells about how she had to overcome her initial hesitance in talking to the survivors, whom she first encountered when they were protesting at a school board meeting:

“They had these zany signs, and they had matching t-shirts,” she recalls, “and I was kind of like, ‘What are these women up to?’”

However, as soon as they started telling her what had happened to them, Clark knew that “this is finally a chance to show the systemic side of something that most education reporters have to report on on weekly or monthly basis — which are allegations of sexual misconduct by staff members.”

Watch or read the transcript above or on YouTube. Listen to it on Spotify or Apple.

Most people who’ve heard Clark’s story have been outraged, but not so much public officials, says Clark. The response from, people with the power to change things has been very disappointing. One board member told Clark that he didn’t plan to listen to it. “No one has really stepped up with solutions.”

“I think, education sees itself as under threat in many ways,” says Clark, especially given overstretched staff and struggles to fill jobs. “I think there’s a reluctance to admit that something’s wrong.”

There’s also “a reluctance to want to report your peers or to even imagine that your colleagues could be susceptible to these kinds of predatory instincts,” says Clark, especially if there’s a chance that doing so might “ruin someone’s life.”

They are, of course, talking about their colleagues, not their students. And therein lies the problem.

Previously from The Grade

Epstein in the classroom

Making school sexual misconduct a core part of the beat (Danielle DuClos interview)

School secrets and sexual assault (interview with Stephanie Kuzydym)

One reporter’s efforts to end ‘passing the trash’ in California schools (Matt Drange)

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There are lots of folks out there who say that they can help you become a better journalist, but Mike Reilley may be one of the originals.

The force behind Journalist’s Toolbox, the University of Illinois at Chicago teacher has seen and done it all over the course of three decades.

In this new interview, Reilley describes how he developed his site, partnered with SPJ, and then rebooted the effort on his own after parting ways with SPJ.

He also gives his take on the state of the journalism industry, which is surprisingly optimistic at least when it comes to journalistic practices — including the use of well-deployed AI, which can allow even small newsrooms to get a lot of work done.

There’s lots to think about here — no matter whether you’re AI-curious, -skeptical, or -enthusiastic.

Watch or read the transcript above or on YouTube. Listen to it on Spotify or Apple.

In addition to teaching, Reilley trains journalists all over the country on new tools, how to use AI without getting burned, and works with individual newsrooms including veteran reporters who may not be familiar with what technology can do.

“These very small staffs, they start to realize, ‘My God, we can cover a lot more ground if we’re using this tool,’” says Reilley — even if they don’t have a graphics editor or a data visualization specialist on staff.

For education journalists covering multiple agencies, Reilley says, new tools can be enormously helpful. He talks about showing a Boston-area reporter covering several city councils and school boards how to use AI to digest lengthy meetings, reports, and public comment sessions.

“A year later at the conference, she’s like, ‘My God, this is saved my life.’”

Previously from The Grade

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The Alabama Daily News’ Trish Crain began as a blogger, motivated by her own experiences as a student — and frustrations about the education her children were receiving.

For seven years, she wrote for Alabama School Connection, a blog-style forum. Then she got asked to write for AL.com — a big transition for someone with no training in journalism. More recently, Crain has been covering education for the Alabama Daily News and Alabama Public Television.

“It’s been a wild ride,” says Crain. “I kind of came in through the side door.”

In this new conversation, Crain and I talk about her transition from angry parent to blogger to traditional reporter — and how the process she went through could be a model for today.

Watch the interview or read the transcript above (or on YouTube). Listen on Spotify or Apple.

Asked to comment further after the interview about the state of the education beat, Crain called out newsroom leaders:

“Education touches every family, drives state budgets and shapes long-term economic mobility,” Crain wrote in an email. Yet news organizations continue to underinvest in covering it, treating it as a starter beat, allocating too few reporters to cover too many districts, and paying them less than the teachers they cover.

“That is not sustainable. And it is not serious.”

“We cannot claim to value watchdog reporting on billion-dollar public systems while paying wages that make long-term careers nearly impossible.”

Previously from The Grade

Make room for non-traditional education journalism!

Surprises from inside a newly-opened private school (Rebecca Griesbach interview)

Making education news more useful (interview with Ruth Serven Smith)

Bad teachers, ‘glory bringers,’ & high school newspapers

Enshittification of the ed beat

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Covering teachers strikes is one of the most challenging — and exciting — things that education reporters do. That’s why The Grade has spent so much time analyzing strike coverage and talking to reporters about the ins and outs of the experience.

In this new interview, veteran SF Chronicle education reporter Tucker describes what happened in last week’s San Francisco’s strike — and how she tries to get to the bottom of the real-world effects rather than focusing on the heated emotions that they generate.

“It is highly, highly emotional,” she says of the intensity around teachers strikes. Despite all the heated rhetoric, a good reporter is “trying to get at what is happening — what are the real issues — what is the real impact on families and students.”

Keeping focus on what matters most is no easy task — even if like Tucker you’ve been through several strikes and know what’s likely coming next.

Asked what her best piece of coverage was during the past strike, Tucker cites this set of questions and answers she published on Friday.

Watch the interview or read the transcript above (or on YouTube). Listen on Spotify or Apple.

Previous strike coverage

So, how was the Newton teacher’s strike coverage?

Why the Newton strike is national

How to survive covering a teacher’s strike

Lessons from covering the Portland teacher’s strike

A more inclusive approach to covering school shutdowns

What really happened in Chicago?

Previous Jill Tucker

The closer

How the SF Chronicle’s Jill Tucker tackles the uncertainty & fear surrounding the reopening debate

How the SF Chronicle’s Jill Tucker tackles the uncertainty & fear surrounding the COVID reopening debate

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There’s no shortage of non-journalists covering education these days, including parents, advocates, and foundation officers. But Georgetown’s Nora Gordon is the only economist and public policy professor I know of.

It’s not that the 160,000-student Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) lacks traditional coverage. The Baltimore Banner’s Talia Richman, Bethesda Magazine’s Ashlyn Campbell, and — until very recently — the Washington Post’s Nicole Asbury already covered the system.

The stereotype is that affluent, educated parents have all sorts of inside information about schools — along with undue influence. (Remember 2020’s incredibly popular series, ‘Nice White Parents’?)

But the COVID lockdowns highlighted how unfamiliar school systems can be to even the most informed parent — and how limited their influence can be, especially in a sprawling county-wide system.

And in this new interview, Gordon explains that her new Substack, called Why Is It Like This?, is needed because there’s so much more to understand about MCPS than qualifies as “news” — or that journalists have time to delve into.

“Journalists can’t probe and provide context in the same way I can,” says Gordon. However, she doesn’t “explain everything” the way journalists have to — or think that they do.

Watch or read the transcript above or on YouTube. Listen to it on Spotify or Apple.

Even those who watch the board meetings might not be able to discern what’s most important, says Gordon, given that much of the substantive discussion happens in public but less-attended ‘work sessions’ — and because of the way public comments often focus on narrower school-specific issues rather than the larger context.

It’s this deeper level of understanding that Gordon seems to be looking for — the kind of context that might be discussed in the reporting process but then cut out of a news story. (She also talks about how her desire to be thoughtful and careful may get in the way of reporters being able to use her insights.)

There are clearly some tradeoffs.

Shortly after our interview, Gordon emailed me a recent post of hers about the district budget, alongside recent media coverage of the same topic — “a great example of how local journalists can’t probe and provide context in the same way I can.”

You can see the differences looking at Gordon’s Why is the budget like this? next to the Banner’s One kindergarten teacher and 27 kids? How the district wants to limit class sizes and Bethesda Magazine’s MCPS presents tiered proposal to lower class sizes.

“I don’t explain everything,” says Gordon. “I assume people take my word for it or click on the hyperlinks, or read the MCPS slides I paste in.” By comparison, she notes, journalists “have to explain it” — often with many fewer words.

“I think I am (without intending) writing for a more knowledgeable reader. This is interesting because I would like to be useful for all parents in the county, but I think it wouldn’t be possible to get to that level of nuance if I were explaining everything.”

Previously from The Grade

Urgency, experimentation, and expansion at The Baltimore Banner

Frustrated podcaster turns up the heat

In Boston, a veteran reporter steps in where traditional news falls short

What’s it like being a citizen journalist covering a viral education story?

‘At this point, everyone’s a journalist, right?’

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There aren’t many mainstream education reporters that I know of who are focused solely on covering school choice, and — technically — Josh Snyder has other responsibilities.

But the school choice program created in Arkansas’ 2023 LEARNS Act is a big part of Snyder’s locally-funded three-year gig, which he’s handled since last summer, so I’m counting him as one of them.

And, given how rapidly school choice is spreading lately, there are likely to be more choice-focused education reporters in the future.

Watch or read the transcript above or on YouTube. Listen to it on Spotify or Apple.

Covering school choice is one of the biggest challenges in education journalism right now.

Raised by his grandparents in Arizona, Snyder’s personal experience with school choice was limited to time spent at a nearby school district during part of elementary school.

What’s it been like, covering school choice pretty much full-time?

Snyder says he’s spent much of his first six months on the beat developing sources, building trust, and getting a strong sense of the 145-page education overhaul.

“I feel like I’ve been able to thread the needle in terms of building trust with some very diverse communities here,” says Snyder, who’s written about spending patterns and operational issues.

Reaching out to district administrators and teachers has been harder, given their fears of getting in trouble. And there’s lots that’s left for him to do in the second half of the school year.

For example, he has yet to get out into the field to see these new programs and equipment first-hand — including gaming chairs and a chicken coop.

Watch or read the transcript above or on YouTube. Listen to it on Spotify or Apple.

You can follow Snyder’s work here. The paper’s other education reporters include Dmitry Martirosov (K-12) and Ryan Henderson (higher ed).

Previously from The Grade

‘We are the media now,’ says school choice advocate Corey DeAngelis

What’s it like when your (private, unregulated) school is exposed as a fraud?

Surprises a reporter experiences inside a newly-opened private school in Alabama

Inside the Harper’s magazine story about teaching at an ESA-funded micro-school

ProPublica’s Eli Hager on covering choice in a new era

Three ways to improve coverage of private education choice

‘Agency in the system’; a veteran journalist’s advice on covering school choice

‘A little bit shallow’: Cara Fitzpatrick calls for context & immediacy

Covering choice in the Trump 2.0 era

Covering school choice during the 2024 campaign season

7 tips for improving news coverage of private school choice

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