No other beat assignment sweeps across people's lives from infancy to old age.
-- The Education Writers Association, 2001
Basic skills needed to cover the education beat:
- Sizing up the school
- Using computer spreadsheet and database programs
- Cultivating extensive sources
Superintendents, assistant superintendents, principals, school board members, teachers (and unions), administrative staff, school attorneys, students, parents, etc.
- Reading a budget
Resources:
Georgia Department of Education budget services
A guide to understand the Illinois School District budget process
Examples of school budgets from Maine
An example of school budget story
- Interviewing students
Must be comfortable interviewing children and teenagers.
- Ask questions they can answer.
- Allow plenty of time for them to answer. Be patient.
- Don't print their comments that could hurt them (Under age 18).
- Get parental permission for controversial interviews.
- Don't ask leading questions that could influence their answers.
- Analyzing statistics, especially test scores
- Understand school politics
Where to look for story ideas?
Things with "importance/impact" as news value:
- Are the children going to schools with good facilities?
- Are they safe at school?
- What are the students learning?
- Are there concerns about standardized tests?
Things with "conflict" as news value:
- An after-school Bible class funded by tax dollars
- A graduation prayer
- Teen sex values
- Library Internet filters that block Web sites
Resources that are gold mine for story ideas:
National Center for Education Statistics
Educational research organizations
professional organizations (NEA, AAE)
Accrediting bodies (lists of agencies)
Chronicle of Higher Education
Newsletters from PTA
The Virtual Library
(The above material is also contributed by Jan J. Yopp (2005), An introduction to news reporting.)
Basic skills needed to cover the education beat:
- Sizing up the school
- Using computer spreadsheet and database programs
- Cultivating extensive sources
Superintendents, assistant superintendents, principals, school board members, teachers (and unions), administrative staff, school attorneys, students, parents, etc.
- Reading a budget
Resources:
Georgia Department of Education budget services
A guide to understand the Illinois School District budget process
Examples of school budgets from Maine
An example of school budget story
- Interviewing students
Must be comfortable interviewing children and teenagers.
- Ask questions they can answer.
- Allow plenty of time for them to answer. Be patient.
- Don't print their comments that could hurt them (Under age 18).
- Get parental permission for controversial interviews.
- Don't ask leading questions that could influence their answers.
- Analyzing statistics, especially test scores
- Understand school politics
Where to look for story ideas?
Things with "importance/impact" as news value:
- Are the children going to schools with good facilities?
- Are they safe at school?
- What are the students learning?
- Are there concerns about standardized tests?
Things with "conflict" as news value:
- An after-school Bible class funded by tax dollars
- A graduation prayer
- Teen sex values
- Library Internet filters that block Web sites
Resources that are gold mine for story ideas:
National Center for Education Statistics
Educational research organizations
professional organizations (NEA, AAE)
Accrediting bodies (lists of agencies)
Chronicle of Higher Education
Newsletters from PTA
The Virtual Library
(The above material is also contributed by Jan J. Yopp (2005), An introduction to news reporting.)
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