Best & worst education journalism of June 2017
By Alexander Russo
Before July takes full hold, let’s take a look back at the best and worst education journalism in June. As you’ll see, there were some particularly strong pieces – including three that came out in a single week — and only a small handful of problematic pieces.
THE BEST
During one single week early in the month, three separate outlets published emotionally gripping stories about school children who had faced traumatic times. California Sunday published Losing Gloria, about how some kids respond after their parents are deported to Mexico. Chicago Magazine published a great feature on a neighborhood high school that’s become a magnet for refugee kids. And the Washington Post’s 12 Seconds of Gunfire told the horrifying story of a school shooting in South Carolina.
The best piece of journalism I came across in June was Darren Sands’ look at What Happened To Black Lives Matter? Along with many other things, the BuzzFeed story helps explain a bit how the Movement for Black Lives umbrella organization ended up coming out with education positions that not everyone thought represented the views of its members. (On a related note, The Huffington Post’s Rebecca Klein updated us on the NAACP education task force, whose final report is coming out this month.)
ESSA implementation coverage took off at the end of June, after an eerie silence during previous months. See ABQ Journal, CT Post, Detroit News, ChalkbeatTN, for example. Check out US News for an overview piece, or The 74 for national overviews. The most useful piece of journalism was Best & worst education journalism of June 2017 - kappanonline.org: