Chalkbeat: Local and State Coverage of Educational News
Bob Maxfield and Suzanne Klein continue their conversation on the impact of the pandemic, what has happened to schools, and how schools could improve going forward with their guest Lori Higgins, the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. Prior to joining Chalkbeat, she was an education writer for the Detroit Free Press from 2000 to 2018. She also served as an education writer and the assistant metro editor for the Green Bay Press-Gazette, in Wisconsin.
What is Chalkbeat? https://www.chalkbeat.org/
Chalkbeat is a national nonprofit news organization with bureaus in eight cities, including Detroit, committed to covering the efforts to improve schools for all children. The impact of education on children is evident at the local community level. According to Lori Higgins, “There is very little reporting about what's happening at the local school level, or the local district level. At Chalkbeat we want to fill in those gaps that exist in news coverage. It is just so important that we show editors and publishers that this is a very important topic. When it's not covered, it's just not good for our communities.”
“We also highlight education reporting all over the state so it gives our readers a chance to see the issues beyond metro Detroit that are pretty common to what they're experiencing, or they may find that there's some unique thing that some district in Grand Rapids or somewhere else in the state is doing. So, there is a link at the bottom of our web page where you can sign up for our newsletter.”
Chalkbeat’s Mission
“We are very much driven by this idea that every child deserves a quality education. We are all about our mission, which is to write about the inequities in education… As journalists we’re taught to always be objective but pushing for this is just so vital; pushing forward, not in an advocacy way but in an educational way: highlighting the inequities, highlighting the solutions, highlighting what's being done to address them. When it's in the public eye, there's more of an opportunity or more of a chance that the people in charge: the lawmakers, the policymakers, will listen and do something about it.”
Partnerships
“We do a lot of partnerships with other media, so our story sometimes shows up on other media websites. The Detroit Free Press picks up our writing on a regular basis; Bridge does as well. We actually share a reporter with Bridge Michigan. Right now we're partnering with the Detroit Free Press and Bridge Michigan to cover how districts are spending the COVID relief money. We have a meeting today with our partners just sort of collaborating and thinking about what people want to know about how this money is being spent, and how this money is making a difference for only their own kids but kids in their community because obviously, not everybody has a kid in school, but everybody cares about schools. This is kind of a massive effort on our part, and that collaboration makes for richer reporting, richer stories, stronger stories, and we're not constantly duplicating efforts.”
New York Times Sunday Review co-published an article by three Chalkbeat staff
Kalyn Belsha, Melanie Asmar, and Lori Higgins wrote the article “As schools try to recover, COVID’s toll lingers: ‘We haven’t seen fine, ever’ ”. When they observed classrooms and talked with teachers, the authors noted, “America's schools remain fragile as teachers catch their breath after the latest wave of Covid cases, many are teetering between cautious optimism and lingering exhaustion.” When asked about this quote Lori Higgins explained, “The past few years have been tough on everyone, particularly teachers. We are coming out of a period where COVID cases are down, and people feel a little more optimistic. There's still this fragility in the education system that we have to address… while COVID may be declining, it's still there and the lasting effects of it are just enormous. We'll be dealing with the effects academically, emotionally, and socially for years to come, and I don't know that we're ready for that. I don't know that we've talked enough in public about how long it’s really going to take to recover from the pandemic.”
“At Chalkbeat we themed this year ‘the comeback year’… but we questioned if this was really going to be a recovery year because we were still dealing with COVID outbreaks, and then we got hit with staff shortages and schools dealing with the challenge of how do we keep operating in-person, every day when we have this many staff out. ”
https://www.chalkbeat.org/2022/3/19/22983067/COVID-schools-toll-remote-teachers-students-absences-learning-loss-graduation-rates
Addressing the impact of the pandemic
Although she was reluctant to recommend anything, Lori Higgins shared some personal observations. “I think we're starting to see an emphasis on addressing the mental health challenges that have risen up, and let's be honest these issues predated the pandemic. Schools were dealing with more and more of these issues, and I think the pandemic only exacerbated it. I do think that there's a common, or bipartisan push to address the mental health challenges.”
“I think we're going to see a lot some emphasis on how do we improve online instruction. I think that there are parents who found online learning to be the best way for their kids to learn. Districts will have to figure out how to address the needs of those kids who do want to work; learn online so that they are getting a quality education.”
ESSER Funds and School Finance
“I think that there will be a lot of scrutiny into how districts are spending the COVID relief money and how effective they are at using the money to address the needs of students and staff. I think there's going to be a side argument here about changing the funding system in Michigan, ensuring that the students who need it the most are getting additional funding. And I think there will be an attempt to look at the money that comes in from COVID and say this is the kind of money that we need; this is where funding should be. But I also think that they're going to have to be accountable; they're going to have to use this money effectively for lawmakers to say schools do need more money. They're going to want to see some outcomes.”
Teacher Recruitment and Retention
“The governor wants to invest a lot of money recruiting and retaining teachers. She wants to provide bonuses for teachers and other school staff. People will still continue retiring, and we’ll still have a difficult time enticing people to go into teaching. I think we'll see lawmakers and policymakers looking at more or at broader initiatives. We're seeing more districts with Grow Your Own programs. Detroit just started a program last year where they took support staff through a summer program and then they entered the classroom in the fall.”
“It's going to take people at all levels addressing this, but I think the one thing that lawmakers may not necessarily address that maybe should be addressed is the morale issue. There's a reason people are leaving, and there are reasons that people are not going into teaching. When I look at the system, it seems like this is something that has to be addressed in order to really solve this issue. There’s just a huge morale issue.”
Lori Higgins’s personal story
“I had a grant a couple of years ago to do a big project about career and technical education and it's been stalled because of the pandemic…C.T.E (Career and Technical Education) is such a hands-on type of program and so I'm getting back to that project right now… I'm really excited about how C.T.E. can make a difference for a lot of kids. I graduated from a vocational high school. It prepared me to be a secretary which I did not want to do, but there are so many advantages to coming out of a program like that, that I just value so much.”
“I started college thinking that I wanted to be an accountant, even though I was really terrible at math. I was fortunate to have a roommate who was a journalism major. Going out with her on an assignment to cover a city council meeting was exciting because I always loved to write…educate the community and to potentially make a difference. I quickly changed my major and have not looked back since. I have been part of education journalism for pretty much my entire career. I was driven in part by growing up in a family full of educators: my mother was a teacher, three of her sisters were teachers, aunts, uncles; so many people in my family were teachers. I just remember sitting around at family gatherings and just listening as they talked about some of the challenges and some of the joys of teaching…So when I got into covering education in Manhattan, Kansas, it just felt natural. I think that education is the best beat at any news organization.”