Passing the Test, Monroe, LA 2001

Partners:

The News-Star, newsstar.com
Louisiana Tech University
Grambling State University
SPJ Lincoln Collegiate Chapter

The paper used civic mapping to explore why more than a quarter of Monroe's fourth- and eighth-grade public school students had failed high-stakes state math and reading tests. The project generated an outpouring of community help for local schools.

The News Star focused on five Monroe public schools for its mapping effort and partnered with the journalism schools at Louisiana Tech and Grambling to recruit the manpower needed to explore the five communities. Teams of one reporter and two students went into the community, meeting with teachers, administrators and parents and walking the streets to find "third places" outside the schools themselves.

The paper published a special section May 6, 2001, detailing the plight of high-risk students in the five schools and the challenges they face to be able to pass the state tests. A follow-up town meeting attracted 150 people to discuss solutions. Additionally, the paper established a hotline for readers who wanted to help. The response was immediate. All five schools reported receiving new levels of volunteer support.

At one school, local businesses donated $150 for a science lab as well as 350 notebooks for students. Another received dictionaries, supplies and materials from a businessman in the community. The Monroe Fire Department built a playground at another. And the community itself began organizing meetings to generate support for students.

In addition, the journalism students involved in the project got first-hand experience and training in civic journalism. The project included special training sessions for them, including an April beat-development session at Grambling that featured education professors and experts in childhood development.

Contact:

Kathy Spurlock
Executive Editor
The News-Star
411 N. Fourth St.
Monroe, LA 71210-8002
Phone: (318) 362-0261
Email: kspurlock@thenewsstar.com

Eye on Education, Boston, MA 2002

Partners:

WGBH radio and television (PBS)
The Boston Globe
El Mundo Newspaper
WRCA-AM

The "Eye on Education" initiative addressed such issues as character education, vouchers, charter schools and high-stakes testing. In addition to regular reports, the project featured a special week of TV programming, March 28-April 4, 2002, culminating with "A Day in the Life," a one-hour verite film that documented a single day at Jeremiah Burke High School from different perspectives.

By presenting personal and revealing moments, the film went beyond the headlines to depict the impact of school reform in the classroom. On Oct. 15, 2001, the day the film was shot, 63 percent of the Class of 2003 faced not graduating because they had failed the new Massachusetts MCAS exams. The statistic raised the question that ran through the production: What does it really take to leave no child behind?

The radio component, English and Spanish "Teen and Teacher Radio Diaries," aired April 1-5, 2002 on WGBH and WRCA. Early in the school year, producers selected three English-speaking students and two English-speaking teachers as well as two Spanish-speaking students and two Spanish-speaking teachers to record audio diaries of their public school experience throughout the year. The English language diaries were broadcast on WGBH and the Spanish on WRCA. The audio from all the reports was available on the Web site, www.wgbh.org/eyeoneducation, along with additional information, essays and a Pop Quiz on public education.

The partners distributed more than 100,000 parent information fliers in five languages. The Globe inserted 30,655 fliers in its March 27 edition and El Mundo printed the flier in Spanish in its pages. The partners also conducted workshops to train parents in how to use "Eye on Education" resources to conduct school-based parent discussion groups and help them take steps to improve schools.

The project brought the voices of students, parents, teachers and administrators to a broad local audience, providing detailed information to parents and generating positive feedback. WGBH planned to continue the project in the 2002-03 school year.

Contact:

Elaine Laughlin
Senior Program Manager
WGBH-TV
125 Western Avenue
Boston, MA 02134
Phone: (617) 300-3432
Email: elaine_laughlin@wgbh.org

Common Ground, San Jose, CA 1996

Partners:

San Jose Mercury News
KNTV (ABC)
KPIX-TV (CBS)
KIVE and KARA Radio
Santa Clara Public Libraries

"Common Ground" was an editorial page project designed to encourage public discussion on controversial topics and create public spaces where those discussions could occur. On its editorial and commentary pages, the Mercury News editorial board would publish lists of suggested reading on topics such as affirmative action or changing the state constitution. Library officials recommended the books and magazines and ensured the lists were broad-based and not slanted toward a particular view.

Then, the paper invited readers to attend a small group discussion of the topic at a local library and distributed discussion guides that used the National Issues Forum model of choice exercises.

In 1996, more than 300 people participated in a dozen discussion groups on public education, culminating in a one-hour "Education Town Hall," televised live on Aug. 15, 1996 by KPIX. About 300 people attended the town hall and another 300,000 people watched on TV. Phone lines were manned by library employees and more than 100 people called seeking more information.

Rob Elder
Former Editorial Page Editor
Email: ElderRob@aol.com

Grading Our Schools, Rochester, NY 1995

Partners:

Rochester Democrat andChronicle
WXXI Public Television
WOKR-TV (ABC)

Eight years after a highly touted school reform effort began, Rochester area residents still had concerns about education. "Grading our Schools" got hundreds of them participating - through polls, televised town meetings, focus groups and chat rooms - in appraising and redirecting the effort. The project also laid the groundwork for several subsequent civic journalism projects on education, violence and youth issues.

The partners surveyed 768 city and suburban residents about local schools and held two focus groups with poll respondents to discuss the results in more depth. The findings - that school reform efforts got a low C; that teachers were doing a good job but parents needed to do more; that students seemed to be graduating without the skills they needed - were published May 13, 1995, kicking off a series that would include 70 newspaper stories, five TV shows and four radio broadcasts.

Broadcast town meetings were held May 14 and 16, at two locations, where the partners also held mini-information fairs and signed up volunteers. About 200 people attended the meetings, more than a thousand responded by telephone to flash poll questions during the broadcasts and some 60 people took part in AOL chat rooms set up for the event.

As discussions continued, the partners followed up with "Upgrading our Schools," seeking more student input. Public officials praised the project for promoting metropolitan solutions to regional problems and helping resolve a longstanding debate over the distribution of tax revenues.

Blair Claflin (former public affairs editor, D&C)
Legislative Editor
The Des Moines Register
715 Locust St.
Des Moines, IA 50304
Phone: (515) 284-8052

Gary Walker
VP of Television
WXXI-TV
280 State St - PO Box 30021
Rochester, NY 14603-3021
TEL: (585) 258-0241
FAX: (585) 258-0384
EMAIL: gwalker@wxxi.org

Elissa Marra
Director of National Productions
WXXI-TV
280 State Street
Rochester, NY 14614
TEL: (716) 258-0349
FAX: (716) 258-0384
EMAIL: emarra@wxxi.org