The big story of the week is the families who are choosing to continue remote learning — or dropping out of their districts altogether. At the same time, some districts are narrowing or eliminating remote options for next year.

🔊 After a tough year, schools are axing virtual learning. Some families want to stay online. (USA Today)

Reporter Jenny Anderson (above) covered finance for 15 years before switching to the education beat, where she was shocked to discover the extent to which education was perceived as a beat "written by women for women in charge of making sure the children are OK” — and how under-resourced it was in terms of reporters and editors. 

In a new column for The Grade, Anderson reimagines what national education coverage could look like. Her ideas include enlarging national education teams to make them look more like the health and climate change teams at big outlets, and reenvisioning the education beat as a learning beat beyond K-12 and postsecondary schooling.

In the aftermath of the pandemic, "we can’t afford  to re-relegate education coverage to a 'soft' topic that’s covered by just a relative handful of full-time K-12 national education reporters and a revolving door of national education editors," Anderson writes. "The beat is too big and too important for that."

“Felt that in my bones,” tweeted the Washington Post’s Moriah Balingit in response to Anderson's description that education "is treated with the same sexism that dominates the care economy: written by women for women in charge of making sure the children are OK."

She was not alone among education reporters. NPR’s Anya Kamenetz tweeted out the column and tagged her bosses. The Detroit Free Press' Lily Altavena praised the piece and added another perspective: "I also someday hope we can stress the importance of local ed journalism, too, and interrogate the dynamics in local newsrooms around education."

American Federation of Teachers head Randi Weingarten has made headlines lately touting her full-throated support of school reopening in the fall. But "don’t be fooled by her victorious, revisionist narratives" — or by misleading media coverage of her efforts, freelance parent advocate Rebecca Bodenheimer wrote in a column for The Grade last week. 

"We know that neither Weingarten nor the unions led school reopening efforts," Bodenheimer writes. "And we’ve seen how prestigious media outlets have been complicit, consistently giving Weingarten a platform to take credit."

MEDIA TIDBITS
Thought-provoking commentary on the latest coverage.

ABOVE: Twenty-one states are moving to restrict instruction about systemic racism while nine are moving to enhance it, according to Chalkbeat’s Efforts to restrict teaching about racism and bias have multiplied across the U.S.

📰  CONTEXTUALIZING CRITICAL RACE THEORY COVERAGE: There’s lots of debate about how race is taught in schools — and lots of coverage of the conflict. But some of it appears to be part of a coordinated political strategy, and some of the coverage runs the risk of amplifying the conflict as much as it's explaining the debate. This isn’t the first time that concerns about progressive education have generated backlash, so education reporters need to do all they can to contextualize the conflict and  reality-check everybody’s claims. This Tennessean story is a good example of how an education reporter can cover the story: Critical race theory isn't taught in Tennessee schools. Here's what is being taught about race. Here’s a May EdWeek explainer that is also very good: What Is Critical Race Theory, and Why Is It Under Attack?. “You should look at how the AJC is covering it,” noted Tracy Brisson. “It’s joint stories between the ed reporter and politics. Then they have an Ed columnist with her own takes on her Facebook page.” For example: Considering race and racism in Georgia classrooms: Here are some helpful definitions. "Is CRT currently taught in Georgia schools?” AJC staff wrote. “It is unlikely that CRT itself is being taught in schools, but the concept may have influenced teachers as they wrote their own curriculum and led classroom discussions." The anger and feelings are real. The story is legitimate to cover. But there’s no good reason to take part in amplifying what seems like a moral panic.

📰  TEACHER SHORTAGE HYPE COVERAGE: This recent NBC News story is a good reminder that we should all try to make teacher shortage/mass retirement stories smarter this summer and fall. Too often, they’re speculative and alarmist, overstating the available information and omitting the historical record. Their effect is to reinforce the notion that teachers are endangered and exhausted and to short-circuit a deeper discussion about improving the supply of high-quality teachers. Increasingly, these stories are being called out. “I don't want to pick too much on this piece, but it is really emblematic of some not-great ‘teacher shortage’ news coverage,” tweeted Matt Barnum.

📰  COVERING EDUCATION SPENDING: Covering school spending is going to be one of the main challenges for education reporters this summer and fall. We’ve got a piece in the works about how to do this well. Meantime, read up on some of the coverage that’s already been produced — some of it quite good! New Education Guidance Aimed at Ensuring Equity in Coronavirus-Relief Spending (US News), Pandemic relief money is flowing to class-size reduction but research evidence for it isn’t strong (Hechinger Report).

📰  ARE WE THERE YET? Yes, according to US News: Schools Creep Closer to 100% Providing K-8 In-Person Instruction. But that’s based on what districts are offering for some grades and some kids. Only 54% of districts currently give students in all grades the option of full-time, in-person instruction, according to the New York Times, and a million kids are still learning virtually in just NYC and LA. For a third perspective somewhat between the two, check out EdWeek’s description: For the First Time in the Pandemic, a Majority of 4th Graders Learn in Person Full Time.

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PEOPLE, JOBS
Who's going where & doing what?

EVENTS
What just happened & what's coming next?

“Sitting next to myself at the ballpark and it’s not at all weird,” tweeted Philadelphia Inquirer education reporter Kristen Graham.

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By Alexander Russo with additional writing from Michele Jacques and Colleen Connolly.