When reporters at The Oregonian began work on a possible series of stories on high schools, they knew it couldnt simply be yet another package that highlighted whats wrong.
They needed to emphasize whats working.
We wanted to give people hope, rather than despair, says Chris Broderick, the editor who oversaw the project.
That meant last weeks series, Fixing High Schools, while reporting why most high schools dont work for most students and teachers, focused on strategies in schools that are succeeding.
Most of the almost 100 readers who called or wrote praised the positive approach. Yet, paradoxically, focusing on successes at one high school triggered criticism from others used as contrasting examples that the package was unfair or incomplete.
Reporters led by Bill Graves, former president of the national Education Writers Association, began actively researching high school reform two years ago. Education researchers helped reporters shape key themes. Analysis of test scores and other data helped point them toward schools.
But reporters knew that the most important work would be spending countless hours in classrooms. I wanted to truly experience what its like when you take biology, learn the causes of World War I, go to lunch, says reporter Betsy Hammond, who has covered education for more than a dozen years.
Its immersion reporting. Reporters and photographers end up discarding most of what they have gathered so they can focus on the themes of the story. Thats especially true when highlighting solutions, so the series hewed to the themes identified as ways high schools succeed and offering stark contrasts of what is not working.
Complaints came from frustrated students and educators at Beaverton and Barlow high schools, where reporters and photographers spent much of the past year. Much of the coverage of those schools emphasized how the systems at those large schools didnt work for most students, despite the dedication of teachers. Mentioned only in passing were students at those schools taking rigorous courses, innovative programs or teachers who had connected with students. Junior Megan Macpherson wrote that a high percentage of Beaverton students scored high on advanced achievement tests. Why wasnt this mentioned? she asks.
Thats fair criticism, because it stems from the personal experiences of many at Beaverton and Barlow high schools. But its not the only measure. Solutions-based reporting requires relying on reporters who have decades of experience in reporting on schools, analyzing reams of test and student data, and spending hundreds of hours in the classrooms. In this case, the newspaper met those tests fairly. It was able to identify the problems of high schools, often relying on selective examples, but also to make a persuasive case for solutions. A complete picture of every school had to be a casualty of that approach.
Inside The Oregonian, the high school series also was recognized as different. In the olden days, we would have spent three days slamming the high schools, and then when it was done, we would have been on to the next depressing topic, says Richard Read, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for The Oregonian.
When that solutions-based reporting succeeds, its helpful to readers. Take Joanne Pinelli of West Linn: She wont rely solely on the series for a decision about high school for her son, but she says she cut out the stories and will gather with other parents today to talk about the issues raised as they brace for sending their children to high school.
Jay Rosen, the dean of the journalism department at New York University, says newspapers must point out problems for the community. But newspapers at times also should provide solutions. Part of what a good newspaper does is equips a community to confront its problems. Its an aid to that, he says. Who else can do that?
To see the Fixing High Schools series, go to www.oregonlive.com/education/.
