Findings
  • Finding 1→
    finding-01-hero
    Teachers and parents believe that media coverage affects teachers.
  • Finding 2→
    home-image-01
    Newspapers rarely discussed teachers in depth or included teachers’ voices.
  • Finding 3→
    finding-03-hero
    Newspapers covered non-academic factors that affect learning more than any other topic.
  • Finding 4→
    finding-04-hero
    National newspapers started covering evaluation less and quoting teachers more around 2015.
  • Finding 5→
    finding-05-hero
    Both local and national newspapers most often portrayed teachers engaged in the work of teaching. National newspapers more often portrayed teachers being evaluated than local newspapers did.
  • Finding 6→
    finding-06-hero
    Depictions of teachers being evaluated in national newspapers began declining after 2015, while depictions of professional development and compensation began increasing.
  • Finding 7→
    finding-07-hero
    In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, depictions of teachers changed more in national newspapers than in local newspapers.
  • Finding 8→
    finding-08-hero
    From 2009 to 2020, newspapers rarely depicted teacher shortages, lack of classroom resources, or lack of diversity in the profession.
  • Finding 9→
    finding-09-hero
    Depictions of teachers involved in illegal activity were rare, but spiked modestly in certain years.
  • Finding 10→
    finding-10-hero
    Teachers believe it is important for the news media to cover student poverty, lack of classroom resources, and teacher shortages.
Summary of Findings→
hero-line-chart
Implications Interviews Methodology
Findings
Summary of Findings→
Implications Interviews Methodology
teachers-in-the-news-home-hero

Education journalism shapes public perception of teachers and helps shape policy priorities – intertwining the media, K-12 education, and the contours of teaching in many significant ways. To foster more insightful journalism, Public Agenda’s Teachers in the News project provides an unprecedented analysis of education media coverage, alongside findings from a survey of teachers and parents, and interviews with teachers and journalists.

home-image-01

Public Agenda’s analysis examines portrayals of teachers in education journalism from 2009 to 2020 in five national and five local newspapers. Findings from a nationally representative survey examine what K-12 public school teachers and parents think about how the media portrays teachers, what education topics deserve more coverage, and the challenges teachers have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. In video interviews, teachers and journalists reflect on what these findings mean for the future of education and news.

home-image-02

Explore the Site

Findings »
Implications and Reflections »
Teachers and Journalists Respond »
Methodology »

Public Agenda is a nonpartisan research and public engagement organization dedicated to strengthening democracy and expanding opportunity for all Americans. Through research and public engagement programs with local and national impact, we focus on raising up the voices of the public, bridging divides to facilitate progress, and strengthening relationships between institutions and the people they serve.

Find Public Agenda online at PublicAgenda.org, on Facebook at facebook.com/PublicAgenda, and on Twitter at @PublicAgenda, or join our mailing list.

Support for this research was provided by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the foundations.