About one-quarter of the newspaper articles in the sample quoted teachers. Just over half of the articles in the sample mentioned teachers, but fewer discussed them in depth, with only about one in five articles mentioning teachers in two or more paragraphs. However, starting in 2015, national newspaper articles mentioned and quoted teachers somewhat more often.
Teachers quoted in
24
%24
%
Percent of news articles about K-12 education in the U.S. with direct quotations of three or more words in any format from any current, former, or retired teachers.
Teachers mentioned in two or more paragraphs
54
%52
%
Percent of news articles about K-12 education in the U.S. that use the word “teacher” or mention any current, former, or retired teacher by name who are specifically identified teachers.
Teachers mentioned in half or more paragraphs in
19
%20
%
Percent of news articles about K-12 education in the U.S. that use the word “teacher” or mention any current, former, or retired teacher by name who are specifically identified teachers.
Teachers were quoted in only 15 percent of national newspaper articles and 11 percent of local newspaper articles about the impact of non-academic factors on learning, such as poverty and hunger, as well as access to education and school closures. Yet that was the most commonly covered topic in both national and local newspapers, explained in Finding 3.
Newspapers also rarely quoted teachers in coverage of evaluation of students, teachers, or schools. Yet evaluation dominated national newspapers’ coverage of K-12 education in 2010, 2011, and 2014. Teachers were almost never quoted in articles about school budgets and budgeting.
How often were teachers quoted in coverage of the following topics?
Percent of news articles about K-12 education in the U.S. quoting teachers, by topic, from 2009 to 2020. Topics are mutually exclusive.
Only one-quarter of newspaper articles about #K12 #education quoted a #teacher from 2009 to 2020, according to @publicagenda research.