Findings
  • Finding 1→
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    Finding 1

    Teachers and parents believe that media coverage affects teachers.
  • Finding 2→
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    Finding 2

    Newspapers rarely discussed teachers in depth or included teachers’ voices.
  • Finding 3→
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    Finding 3

    Newspapers covered non-academic factors that affect learning more than any other topic.
  • Finding 4→
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    Finding 4

    National newspapers started covering evaluation less and quoting teachers more around 2015.
  • Finding 5→
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    Finding 5

    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→
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    Finding 6

    Depictions of teachers being evaluated in national newspapers began declining after 2015, while depictions of professional development and compensation began increasing.
  • Finding 7→
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    Finding 7

    In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, depictions of teachers changed more in national newspapers than in local newspapers.
  • Finding 8→
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    Finding 8

    From 2009 to 2020, newspapers rarely depicted teacher shortages, lack of classroom resources, or lack of diversity in the profession.
  • Finding 9→
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    Finding 9

    Depictions of teachers involved in illegal activity were rare, but spiked modestly in certain years.
  • Finding 10→
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    Finding 10

    Teachers believe it is important for the news media to cover student poverty, lack of classroom resources, and teacher shortages.
Summary of Findings→
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Summary of

FINDINGS

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FINDINGS

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Findings
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Summary of Findings→
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EXPLORE THE FINDINGS

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Finding 2

Newspapers rarely discussed teachers in depth or included teachers’ voices.

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

%
of National Newspaper Articles

24

%
of Local Newspaper Articles
Tooltip

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

%
of National Newspaper Articles

52

%
of Local Newspaper Articles
Tooltip

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

%
of National Newspaper Articles

20

%
of Local Newspaper Articles
Tooltip

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?

Tooltip

Percent of news articles about K-12 education in the U.S. quoting teachers, by topic, from 2009 to 2020. Topics are mutually exclusive.

Teachers and Journalists Respond

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Only one-quarter of newspaper articles about #K12 #education quoted a #teacher from 2009 to 2020, according to @publicagenda research.

Only one-quarter of newspaper articles about #K12 #education quoted a #teacher from 2009 to 2020, according to @publicagenda research. Click To Tweet Tweet This
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Photo credits

Photo Credits
First two photos on home page and photos on Findings 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 by Allison Shelley for EDUimages. Third photo on home page and photos on Findings 5, 8, 10 by Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages. Photo on Finding 9 by iStock.com/Goxy89. All other credits appear near photos.