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 3

Newspapers covered non-academic factors that affect learning more than any other topic.

From 2009 to 2020, the topic that national and local newspapers most often covered was the impact of non-academic factors on learning. Non-academic factors include poverty and other issues in students’ families and communities, as well as enrollment, school closures, and access to education. More than two-thirds of teachers think it is very important for the news media to cover these factors, as Finding 10 explains.

Yet relatively few articles about the impact of non-academic factors on learning quoted a teacher. Furthermore, few of the articles that mentioned teachers portrayed them engaging with these issues, as explained in Finding 5.

Evaluation of students, teachers, and schools was the second most frequently covered topic in national newspapers. However, coverage of evaluation declined after 2015, as did portrayals of teachers being evaluated.

Local and national newspapers covered human resource management related to non-teaching positions—such as electing or hiring school board members, superintendents, and principals—more often than they covered teacher hiring, pay, and labor actions.

Which K-12 education topics did newspapers cover?

Tooltip

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

From 2009 to 2020, newspapers’ #K12 #education coverage focused more on non-academic factors that affect learning than any other topic, but rarely quoted #teachers in those articles, according to @publicagenda research.

From 2009 to 2020, newspapers’ #K12 #education coverage focused more on non-academic factors that affect learning than any other topic, but rarely quoted #teachers in those articles, 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.