Saturday, October 23, 2021
About
About the Media Bullpen
America’s future, its short and long term viability, is wholly dependent on how we educate our children.
The Media Bullpen is a dynamic, virtual newsroom that covers the news and the news of education. It’s a sophisticated and unique technological environment that allows everyone to get in the game on the greatest discussions of our day. To understand those discussions, we need great information and reporting on all the issues relating to education—all the time.
Each day nearly 500 stories—and sometimes many more—are produced in the media about education, but they often lack the context for the public to get engaged.
The Bullpen reporters—the umpires—react and respond in real time to the press as it rolls out its coverage in print, online or broadcast, at the local, state or national levels. They score the coverage using the metaphors of that favorite American pastime, baseball. Articles are given strike outs, pop flies, singles, doubles, triples, and home runs, reflecting a particular story’s objectivity, proper context, its exploration of data, and search for accuracy.
In so doing, the Media Bullpen provides a critical eye to help the public better understand the complexity of the issues being reported.
More than anything else, the Bullpen allows readers to be their own umpires. A full suite of social media applications allows readers to get engaged by sharing the Bullpen’s content with friends, family, other media outlets, activists, and school leaders. Readers can help to make education great only by demanding greater education reporting.
The Media Bullpen is an entirely separate, editorially independent division of the Center for Education Reform, and the strategic evolution of its pioneering and well-known media relations and news monitoring work.
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The Media Bullpen. Because education is no longer a spectator sport.
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- And Now It’s A School: The Case For Turning After-School Programs Into Real Schools
-
Oct 15, 9:01 AM, Forbes:
The result was the realization by many community leaders and philanthropists that successful after-school programs could become the school for students, and actually be better for them than the large education bureaucracies that continue >
- Nation’s Report Card’ finds falling test scores, even pre-covid
-
Oct 14, 9:10 AM, Washington Post:
Student scores remained, across the board, higher than they were a half century ago. But the new results showed overall declines for 13-year-olds since 2012, with drops concentrated among the lowest-performing students. Similar drops have >
- Jeanne Allen: New Trends Emerge In U.S. Schooling Amidst Pandemic’s Second School Year
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Oct 11, 11:18 AM, Forbes:
New opportunities have challenged prior conceptions of what education can and should be for students. The impact on traditional education is severe and much overdue.
- Betsy DeVos: Our nation's Report Card is in, and it's bad. All students need education freedom right now
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Oct 22, 9:32 AM, Fox News:
Much has been written about the catastrophic learning losses during the pandemic caused by the unnecessary, union-driven school lockdowns.
- Why local school board elections are so important
-
Oct 22, 9:31 AM, Washington Times:
Thousands of school board elections are taking place in November. Even more will take place in the spring. And something new is happening. Parents are waking up to the fact that school boards work for them, not the other way around. Some >
- Opinion: School Spending Up, Test Scores Down
-
Oct 22, 9:30 AM, Daily Signal:
Thirteen-year-old children in American public schools were not quite as good at math and reading in 2019 and 2020 as they were in 2012. This is despite the fact that American taxpayers invested more money per pupil in the nation’s public >
- Commentary: The problem with ranking schools
-
Oct 22, 9:28 AM, Washington Post:
We keep trying to assess schools quantitatively, instead of grappling with the deeper problems plaguing education.
- National, state polls indicate widespread support for public, private school scholarships
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Oct 21, 9:03 AM, The Center Square:
A majority of U.S. citizens favor some sort of scholarship program that would offer tax credits for individuals and businesses to assist low-income, special needs and minority students attend either public or private schools.
- Teachers unions influenced last-minute CDC school guidance, received copies before public release, emails show
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Oct 21, 9:00 AM, Fox News:
The latest batch of emails shows a last-minute press by teachers union officials to rewrite school guidance hours before their publication.
- Study: Dem-backed bill could slash charter school student funding
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Oct 21, 8:59 AM, Carolina Journal:
The bill would eliminate all federal funding for charter schools that contract with for-profit organizations.
- New Study Shows Reading Remediation in Middle School Led More Students to Attend College and Earn Degrees
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Oct 21, 8:58 AM:
College remediation has earned a bad reputation over the past few years. Hopeful students spend billions of dollars annually to review material they should have mastered in high school, and a huge number never completethe coursework they >
- Michigan House, Senate OK bills creating tax credits for school scholarships
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Oct 20, 9:28 AM, The Detroit News:
The GOP-led Michigan House and Senate are advancing bills Tuesday that would provide tax credits to residents who contributed to a scholarship program for students to use on alternative or supplemental education, including nonpublic >
- Micro-schools are being established in Arizona: What you should know about the new learning format
-
Oct 5, 9:48 AM, FOX 10 Pheonix:
As classes take place at a public school in Mesa, learning was also taking place inside the walls of a home right across the street. Inside the home, kindergartners were busy working on their daily tasks with their teacher (also known as >
- Two local online schools expand to help fill worker shortage
-
Oct 4, 8:41 AM, KOAA News 5:
Career experts say there's not only a labor shortage in our workforce, but there's also a skills gap. Meaning, applicants just don't have the knowledge or experience to compete for a job.
- Opinion: McAuliffe’s Gift to the GOP
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Oct 22, 9:26 AM, Wall Street Journal:
The moment illustrates again the power of education as a wedge issue. It crosses socio-economic lines, giving Republicans the opportunity to peel back crucial suburban voters who helped Joe Biden to the White House. And it crosses racial >
- Here’s how school districts have spent federal pandemic funds so far
-
Oct 22, 9:20 AM, WLBT:
In Mississippi, already struggling schools continue to be put to the test of educating students while juggling changing COVID-19 guidelines, fluctuating cases, and hybrid schedules.
- School voucher advocates face opposition as they try to gain momentum
-
Oct 22, 9:10 AM, Chalkbeat:
Supporters of school choice are battling on two fronts to open the door to school vouchers in Michigan. They’ve taken their fight to both the courts and the state Legislature in a renewed push.
- Richmond Public Schools closing school two additional days in early November for employees' mental health
-
Oct 22, 9:03 AM:
Fearing that Richmond Public Schools employees are on the “brink of burning out — even leaving,” Superintendent Jason Kamras has announced that the school system will be closed the entire first week of November, including two days “in the >
- Opinion: Democrats' teachable moment
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Oct 22, 9:00 AM, Washington Examiner:
President Joe Biden and Gov. Ralph Northam both decisively won Virginia in their last elections by about 10 percentage points. Yet with Election Day approaching, polling shows former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Republican candidate >
- Atlanta high school graduation rates increase for class of 2021
-
Oct 22, 8:31 AM, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Atlanta Public Schools’ four-year graduation rate reached 83.1% for the class of 2021. That’s an increase from the year before, when it was 80.3%.
- New NYC charter school creates inclusive environment for kids with autism
-
Oct 22, 8:29 AM, Staten Island Advance:
A new Staten Island charter school opened to students for the first time this fall for the 2021-2022 academic year, offering an inclusive environment for both general education students and students with special needs, particularly those >
- Better public education in Florida starts with a new education commissioner | Editorial
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Oct 22, 8:27 AM, Palm Beach Post:
Florida needs a new education commissioner. The lowlights of Richard Corcoran's tenure have centered around endangering students and their families with the coronavirus, bullying pubic school administrators and school board members and >
-
- New NYC charter school creates inclusive environment for kids with autism
-
Oct 22, 8:29 AM, Staten Island Advance:
A new Staten Island charter school opened to students for the first time this fall for the 2021-2022 academic year, offering an inclusive environment for both general education students and students with special needs, particularly those >
- Opinion: Should schools bring back hybrid learning for kids in quarantine?
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Oct 22, 7:58 AM, Philadelphia Inquirer:
One of the sectors of society that has been most disrupted by COVID-19 is schools. The pandemic has been hard on administrators, teachers, staff, parents, and kids. It may take years to unpack and undo the damage caused by COVID-19′s >
- Philadelphia School District braces for a possible SEPTA strike by considering online learning
-
Oct 21, 8:26 AM, Philadelphia Inquirer:
With a strike possible on Nov. 1, the Philadelphia School District is exploring contingency plans. Nearly 60,000 students rely on the transit authority to get to school, and classes may need to go virtual if a strike is called.
-
- School voucher advocates face opposition as they try to gain momentum
-
Oct 22, 9:10 AM, Chalkbeat:
Supporters of school choice are battling on two fronts to open the door to school vouchers in Michigan. They’ve taken their fight to both the courts and the state Legislature in a renewed push.
- Amendment 1 will cement teacher strikes in Illinois Constitution
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Oct 22, 5:09 AM, Illinois Policy:
Voters will decide in November 2022 whether teachers’ unions will have a permanent right to walk out on students.
- Michigan Gov. Whitmer expected to veto GOP-backed school choice bill
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Oct 21, 6:09 AM, Fox News:
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is expected to veto legislation driven by Republicans in the state that would allow children to qualify for scholarships to attend private schools, with educational expenses such as tutoring being covered by >
-
- Opinion: McAuliffe’s Gift to the GOP
-
Oct 22, 9:26 AM, Wall Street Journal:
The moment illustrates again the power of education as a wedge issue. It crosses socio-economic lines, giving Republicans the opportunity to peel back crucial suburban voters who helped Joe Biden to the White House. And it crosses racial >
- Here’s how school districts have spent federal pandemic funds so far
-
Oct 22, 9:20 AM, WLBT:
In Mississippi, already struggling schools continue to be put to the test of educating students while juggling changing COVID-19 guidelines, fluctuating cases, and hybrid schedules.
- Richmond Public Schools closing school two additional days in early November for employees' mental health
-
Oct 22, 9:03 AM:
Fearing that Richmond Public Schools employees are on the “brink of burning out — even leaving,” Superintendent Jason Kamras has announced that the school system will be closed the entire first week of November, including two days “in the >
-
- Alaska has a teacher retention problem. The state is ready to pay someone to help solve it.
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Oct 22, 5:06 AM, KTOO:
The state’s education department calls the lack of teachers in Alaska an emergency issue and says the pandemic is only making things worse. It’s willing to pay up to $300,000 to figure out how to attract—and keep—more teachers in the >
- Colo. kids fell behind on math during pandemic
-
Oct 20, 8:30 AM, Centennial Ctizen:
The report from the Keystone Policy Center, a nonprofit research group, found that math test scores plummeted for many students across the state, falling at an even faster rate than the state’s long-beleaguered literacy rate.
- California Accounts for 12% of U.S. Students, but Only 1% of Covid School Closures
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Oct 19, 9:16 AM, New York Times:
The state has done remarkably well limiting outbreaks, even before its student vaccine mandate has been put into place.
- Micro-schools are being established in Arizona: What you should know about the new learning format
-
Oct 5, 9:48 AM, FOX 10 Pheonix:
As classes take place at a public school in Mesa, learning was also taking place inside the walls of a home right across the street. Inside the home, kindergartners were busy working on their daily tasks with their teacher (also known as >
- Two local online schools expand to help fill worker shortage
-
Oct 4, 8:41 AM, KOAA News 5:
Career experts say there's not only a labor shortage in our workforce, but there's also a skills gap. Meaning, applicants just don't have the knowledge or experience to compete for a job.
- Spartanburg's Green Charter School outperforms SC school report card state average
-
Sep 23, 8:43 AMHerald-Journal:
She found GREEN Charter School (GCSS) in Spartanburg. GCSS opened their doors in 2019 with just 250 students. Due to the school’s small class sizes, they were not operating on a hybrid schedule, but were face-to-face, 5 days a week, with >
- Richmond Public Schools closing school two additional days in early November for employees' mental health
-
Oct 22, 9:03 AM:
Fearing that Richmond Public Schools employees are on the “brink of burning out — even leaving,” Superintendent Jason Kamras has announced that the school system will be closed the entire first week of November, including two days “in the >
- Atlanta high school graduation rates increase for class of 2021
-
Oct 22, 8:31 AM, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Atlanta Public Schools’ four-year graduation rate reached 83.1% for the class of 2021. That’s an increase from the year before, when it was 80.3%.
- New NYC charter school creates inclusive environment for kids with autism
-
Oct 22, 8:29 AM, Staten Island Advance:
A new Staten Island charter school opened to students for the first time this fall for the 2021-2022 academic year, offering an inclusive environment for both general education students and students with special needs, particularly those >
- Philadelphia School District braces for a possible SEPTA strike by considering online learning
-
Oct 21, 8:26 AM, Philadelphia Inquirer:
With a strike possible on Nov. 1, the Philadelphia School District is exploring contingency plans. Nearly 60,000 students rely on the transit authority to get to school, and classes may need to go virtual if a strike is called.
- Red Hills Academy, Leon County's newest charter school, approved to open next year
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Oct 21, 6:31 AM, Tallahassee Democrat:
Leon County School Board members had originally denied the school's application based on what they called budget and safety concerns at the time. The Florida Charter School Appeal Commission later overruled the board, recommending that the >
- Atlanta Public Schools offers $3,000 bonus to recruit virtual teachers
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Oct 21, 6:17 AM, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Teachers willing to start a new job mid-year with the Atlanta Virtual Academy will receive a $3,000 hiring bonus.
- Sheriff Bob Fletcher plans charter school in Ramsey County focused on public service
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Oct 21, 5:37 AM, Pioneer Press:
Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher is planning to open a new charter school next year that aims to steer students toward careers in public service.
- Arch Community charter school in north St. Louis loses its sponsor, could close
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Oct 21, 5:28 AM, St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
The University of Missouri-St. Louis will not renew its sponsorship of the Arch Community charter school in north St. Louis, potentially leading to its closure at the end of the school year.
- Michigan House, Senate OK bills creating tax credits for school scholarships
-
Oct 20, 9:28 AM, The Detroit News:
The GOP-led Michigan House and Senate are advancing bills Tuesday that would provide tax credits to residents who contributed to a scholarship program for students to use on alternative or supplemental education, including nonpublic >
- And Now It’s A School: The Case For Turning After-School Programs Into Real Schools
-
Oct 15, 9:01 AM, Forbes:
The result was the realization by many community leaders and philanthropists that successful after-school programs could become the school for students, and actually be better for them than the large education bureaucracies that continue >
- Nation’s Report Card’ finds falling test scores, even pre-covid
-
Oct 14, 9:10 AM, Washington Post:
Student scores remained, across the board, higher than they were a half century ago. But the new results showed overall declines for 13-year-olds since 2012, with drops concentrated among the lowest-performing students. Similar drops have >
- Betsy DeVos: Our nation's Report Card is in, and it's bad. All students need education freedom right now
-
Oct 22, 9:32 AM, Fox News:
Much has been written about the catastrophic learning losses during the pandemic caused by the unnecessary, union-driven school lockdowns.
- Why local school board elections are so important
-
Oct 22, 9:31 AM, Washington Times:
Thousands of school board elections are taking place in November. Even more will take place in the spring. And something new is happening. Parents are waking up to the fact that school boards work for them, not the other way around. Some >
- Opinion: School Spending Up, Test Scores Down
-
Oct 22, 9:30 AM, Daily Signal:
Thirteen-year-old children in American public schools were not quite as good at math and reading in 2019 and 2020 as they were in 2012. This is despite the fact that American taxpayers invested more money per pupil in the nation’s public >
- Commentary: The problem with ranking schools
-
Oct 22, 9:28 AM, Washington Post:
We keep trying to assess schools quantitatively, instead of grappling with the deeper problems plaguing education.
- Opinion: McAuliffe’s Gift to the GOP
-
Oct 22, 9:26 AM, Wall Street Journal:
The moment illustrates again the power of education as a wedge issue. It crosses socio-economic lines, giving Republicans the opportunity to peel back crucial suburban voters who helped Joe Biden to the White House. And it crosses racial >
- Here’s how school districts have spent federal pandemic funds so far
-
Oct 22, 9:20 AM, WLBT:
In Mississippi, already struggling schools continue to be put to the test of educating students while juggling changing COVID-19 guidelines, fluctuating cases, and hybrid schedules.
- School voucher advocates face opposition as they try to gain momentum
-
Oct 22, 9:10 AM, Chalkbeat:
Supporters of school choice are battling on two fronts to open the door to school vouchers in Michigan. They’ve taken their fight to both the courts and the state Legislature in a renewed push.
- Richmond Public Schools closing school two additional days in early November for employees' mental health
-
Oct 22, 9:03 AM:
Fearing that Richmond Public Schools employees are on the “brink of burning out — even leaving,” Superintendent Jason Kamras has announced that the school system will be closed the entire first week of November, including two days “in the >
- Michigan House, Senate OK bills creating tax credits for school scholarships
-
Oct 20, 9:28 AM, The Detroit News:
The GOP-led Michigan House and Senate are advancing bills Tuesday that would provide tax credits to residents who contributed to a scholarship program for students to use on alternative or supplemental education, including nonpublic >
- And Now It’s A School: The Case For Turning After-School Programs Into Real Schools
-
Oct 15, 9:01 AM, Forbes:
The result was the realization by many community leaders and philanthropists that successful after-school programs could become the school for students, and actually be better for them than the large education bureaucracies that continue >
- Nation’s Report Card’ finds falling test scores, even pre-covid
-
Oct 14, 9:10 AM, Washington Post:
Student scores remained, across the board, higher than they were a half century ago. But the new results showed overall declines for 13-year-olds since 2012, with drops concentrated among the lowest-performing students. Similar drops have >
- Betsy DeVos: Our nation's Report Card is in, and it's bad. All students need education freedom right now
-
Oct 22, 9:32 AM, Fox News:
Much has been written about the catastrophic learning losses during the pandemic caused by the unnecessary, union-driven school lockdowns.
- Why local school board elections are so important
-
Oct 22, 9:31 AM, Washington Times:
Thousands of school board elections are taking place in November. Even more will take place in the spring. And something new is happening. Parents are waking up to the fact that school boards work for them, not the other way around. Some >
- Opinion: School Spending Up, Test Scores Down
-
Oct 22, 9:30 AM, Daily Signal:
Thirteen-year-old children in American public schools were not quite as good at math and reading in 2019 and 2020 as they were in 2012. This is despite the fact that American taxpayers invested more money per pupil in the nation’s public >
- Commentary: The problem with ranking schools
-
Oct 22, 9:28 AM, Washington Post:
We keep trying to assess schools quantitatively, instead of grappling with the deeper problems plaguing education.
- Opinion: McAuliffe’s Gift to the GOP
-
Oct 22, 9:26 AM, Wall Street Journal:
The moment illustrates again the power of education as a wedge issue. It crosses socio-economic lines, giving Republicans the opportunity to peel back crucial suburban voters who helped Joe Biden to the White House. And it crosses racial >
- Here’s how school districts have spent federal pandemic funds so far
-
Oct 22, 9:20 AM, WLBT:
In Mississippi, already struggling schools continue to be put to the test of educating students while juggling changing COVID-19 guidelines, fluctuating cases, and hybrid schedules.
- School voucher advocates face opposition as they try to gain momentum
-
Oct 22, 9:10 AM, Chalkbeat:
Supporters of school choice are battling on two fronts to open the door to school vouchers in Michigan. They’ve taken their fight to both the courts and the state Legislature in a renewed push.
- Richmond Public Schools closing school two additional days in early November for employees' mental health
-
Oct 22, 9:03 AM:
Fearing that Richmond Public Schools employees are on the “brink of burning out — even leaving,” Superintendent Jason Kamras has announced that the school system will be closed the entire first week of November, including two days “in the >