69ý

Opinion Blog


Rick Hess Straight Up

Education policy maven Rick Hess of the think tank offers straight talk on matters of policy, politics, research, and reform. Read more from this blog.

Policy & Politics Opinion

How the Pandemic Changed Coverage of K-12

Transgender issues and masking were among the topics that received soaring attention
By Rick Hess — January 10, 2023 3 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

Last month—over at Education Next—my research assistant, Ilana Ovental, and I took a at media coverage of education. We were particularly curious as to how the pandemic altered the focus of coverage.

If you’re curious, go read the whole thing. (It’s not long, and it features several simple graphs that tell a pretty interesting story.) But I also thought it worth flagging a few of the key takeaways here.

After all, a decade or two ago, those in the education reform business used to lament that education didn’t get the attention it deserved. Their faith that a star turn would energize school improvement played a big role in explaining the huge fuss education reformers made about the niche film “Waiting for Superman” back in 2010.

Well, starting with the Common Core brouhaha, education has finally gotten its turn in the spotlight. Indeed, in 2022, school masking received more media attention than Ron DeSantis, Florida’s GOP governor, or quarterbacking icon Tom Brady (who retired, unretired, got divorced, and had his worst season of the millennium).

To examine what was covered, we used Lexis Nexis’ academic search engine Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis Academic). This provides access to 17,000 news, business, and legal sources. We looked at a number of different issues, tracing many back to the dawn of this century.

Here are a few of the takeaways.

Eras of Education Conversation   Rick Hess

It can be striking to realize that topics which have recently been unavoidable were nowhere to be seen just three years ago. Critical race theory, school masking, and remote learning combined received less than 500 media mentions in all of 2019. Meanwhile, school masking alone received far more than that each week in 2022.

Surprisingly, even with 2021 seeing a raft of state legislation that earned it the moniker “The Year of School Choice,” the pandemic wasn’t an especially high-profile time for school choice. “School choice” saw no meaningful change in media coverage during the pandemic from pre-2020, with the number of mentions actually dipping in both 2020 and 2021 and then returning to roughly the pre-pandemic norm in 2022. The same pattern applied to school vouchers and tax-credit scholarships, while home schooling saw a noticeable (but relatively short-lived) 2020 bounce.

More generally, those calling for schools to get more media attention should be careful what they wish for. In particular, it’s important to keep in mind that the attention tends to focus on the dramatic and the controversial. In our experience, those urging more coverage tend to have in mind careful accounts of complex school improvement strategies. A quick perusal here suggests that the things which grab media notice appear to be novel or controversial, which means that even extensive attention isn’t likely to yield much of that kind of coverage.

A larger point here may be that coverage tends to come when there’s a sense that the issues at stake have a direct impact on daily lives. Masking and vaccinations certainly fit that bill. Controversies over the Common Core or critical race theory raised real concerns among parents and educators, on both sides of the debate: that their students or their schools were going to be scarred by politically motivated adversaries.

It can be eye-opening to realize that some topics which have been ubiquitous during the pandemic were wholly invisible just three years ago. It’s a reminder of how rapidly a variety of high-profile reforms or issues have dominated and then departed the education landscape. This should be a caution for school leaders, funders, and advocates who are inclined to rethink or reposition their mission or vision in accord with the latest (but often short-lived) changed reality.

Finally—outside of masking, school choice, DEI, and gender identity—the data suggests (perhaps to the surprise of some readers) there was pretty much an across-the-board decline in media attention to K–12 topics in 2022. As we look to 2023, with the pandemic largely behind us and attention seemingly ebbing with regard to things like blended learning, SEL, and critical race theory, we’ll see if the new year starts to look more like 2019—or if we’re off into a very different post-pandemic era. Time will tell.

The opinions expressed in Rick Hess Straight Up are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

Events

School & District Management Webinar Crafting Outcomes-Based Contracts That Work for Everyone
Discover the power of outcomes-based contracts and how they can drive student achievement.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School & District Management Webinar
Harnessing AI to Address Chronic Absenteeism in 69ý
Learn how AI can help your district improve student attendance and boost academic outcomes.
Content provided by 
School & District Management Webinar EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?
What issues are keeping K-12 leaders up at night? Join us for EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

Law & Courts The Uncertainty Ahead for Title IX and Transgender 69ý in Trump's New Term
Trump may not be able to withdraw the Title IX rule on "Day 1," but advocates on both sides expect it to go away.
7 min read
Marshall University students hold a protest to voice concerns over the handling of Title IX-related issues at the university on Nov. 18, 2022, in Huntington, W.Va.
Marshall University students hold a protest to voice concerns over the handling of Title IX-related issues at the university on Nov. 18, 2022, in Huntington, W.Va.
Sholten Singer/The Herald-Dispatch via AP
States A State Changed Anti-Bias Guidelines for Teachers After a Lawsuit. Will Others?
The lawsuit filed by a conservative law firm took issue with state guidelines on examining biases and diversifying curriculum.
5 min read
69ý arrive for classes at Taylor Allderdice High School in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh on Jan. 23, 2024.
69ý arrive for classes at Taylor Allderdice High School in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh on Jan. 23, 2024. As part of a recent court settlement, Pennsylvania will no longer require school districts to follow its set of guidelines that sought to confront racial and cultural biases in education.
Gene J. Puskar/AP
Federal Video Linda McMahon: 5 Things to Know About Trump's Choice for Education Secretary
President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate former pro-wrestling CEO Linda McMahon to lead the education department.
1 min read
Federal What a National School Choice Program Under President Trump Might Look Like
School choice advocates—and detractors—see a second Trump term as the biggest opportunity in decades for choice at the federal level.
8 min read
President Donald Trump listens during a "National Dialogue on Safely Reopening America's 69ý," event in the East Room of the White House, on July 7, 2020, in Washington.
President Donald Trump listens during a "National Dialogue on Safely Reopening America's 69ý," event in the East Room of the White House on July 7, 2020, in Washington. He returns to power with more momentum than ever behind policies that allow public dollars to pay for private school education.
Alex Brandon/AP