Understanding and Leveraging Trends in Education Media Coverage

By Branan Jacobs, Director, Media and Engagement

Securing compelling news coverage for your efforts to advance education and learning requires an approach aligned with journalists’ current realities and interests. Understanding the environment in which they work and the topics their audiences are interested in can inform your media engagement strategy—strengthening your ability to connect with journalists and landing stories that can inform, engage, and mobilize your key audiences.

The Current Media Environment: Driven by Hard, Timely News

Across the media landscape, there is an increased emphasis on hard news coverage. From local, community-based papers to major national and international news outlets, reporters and editors are focusing on major events or incidents, such as global conflicts and the nation’s increasingly divisive political landscape.

This focus on hard, timely news reporting is reflected in many recent education-focused stories, especially those from outlets serving a general audience. Stories have explored a major convergence of current events and their tangible impact in the classroom, along with recurring coverage focused on highly politicized school district races and policies. In this pivotal election year, that focus will likely intensify in the months ahead.

Coverage of the Education Landscape

Much of the recent coverage of the education landscape has centered on these key topics:

• Artificial Intelligence: Referred to as the most innovative invention since the dawn of the Internet, major advancements in AI have quickly become one of the most covered topics in education. With the power of generative AI to quickly write content based on user prompts, there has been abundant coverage questioning the ethics and risks of its use in the classroom. Conversely, other stories have examined the potential of these innovations for an education system that is still reconfiguring itself to meet our new normal.

• Chronic Absenteeism: Across rural, urban, and suburban districts, our nation’s students are failing to show up to school. Coverage of this issue has focused on the demographics of chronically absent students and the supposed reasons behind their inability to make it to school. Commentary pieces have proposed some solutions to the crisis, while other coverage has sought to examine the root causes of our deeply cemented absenteeism rates and why the problem persists.

• The Shrinking and Changing Educator Workforce: Teacher shortages continue to be another significant challenge in the education sector. Major studies from the National Center for Education Statistics and the National Education Association focused on nationwide teacher shortages. Reporters have taken note, producing several stories focused on the studies and data. Many higher education reporters and experts have offered solutions at the post-secondary level that could help alleviate the dilemma in K-12 schools. 

• Federal Funding: With Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds sunsetting in September 2023, districts, childcare providers, public charter schools, and other beneficiaries have scrambled to find guidance and direction on how best to use the remaining funds while submitting their funding requests during the frenzy of back-to-school. Education experts, nonprofit leaders, and policy gurus have all seen the scramble as an opportunity to provide counsel and thoughts on how to use ESSER best. The result is a myriad of opinion pieces and articles focused on providing solutions. 

Opportunities to Capitalize on These Trends 

Equipped with this knowledge of how the media is covering key topics in education, you can identify opportunities to tailor your media engagement and story opportunities accordingly. For example:

• Opinion Piece Submissions: The recent coverage of these topics demonstrates media outlets’ strong interest and willingness to publish op-eds and commentary pieces submitted by outside authors. Leaders and experts behind your efforts have an opportunity to write pieces on the importance of chronic absenteeism, the educator workforce shortage, or other timely topics. Once written, you can share them with education trade publications or other outlets for consideration—whether by contacting the outlet directly or even by sharing them with specific journalists on social media.

• Develop and Share White Papers: White papers and larger content pieces exploring these topics in greater depth can provide journalists with several story angles to pursue. For example, developing and sharing a white paper exploring appropriate uses for AI in the classroom could include case studies exploring how multiple communities are navigating this innovation. You can pitch the white paper to journalists covering the topic or the regions featured in the piece.

• Use the Election News Cycle to Your Advantage: Plan and be prepared to comment when one of the presidential candidates mentions a topic important to your work. Having a statement ready to quickly distribute to reporters ties your effort to the broader news cycle, which gives them a stronger incentive to cover it.

By understanding these trends and how you can connect your efforts to them, you’ll have more opportunities to attract attention and interest from media outlets and journalists who can cover your work