JCCF

  • Home
  • About
    • About Home
    • Key Partners
    • Find an expert
  • Best Practices
    • Best Practices Home
    • Training Modules
    • On the Beat
    • Children's Beat Magazine
  • Awards
    • Awards Home
    • Winners
      • 2013
      • 2012
      • 2011
      • 2010
      • 2009
      • 2008
      • 2007
      • 2006
    • First Person
    • Sponsorship
    • All Awards
  • Topics
    • Child Welfare
      • Neglect and Abuse
      • Foster Care and Adoption
      • Child Sexual Abuse
      • Sex Trafficking of Minors
    • Economics
      • Safety Net
      • Work
      • Housing and Homelessness
    • Education
      • Child Care and Preschool
      • K Through 12
      • Higher Ed
      • Special Populations
    • Crime and Justice
      • Detention and Incarceration
      • Juvenile Courts
      • Juvenile Criminals and Victims
    • Families & Communities
      • New American Children
      • Demographics and Immigration
      • Health and Safety
      • Parenting
      • Violence
    • Health & Development
      • Children
      • Teens and Young Adults
      • Health Care
      • Nutrition and Obesity
  • Perspectives
Home JCCF

Search form

Navigation

Main menu

  • Home
  • About
    • About Home
    • Key Partners
    • Find an expert
  • Best Practices
    • Best Practices Home
    • Training Modules
    • On the Beat
    • Children's Beat Magazine
  • Awards
    • Awards Home
    • Winners
    • First Person
    • Sponsorship
    • All Awards
  • Topics
    • Child Welfare
    • Economics
    • Education
    • Crime and Justice
    • Families & Communities
    • Health & Development
  • Perspectives
When a Child Dies

How to cover the worst day in a family's life. Tap into JCCF's free online training module. (Photo by April Saul)

Read more ››
What Makes Screen Sense?
The Homestretch
LIFELINES: Stories from the Human Safety Net

A JCCF original reporting project on social work.

(Photo by Jeffrey Thompson, MPR)

Read more ››
The End of Juvenile Prison
Radio Rookies Rock
Home / Best Practices: One School, One Year
  • Share

  • Home
  • About
  • Best Practices
  • Awards
  • Topics
  • Perspectives

Best Practices: One School, One Year

Thursday, March 06, 2014
Author(s): 
Kate McNee

When Marketplace reporter Amy Scott first heard about a new initiative to transform a failing elementary school in a run-down building into a “community learning center,” she was intrigued.  Can a stable institution help a struggling community turn itself around? 

“I visited [Oyler School] for a two-part series and was really taken with it and convinced Marketplace that we should do a series and follow it for a year,” she said.

From August 2012 through August 2013, Scott reported on Oyler School, a K-12 community learning center in Cincinnati’s Lower Price Hill, a high poverty neighborhood in the city’s West side.

Many residents of Lower Price Hill rely on food stamps and other government subsidies; the sound of gunshots are too familiar in this community. 

Scott’s stories focus on the center’s progress in helping accelerate the neighborhood’s development by bringing social services - such as an eye care clinic, health care, food and dental care - to the school.

Oyler is one of seven centers sponsored by The Community Learning Center Institute, a Cincinnati-based organization. The organization summarizes its mission on its website as follows:

“The Community Learning Center Institute is a national leader in leveraging public school facilities to become hubs of educational, recreational, cultural, health and civic partnerships, which optimize the conditions for learning and catalyze the revitalization of the community.”

CLCI’s holistic approach stems from a growing belief that education should be viewed as helping students from “the cradle to the career.” Oyler now provides much-needed services and a safe environment within a chaotic neighborhood.

Through her series, Scott’s aim was to evaluate the merits of this new community learning center model in providing the resources to help students do well in school.

“So they’re surviving at school, they can get health care, monitoring, glasses, are they more likely to succeed?”

Scott admits her reporting was “not very data-centered…it wasn’t a scientific study, but we wanted to show how this is working through stories.”

Instead of statistics and metrics, her radio reports are filled with dialogue, description of scenes and sounds of the school day.

In one story, for instance, Oyler’s school principal, Craig Huckleberry, is heard instructing the children on the first day of school. Huckleberry is a constant presence throughout Scott’s series, and Scott says she gained great insight from him. She emphasized the importance of getting to know people on the inside. 

“Find a relationship with an administrator or principal who knows you have a good story to tell and is open about all the flaws. I think he was very open about the challenges they were up against. Trying to get that kind of access is incredibly valuable,” she said.

Scott also spent a great deal of time working with Raven Gibbons, an Oyler senior attempting to become the first member of her family to graduate and go to college.

Both of Gibbons’ parents “had struggled with addiction, and been in and out of jail.” Gibbons herself had been a troublemaker in school prior to her senior year after her mother had been incarcerated. Two of Scott’s radio pieces focus specifically on Gibbons’ inspiring story of applying to college. 

“Her dad was very supportive of her participating in the story, and I think that helped. I tried to be present and to work with her overtime for her to be become comfortable with me. I think she trusts me, but I don’t know if she ever got completely comfortable, it’s awkward having people follow you with a camera and microphone,” Scott said.

Since the series aired, listeners have made donations to both the school and to Raven Gibbons- something Scott feels is the biggest impact of her efforts. Scott is now following and reporting on Gibbons’ freshman year at Penn State Allegheny College for Marketplace’s radio show. 

So, back to the central question that inspired the series: Scott says she didn’t come to a concrete “conclusion” about the community learning center model in terms of its ability to strengthen the neighborhood economically. Her coverage did, however, convince her that providing social services in school helps children and families.

“I think this is a very compelling model for helping low income kids working in school- the school stills struggles academically, one interesting nuance of the story is that test scores went down. This is a really hard thing to do and you can make big progress with their health and well being and still have lagging academic success, it's a very complicated story that’s why [I don't think as a solution to poverty], but it’s clear this school is making a huge differences in kids life, going to college, getting healthcare. It’s hard to argue with the value,” Scott said.

 

Listen to the series

Explore the special report

 

 

 

Tags:

  • best practices
  • on the beat

About

About

The Journalism Center on Children & Families (JCCF) (1993-2014) was devoted to deepening media coverage on issues that affect children, youth and families, particularly the disadvantaged. JCCF provided an array of informational services and connected professional journalists, students and advocates to an extensive network of journalists and content experts. JCCF was based at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.

What We Did

JCCF curated daily news content and cutting-edge research about children and families from a wide variety of media, government, academic and public policy sources. The Center provided guidance to journalists seeking sources, tips, experts, data or assistance with ethical dilemmas.

History

JCCF was launched in 1993 with support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation to create a professional community of practice for reporters whose primary beat was covering children and families. Over 21 years, JCCF offered conferences and fellowship programs to enhance skills and knowledge on a variety of issues, from juvenile justice to preschool education, welfare reform to health care. With support from the Ms. Foundation for Women, the Center created “Beyond The Headlines,” an in-depth resource for reporting on child sexual abuse. The Center produced “When a Child Dies,” an interactive online training module to assist reporters covering child deaths. And, the Center created "LIFELINES: Stories from the Human Safety Net," which included original reporting and resources for reporting on social work.

Find an Expert

Looking for the right person to talk to or interview for your story? Connect with thousands of vetted experts who are informed and media-ready. See our experts now.

Best Practices

The best way to learn is by doing. The next best way is by listening, watching, and observing. Journalists who cover the complex issues affecting children, youth and families have a wealth of experiences and insights. JCCF tapped into this expertise and shared their lessons learned in an series or stories called “Best Practices.”

Training Modules

JCCF offered training for established and emerging journalists. Our in-depth modules include facts, tips, guidelines and resources to help you do journalism better.

Children's Beat Magazine

JCCF once published a print magazine featuring commentary, resources and best practices from journalists in the field. That magazine ceased publication years ago, but you can access the archive and find excellent coverage of the challenges facing reporters on the “Children’s Beat.”

More Information

 

  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map

In association with the Philip Merrill College of Journalism
Knight Hall, Room 1100, College Park, Maryland 20742

© 2019 Journalism Center on Children & Families / All Rights Reserved