How FLA Reporters Almost Missed That School Resegregation Story

by Alexander Russo
Education

Check out this fascinating ProPublica podcast interview with two of the journalists involved in the resegregation of Pinellas County schools, Michael LaForgia and Adam Playford.

The Tampa Bay Times series is called Failure Factories. Secretary Arne Duncan apparently called this a “man-made disaster.”

One tidbit: Nobody on the team went back before 2012, so they almost missed grasping why the test scores and demographics were changing so rapidly. Says LaForgia: “It’s embarrassing even talking about it because all we needed was a reporter in the room who knew about the history of the school system.”

Related posts: Steal This School Segregation Story [Visualization]!; School Segregation’s Back; Some Questions About This American Life’s Segregation Story.

Alexander Russo

Alexander Russo is a freelance education writer who has created several long-running blogs such as the national news site This Week In Education, District 299 (about Chicago schools), and LA School Report. He can be reached on Twitter at @alexanderrusso, on Facebook, or directly at alexanderrusso@gmail.com.