The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "school district" ...
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Counting Kids Out
"Counting Kids Out" exposed years of systemic cheating in Columbus City Schools, Ohio's largest school district. The rolling investigation has uncovered widespread fraud that likely resulted in higher-than-deserved report-card grades; inflated graduation rates; and bonuses for school workers who did not actually deserve them.
Tags: Columbus City Schools; cheating; fraud; graduation retes
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KSHB: Questionable Contracts
A 41 Action News investigation scrutinized the bidding process for a $32 million energy project with Kansas City Public Schools. The investigation revealed that a businessman who acted an unpaid adviser early in the process eventually founded his own company and won the lucrative contract. The reporting lead to a resignation by a high-ranking district leader and a canceled contract. The ongoing investigation later examined other contracts and discovered a district facilities manager had helped award millions of dollars of work to a company with whom he had a personal relationship. That part of the investigation showed the district did not have a conflict of interest policy in place for district employees.
Tags: broadcast; public schools; personal relationship; corruption; bidding process
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Empty-desk epidemic
For years, Chicago officials published upbeat statistics that masked a crisis in the city's schools: Nearly 32,000 of the city's K-8 grade students — or roughly 1 in 8 —miss a month or more of class per year, while others simply vanish from school without a trace. This devastating pattern of absenteeism, which disproportionately affects African-Americans and children with disabilities, came to light only after Chicago Tribune reporters dug it out during a years-long FOIA battle to obtain internal district data.
Tags: K-12 education; schools; absenteesim; Chicago; statistics manipulation
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A Damaged District
For more than a year, Zahira Torres overcame obstacle after obstacle to document one of the worst school cheating scandals in the nation's history. Where other cheating scandals involved altering accountability tests, the El Paso Independent School District gamed the state and federal accountability systems by targeting Mexican immigrant students. In a number of cases, district officials refused to enroll students or pushed out students already enrolled -- denying countless students their constitutional right to an education. In other cases, they arbitrarily reclassified grade levels or altered transcripts, all in an attempt to keep students out of the testing pool. Torres' reporting sparked numerous results. The superintendent who masterminded the scheme went to federal prison. The state education agency removed the school board. And when Torres' reporting documented that the state was aware of details of the cheating in 2010 and cleared the district anyway, the new education commissioner ordered an independent investigation of how the agency missed the cheating.
Tags: schools; scandals; education; school board
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Unfair Game
Texas high school athletics rules prohibit students from transferring from district to district for athletic purposes, but that hasn’t stopped coaches and administrators from openly flouting the rules to assemble state championship-caliber teams as part of an underground recruiting system that puts athletics over academics. WFAA investigative reporter Brett Shipp's reports showed how improper recruiting helped Dallas' Kimball Knights build back-to-back state champ basketball teams, and how former Dallas Cowboy Deion Sanders' new school, Prime Prep Academy, also drew in blue-chip players against the rules.
Tags: High school athletics; sports; coach; recruiting system; state champion team
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Land Flips Sting Taxpayers
The Gwinett County school district is not only Georgia's largest, but arguably its most highly regarded after winning a prestigious award as the nation's top urban district. However, while the district celebrated its national acclaim, the Journal-Constitution began scrutinizing its unusually secretive land-purchasing program. After analyzing all the district's land purchases over the past 12 years, the Journal-Constitution focused on 11 mullti-million dollar transactions, many of them involving prominent and politically connected real estate developers.
Tags: Gwinett County; Georgia; School District; Land Purchasing; Sweetheart Deals
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Janitor Paid $100,000 to Travel
This series exposed the outrageous hiring practices at the nation's sixth largest school district, casting a light on a system in which janitors and copy clerks were paid huge salaries as teachers- but barely set foot in the classroom. Ultimately, the reporting effort saved taxpayers $1 million, led to pay cuts for 59 employees, and resulted in stricter oversight of the Broward County School District.
Tags: Broward County School District; Hiring; School; Taxpayer
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Public Service Journalism Via Apps and Interactives
The Texas Tribune uses government records lawmakers, agency chiefs, educators and influential state figures would rather not be public. Projects include a campaign finance database offers a comprehensive, searchable tool to see who's bankrolling their representatives. The public schools database provides extensive access to comparative data on all of Texas' school districts.
Tags: data; government; statistics
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Questions Are Raised on Restraint Training
This examination detailed how school districts across California have relied on dubious techniques developed by an obscure industry to physically restrain unruly students. While few of these restraint maneuvers are grounded in evidence-based research, they are used to subdue students who are emotionally disturbed or mentally disabled -- some of the most difficult and sensitive situations that teachers encounter. The story also found that there is little regulatory oversight of the restraint industry.
Tags: California; students; restraint
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Assault on Learning
"In 2009, the Philadelphia School District made national headlines when racial violence erupted at a neighborhood high school. Even though the public was familiar with the stories of violence in the public schools, the district's message was that the climate was dramatically improving. However, serious assaults were occurring with regularity and the rate of violent incidents were increasing among the neighborhood high schools."
Tags: school violence