The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. Add to that more than 3,000 tipsheets from our national conferences on how to cover specific beats or do specific stories and you have a resource that no reporter or editor should be without. These stories and tipsheets 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. Logged-in members can view the tipsheets free online:
Search results for "district" ...
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The Education Beat: Don't Let Anyone Tell You It's Lame
Alpert discusses the potential of covering the education beat, noting it's a data-rich subject. She highlights possible stories to cover with plenty of examples of excellent work that has been done. She discusses the unique questions to explore when covering charter schools.
Tags: education; data; teacher pay; charter schools; attendance; teacher turnover; testing; special education; local school districts; state board of education
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10 Story Ideas for Quick Turn Business Beat Investigations
Lorek gives a list of quick hit stories for the business beat with suggestions ranging from mining EPA violations to OSHA inspection reports,
Tags: EPA; military contracts; appraisal district; nonprofits; tax abatements; SEC filings; Attorneys General office; mortgage brokers; databases; complaints; OSHA;
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Tools for the investigative education reporter
Hobbs suggests what types of information to seek out when investigating school districts. Recommended information ranges from state- and district-generated databases to contact information of school employees.
Tags: education; schools; databases; teachers; school administration; public employees; contracts; educators
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First day on the Beat: Investigating Education
Burney provides readers with five story ideas to turn education into a watchdog beat. Examples include criminal background checks and the superintendent's contract. En espanol: #2903
Tags: education; school; school district; school board
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Getting the most from your local school districts
This tipsheet discusses how education reporters can use computer-assisted reporting to investigate their school districts. Torres discusses where to find databases and suggests some ideas for CAR stories. Finally, Torres explains how to build your own database.
Tags: education; local government; school district; data analysis
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Ten tops to finding Page 1 education stories
This tipsheet includes ten tips for using CAR in education stories. The tips range from looking into school district contracts to visiting chat rooms for teachers.
Tags: school; teachers; local government; state government; school board; superintendent; contracts; beat reporting
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Money talks: Tracking businesses on paper and online
Campbell's tipsheet notes paper and online resources to investigate businesses. He outlines where to go, both in person and online, and describes key documents to look for. Some of his favorites include the Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, U.S. District and state courts, and city hall.
Tags: business; SEC; Securities and Exchange Commission; backgrounding a business; bankruptcy court
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A Lesson in Excess
Governments are increasingly focusing on student achievement for funding purposes. "Pay-for-performance schemes are popping up everywhere in the form of merit pay, salary bonuses for teachers who excel and cash payouts to schools that ace standardized tests." Davis and Doig offer suggestions for tracking this money.
Tags: Florida; School Recognition Program; Comprehensive Achievement Test; school districts; education
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Exposing school system failures
Cenziper and Grotto provide a list of 10 stories reporters can do quickly that will help expose failures within the school system.
Tags: education; school system; story ideas; contracts; inspection reports; database; school district; charter schools
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Some thoughts on looking at long-term trends -- consistency and context
Hamburg's tipsheet outlines some factors journalists should consider when gathering, analyzing and reporting on school districts, such as determining if the categories are consistent for all groups under study and reporting the context of findings at both ends of the trend line.
Tags: segregation; desegregation; resegregation; schools; education; racial disparity; diversity