Three Decades of Covering Education: The View From A Front Seat

Teacher shortages, school violence, performance standards for students – all were front page topics in Education Week back in 1989 when Virginia Edwards took over the publication as the Editor-in-Chief. Now, 28 years later as she retires from EdWeek, some of the same issues remain. Despite that, Edwards believes there has been “ a lot of change over the intervening nearly thirty years.” Edwards, an optimist by nature, says “you can see a lot of improvement issue-by-issue.” She sees progress in student achievement for elementary and middle school students, and says better data collection allows districts to get a clearer view of how they and their students stack up. Edwards worries about what she calls the “demonization” of education and educators. “I don’t think it’s called for and I don’t think it’s helpful,” she says. Throughout all her years at Education Week, the commitment to thoughtful and thorough coverage of K-12 issues has never wavered. “We have done a really good job of covering the terrain in all its variations,” said Edwards, so that policymakers and educators could make decisions that would lead to “better public schools and better outcomes for kids.”