Americans’ Consumption of Education News

The media have undergone dramatic changes in recent years. Traditional news providers － newspapers, television, and radio － are being supplemented by a remarkable range of new outlets and digital delivery systems. With this evolving mix of old and new media, how do Americans get information about American education issues, and how do they rate the performance of various content providers? What topics facing the U.S. education system deserve additional attention? How would viewers and readers prefer to receive information about schools in the future? And how do consumer differences in age, gender, race, income and region affect their views about these issues?

On March 29, Senior Fellows Darrell West, E.J. Dionne, and Director of the Brown Center on Education Policy, Grover “Russ” Whitehurst, presented findings from their national public opinion survey in a new paper “Americans Want More Coverage of Teacher Performance and Student Achievement,” which examines how Americans consume and view education media coverage. Key insights will focus on how and where respondents receive news, their assessment of how well the media covers this issue and the public’s visions for the future of education reporting.

After the discussion, panelists took audience questions.