Here in sunny Los Angeles I’m among the 200-plus folks attending this year’s conference of the Education Writers Association.
EWA is the national professional organization of more than 1,000 print and broadcast education reporters in the United States and Canada. Associate members include school and college public information officers and writers who work for educational institutions and organizations.
Tonight we’ll hear U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. During the conference topics will range from college readiness to English Language Learners, from charter schools to community colleges, and from desegregation to the future of NCLB. At a Saturday evening ceremony 10 reporters will receive national awards for education reporting in 2006.
As a communicator embedded in a research organization like WCER it’s great for me to meet reporters from newspapers from across the country as well as communicators in other education-related organizations. As I begin my work with the AERA Outreach and Communications Committee this kind of networking is doubly important.
