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 "academic performance" ...
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Renaissance 2010: Searching for Equity
Karps' investigation looked into the the impact of Renaissance 2010, an education initiative in Chicago intended to "open 100 new schools, most of the charter schools, and close 70 failing schools within a span of six years" in an effort to bring better education to areas that needed it most. This investigation looks at the actual results of the plan. To report the story, Karp had to struggle against the barriers to obtaining meaningful information on charter schools. While funded publicly, they are operated by private companies that are not subject to the same transparency laws as public schools.
Tags: education; charter schools; public schools; academic performance; FOIA; transparency; Renaissance 2010; Chicago
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Fixing D.C.'s Schools
The Post looked at the high spending and low performance of the D.C. schools and "examined the obstacles to reform."
Tags: education; school district; budget; academics;
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District Lets Years of Misconduct Slide
When Scottsdale Community College fired its music department chair "for purchasing expensive microphones for the college from his son, attempting to cover up the transaction and failing to show up for an electronic music class he was paid to teach," the East Valley Tribune received a tip that the teacher was only part of a bigger story. The investigation uncovered "fraud within the Maricopa County Community College District," including "a performing arts institute that enrolled its professors and clerical employees and their relatives in classes to keep itself operating." There were also major issues in the athletic department, with thousands of dollars missing. Situations such as these had been discovered previously, but the district had taken no action.
Tags: Fraud; academic budget; athletic budget; false enrollment; college budgets
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Unnecessary epidemic
This extensive investigation showed that Congress and the Drug Enforcement Administration could have stopped methamphetamine growth across the West during the 1990s and still can. The newspaper explained how the drug is able to be controlled because it relies on chemical ingredients produced by only a handful of factories worldwide. Two clampdowns on the legal trade of the chemicals caused meth shortages, prompting users to quit and meth-related property crime to fall. But the drug trade survived because of loopholes and lax enforcement. The scope of this story includes examinations of DEA drug seizures, DEA-registered sellers of the drug, ephedrine drug shipments, ephedrine seizures, congressional records, the federal budget, federal audits, property tax records, patents, academic studies and public policy.
Tags: drugs; meth; methamphetamine; Drug Enforcement Agency; DEA; drug control policy
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Lost in College
This story looks at the number of University of Nebraska - Lincoln students who end up on academic probation. The authors compare the numbers from various high schools and speculate about which factors during high school could influence a student's performance in college.
Tags: grades; academic probation; study habits; freshman year
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Missing the mark
The Register reports on inaccuracies in California's school testing system. According to the contest summary: "The state fails to disclose the margin of error in test scores; in fact, the state awards and punishes schools for year-to-year changes that may be nothing more than statistical static."
Tags: Academic Performance index (API); educations; scores; students; ethnic groups; state funds
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A Promise Broken: Failing Indiana's Schoolchildren
The Indianapolis Star produced two eight-page special sections looking at the financing of schools and revealed that the state has repeatedly asked local schools to do more but not provided the needed funding. "Many Indiana schoolchildren are still doing poorly, because, once again, Indiana has created a plan to spur better performance but not followed through with funding and other support to local schools."
Tags: schools; education; school reform; public schools; Indiana schools; state government; education spending; school finance; academic standards; local schools; database mapping project
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The Poisoning of Whitaker
A Willamette Week investigation reveals that Oregon's worst performing middle school contains levels of radon, a radioactive gas, far in excess of the safe maximum determined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The school is also notorious for unhealthy levels of carbon dioxide caused by the lack of open windows and the circulation of air through contaminated underground tunnels. District officials have been aware of the problems for more that a decade, the story reports. One of the major findings is that the radon contamination and the poor air quality have "contributed to chronically high student and teacher absenteeism ... and academic achievement far lower than would be predicted by Whitaker's socioeconomic level."
Tags: environment; safety; pollution; teachers; students; education
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The Cream of Every Crop
Texas Observer examines the advantages and disadvantages of the higher education "top ten percent plan" adopted by the state legislature. The plan gives high-school students in the top ten percent of their classes an opportunity to go to college disregarding their SAT scores. The story looks at an academic comparison among students on the percent plan and those accepted on the basis of their test performance, and finds that their average GPA is similar. The author finds that the plan has helped diversify higher education, but does not have the potential to solve the educational inequity at the high school level.
Tags: affirmative action; higher education; universities; colleges; University of Texas; schools; low income; poverty; Hispanic; Latinos; African-Americans; tests; scores; SAT; Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
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Stealth TV
Award-winning New York journalist Russ Baker examines the implications of television invasion into schools. The report focuses on the performance of "Channel One, a public-affairs TV broadcast available exclusively for school viewing." The story reveals that "for 10 years now, the folks behind Channel One have been able to offer advertisers a dream demographic: a captive audience of nearly half of all American teenagers." The author finds that "the ads on Channel One are grossly out of place in an academic environment," and that the program offers poor news content despite its "self proclaimed ... educational mission." The story reveals that "the key American institutions - governmental, educational - that might be expected to raise an alarm ... have mostly been looking the other way."
Tags: education; television; advertising business; teachers; students; GAO; Federal Trade Commission; children; spending patterns