As a parent of a rising kindergartner, I’ve seen firsthand how hard it is for families to find reliable information to make decisions about their children’s education. How can I tell if my local public school is “good”? And more importantly, how can I tell if it’s good for my child? If I have concerns, where do I turn for help?
I know test scores don’t tell the whole story. The parent rumor mill doesn’t, either. And the state’s school report cards are written in a language I barely understand.
That’s why I’m obsessed with using what I’ve learned as an education journalist to help Baltimore Banner readers find and understand reliable information on their local schools, to help make their education decisions easier.
I’m also aware that it’s a privilege to have choices about my child’s education. In so many cases, those decisions are made for parents, by constraints on their time, finances and school district. And that’s how my team landed on the central question for The Banner’s new Education Hub: What does it take to get every Maryland child a high-quality education?
The Education Hub, a community-funded expansion of our journalism, aims to give readers some answers. We’re committed to both highlighting the good work Maryland educators are doing, and to holding leaders accountable for making education equitable so all kids succeed.
As we expand our team, The Banner will be covering education in a regional, issue-based way, rather than covering individual school systems as islands. We want to go deeper than what happened at the local school board meeting and connect the dots on regionwide trends.
In the coming months, we’ll expand our coverage from K-12 schools to early childhood and college, giving families much-needed data about how kids learn from birth through young adulthood. And we’ll create more ways to hear directly from you: Expect online and in-person opportunities to chat with reporters and education professionals. We want to become an indispensable resource for families across Maryland.
I hope you’ll join us.
Meet the team
Liz Bowie is a Maryland education reporter for the Baltimore Banner. She covers how statewide education decisions are made: Who wields the power, who wins, who loses and what that means for Maryland's kids.
Jessica Calefati is an education investigative reporter for The Baltimore Banner focused on what Maryland kids need to be successful in school, college and careers.
Kristen Griffith covers Maryland’s education workforce, focused on what teachers and others need to help students learn and how the support they get (or don’t) affects what happens in the classroom.
Maya Lora is an early childhood education reporter who covers how Maryland can best support young children and their families, from pregnancy through kindergarten, a critical stage in brain development.
Ellie Wolfe reports on higher education at the Baltimore Banner. Raised in western Massachusetts and a proud graduate of Bates College, Ellie spent a year reporting on higher education at the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson before moving to Baltimore.
Support our journalism
Make an impact in your community with a tax-deductible charitable donation to The Baltimore Banner’s Education Hub.
Thank you to our generous Education Hub supporters for their partnership and leadership investment in public-service journalism: the Sherman Family Foundation and the Bainum Family Foundation.
The Baltimore Banner maintains strict separation between sources of funding and our journalism. Donors do not have input on news coverage or access to stories prior to publication.
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