Advisers and students looking for story ideas have a new resource thanks to the Student Press Law Center and Education Week.

SPLC, in partnership with Education Week, will regularly distribute story ideas that will help students localize national education-policy stories. “On the Ed Beat” will offer tips on public records that students can request, as well as advice from Education Week professionals about how to turn a national story into an impactful local one, said Frank LoMonte, executive director of SPLC.

“We approached Ed Week about this partnership because we know that the survival case for journalism in schools depends on students doing substantive, serious journalism that the community recognizes as valuable,” LoMonte said. “The journalism that will hold up best in a censorship dispute is journalism about issues of public importance that adults — including the adults who wear robes and who sit on juries — consider worthy of protecting.”

Education Week sees great value in the partnership with SPLC because of the opportunity to spur young journalists to take on important issues in education, said Rachael Delgado, director of knowledge services for Education Week.  

“Our work with SPLC is one way for Education Week to meet our mission of raising the level of understanding and discourse on American education,” Delgado said. “‘On the Ed Beat’ allows Education Week’s reporters to share their expertise on covering topics such as bullying, teacher shortages, and other critical issues. We’re excited to begin this work with SPLC and look forward to building a rich body of content to help high school student journalists localize national education stories.”

The first three story ideas are available now on the SPLC website. They deal with anti-bullying policies in schools, schools monitoring students’ social media activity and teacher shortages.

SchoolJournalism.org has several lesson plans that address localizing stories, as well. Please click here, here and here.