StateImpact reporters in six states produce radio reports, digital news reports and interactive multimedia presentations. Each state focuses on one of three topics:
If you want to know what we cover and why, dive into the stories below:
Education
Florida
13th Grade: How Florida Schools Are Failing To Prepare Graduates For College
A huge number of Florida college students need to take remedial classes. In the “13th Grade” series, StateImpact examined the many causes of this failure in K-12 education and what can be done to fix it. The series was a collaboration with the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting.
A Parent’s Guide To How New Common Core Tests Are Different From FCAT
Standardized tests are on the cusp of a big change in Florida and most other states. In this explainer video, we show how the new tests are different from the old ones and why it matters.
Why Florida Schools Want The Right To Paddle Misbehaving Students
StateImpact covers policy, but that doesn’t mean it’s all about budgets and tax rates. Sometimes policy can be as personal as whether your state allows schools to paddle students without parents’ permission.
- No Choice: Florida Charter Schools Failing to Serve Students with DisabilitiesAccountability reporting is core to our mission. This piece won the Online News Association’s 2012 award for innovative investigative journalism.Download
Indiana
After A School’s Closure, Parents Make New School Choice: Start Over
StateImpact’s best work combines audio with great photos and insightful analysis. This story looks at an unusual school founded by parents and educators after their charter school was shut down for poor academic performance.
Indiana Vouchers Cover Students Whose Parents Could Pay On Their Own
As part of our focus on accountability, reporters often scrutinize how taxpayer money is being used in a time of tight state budgets.
After Lawmakers Pause Common Core Implementation, Teachers Ask What’s Next
The rollout of new academic standards known as the Common Core has been especially controversial in Indiana. StateImpact reporters aim to “own” stories like this, always with the purpose of explaining complex policy choices to the people they affect: teachers, parents and students.
- How YouTube Is Changing The ClassroomThis explanatory look at the use of classroom technology won a national award from PRNDI, the association of public radio news directors.Download
Ohio
Locked Away: How Ohio Schools Misuse Seclusion Rooms
This StateImpact collaboration with the Columbus Dispatch used public records requests to expose how schools use and misuse rooms for isolating students who behave badly. The story was picked up by the Associated Press and outlets around the country. It also inspired an editorial in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Grading the Teachers: How Ohio is Measuring Teacher Quality by the Numbers
In this series, StateImpact examined the controversial new method Ohio is using to assess teacher performance. Using sophisticated data analysis but simple visualization tools, our reporters gave readers a new view into what’s going on in Ohio classrooms. The series was a collaboration with the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Meet Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s Chosen Teacher
StateImpact reporters use social media not just as a distribution tool. In Ohio, they convene weekly conversations on Twitter at #ohedchat. And they use social media as a reporting tool, as seen in this profile of a governor’s liaison to the state’s teachers.
- Rural Schools Struggle to Prepare for Common Core’s Online TestsOne superintendent tells StateImpact, “I hate to even admit to this but we have some computers that are still operating on the Windows 95 operating system. That’s terrible. Windows 95 will not operate with these tests.”Download
Energy
Pennsylvania
Shale Play: Natural Gas Drilling In Pennsylvania
Before this interactive data presentation went live, it was difficult for Pennsylvania residents to know the exact locations of gas wells near them and whether those wells had violated state regulations. Shale Play is one of the reasons the StateImpact Pennsylvania website won an Edward R. Murrow award.
BoomTown: How Drilling Has Changed Towanda, Pennsylvania
This audio slideshow takes viewers into the life of a small town where economic and social life has changed dramatically since natural gas drilling came along.
Dimock: A Town Divided
Understanding the impact of policy on communities yields stories like this one – where friendships have been lost over the effects of natural gas drilling.
- Across Pennsylvania, Abandoned Wells Litter The LandSometimes our journalists repackage their local stories for NPR’s national audience. This story aired on Morning Edition.Download
Texas
Dried Out: Confronting The Texas Drought
Powerful graphics and images of Texas’ historic drought serve as an introduction to an explanation of some difficult policy choices that Texas will have to make in the future.
Is It Legal To Kill Bigfoot In Texas?
An amusing story gets at a serious problem – invasive species – and how state policy is working to deal with the problem.
Review of Fracking Study Finds Failure to Disclose Conflict of Interest
When questions arose about a University of Texas researcher’s ties to industry, StateImpact owned the story.
- Burying Toxic Water: Texas Community Keeps on Plugging To Halt ItThis story humanized concerns about wastewater storage – and won a regional Edward R. Murrow award.Download
Economy
Oklahoma
Why Oklahoma’s Priority is Storm Shelters for Individuals, Not Safe Rooms for Schools
StateImpact reporters compare decisions leaders in their states have made with those of other states. Here, we show how a 1999 storm produced different policy responses in Oklahoma and Kansas when it comes to building tornado shelters.
Exploring the Link Between Earthquakes and Oil and Gas Disposal Wells
Oklahoma is seeing a massive spike in seismic activity. Here, StateImpact explains the research linking earthquakes to the use of disposal wells, employing graphs, maps and a whiteboard video.
Water Fight: Explaining Tarrant Regional Water District v. Herrmann
When a water-rights dispute between Oklahoma and Texas went to the U.S. Supreme Court, StateImpact produced this detailed infographic to explain what the fight was all about.
- Meet the Woman Who Moved a PipelineReporters travel their states to capture the stories of people affected by policy decisions, such as where to locate the Keystone XL pipeline.Download