Student-Led School Policy Reporting Newsletter: How Student Journalists Cover Rules and Decisions

School policies are written by adults and experienced by students. The gap between those two realities is where student policy journalism lives. A student reporter who covers a new attendance policy, a dress code revision, or a discipline procedure change is covering something that affects every student in the building, from the perspective of the people most affected by the decision.

Knowing the policy before reporting on it

Student policy journalists should read the actual policy document before interviewing anyone about it. The student handbook, the school board resolution, the administrative memo, or whatever document defines the policy is the starting point. Reporters who have read the document can ask specific questions about specific provisions. Reporters who have not read it ask general questions and get general answers.

Policy documents are often more specific than the way the policy is described in conversation. The specificity is where the news lives. What exactly does the new attendance policy say happens after a third unexcused absence? That detail is what students need to know.

The full range of perspectives

Policy coverage requires multiple perspectives. The administration's rationale for the policy. Student reactions, which should include students who think the policy is reasonable as well as those who object. Family perspectives where relevant. Data or research the policy was based on, if any. And whether similar policies at comparable schools have produced the intended results.

Coverage that only presents the administration's framing or only presents student opposition is advocacy, not journalism.

Tracking policy over time

Policy stories are not one-time events. A follow-up story three months after a new discipline policy takes effect, asking whether it has produced the intended outcomes, is accountability journalism. A story about whether a policy that was communicated to families has been implemented as described is accountability journalism. The policies that were news in September are often worth revisiting in April.

Separating reporting from opinion

News coverage of school policies should accurately represent what the policy says, why it was adopted, and how it is being experienced. Opinion coverage of school policies should be clearly labeled as opinion and placed in the opinion section. A student journalist who writes an opinion piece about why a new school rule is unfair and labels it as such is practicing good journalism. A student journalist who writes the same opinion in a news format is not.

Building an accountability culture

Student publications that cover school policy consistently, accurately, and fairly build a culture of accountability in the school community. Administrators who know that policy decisions will receive journalistic scrutiny make more careful decisions. Students who know they can read accurate policy coverage in the student publication trust the publication. Both outcomes are the purpose of student journalism.