In the News
Knight Foundation and Gallup teamed up to survey American’s perceptions of the value and financial future of local news. The good news? Respondents believed local news is necessary to keep them informed and is an important local asset. The bad news? Respondents don’t want to pay for it.
The survey also tested respondents’ understanding of the financial situation of local news. Just over half of respondents (56%) said their local news organizations are doing very well or somewhat well. When made aware of the financial struggles of local news organizations, respondents were more likely to donate their $1 incentive to support local journalism, suggesting that better awareness could lead to more financial support of local news.
Finally, whether or not respondents believed newspapers should be allowed to fail broke down along political lines, although the majority of respondents did not believe the government (local or federal) should subsidize local news.
In the Weeds
Principal turnover has a small but negative effect on test scores, school proficiency rates, and teacher retention that lasts up to three years after a principal leaves, according to research looking at North Carolina data. The working paper, out of Brown University, looks at eight years of data from 2009-2018 and attempts to isolate the effect of both between-year and within-year principal turnover. Interestingly, they don’t find a difference between replacing a principal mid-year versus at the end of the year.
So what does this mean? As the researchers note, it’s hard to tell from these findings whether school districts should replace a low-performing principal and absorb the negative effect of turnover or try to develop the principal. The researchers suggest school districts consider the following:
- The difference in effectiveness between the low-performing principal and available replacement.
- The amount of principal turnover in the school previously; if the school has experienced principal transition recently, more transition may be worse than developing the current principal.
Need to Know
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