Kyle Stokes - Education Reporter

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LEADING A BEAT

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"…sources close to the search process told KPCC."
"…obtained by KPCC through a public records request…"
"…the sources told KPCC."
"Two sources who requested anonymity to discuss a personnel matter confirmed…"
​"…according to a letter obtained by KPCC/LAist."
"…
a KPCC/LAist investigation reveals new details…"
Want a loyal community of returning readers and listeners? Get plugged-in and get out-front on stories that matter.
  • When L.A. teachers went on strike, my stories and Twitter feed became must-reads for many engaged teachers, parents and decision-makers
  • When L.A. picked a new schools superintendent, I had the story before the vote.
  • I got the heads-up to a school board deal that spared eleven schools from closure — and then helped people understand why it was so controversial in the first place.
  • I broke news that L.A.'s school district would not retain its chief internal investigator.​

OWNING BIG STORIES

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"Seattle teachers union members will go on strike for the first time since 1985 on Wednesday, a move that cancels what was supposed to be the first regular day of classes for the roughly 53,000 students in Washington's largest school district."
—Sept. 2015
There was no shortage of coverage of the strike — it made national news. But stakeholders gravitated to KPLU's coverage because of its commitment to the details of contract talks instead of the broad-strokes-high-drama of the negotiations:
  • It's Over: Seattle Teachers Vote To End Strike, Accept New Deal With District
  • No School In Seattle On Monday, But District Makes New Offer In Weekend Contract Talks
  • Seattle Schools To Remain Closed Thursday As Teacher Strike Continues
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"Ref Rodriguez is having a bad year. He was charged with three felonies. He's at the center of a separate financial scandal. He has faced regular, repeated calls to resign from the Los Angeles Unified School Board … and on Friday, Rodriguez appeared ready to admit [he] had done what [he's] been accused of doing."
—July 2018
This was the political yarn of 2017-18 in L.A. education, and it's still unspooling. Unanswered questions still abound about his political money-laundering scheme. I spent much of the last year trying to answer them while keeping readers abreast of a big, unruly story…
  • …with an explainer: Embattled LAUSD Board Member Ref Rodriguez Close To Reaching A Deal On Campaign Finance Questions. Here's How We Got Here.
  • …with enterprising advances: Ref Rodriguez filed two forms disclosing his 2014 finances. They don't line up
  • …with accountability reporting on the fallout at Rodriguez's charter school, on whether the school district upheld its oversight responsibilities and (with a colleague) on where he got the money for his campaign finance misdeeds.

BUILDING AN AUDIENCE

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"Almost as quickly as Georgie Stevens signed into her online ISTEP+ exam, the testing website kicked her out. 'It said, "Get off and get back on," there's something wrong with it,' the Bloomington fifth grader remembers. 'So I did.' Then the site booted her out again. And again."
—June 2013
When computer problems ground online testing to a halt in hundreds of Indiana schools on April 29 and April 30, 2013, I was the first to post a story that would soon be on front pages statewide. It was a galvanizing moment between StateImpact and its target audience of active parents and teachers. We worked every angle:
  • What It Takes For Indiana Schools To Set Up Online ISTEP+ Testing
  • Why The Online ISTEP+ Servers Couldn't Handle The Testing Load
  • The Surprising Story Of Wyoming's Troubled Online Tests — And What Indiana Can Learn From It

DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM

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After studying last year's A-F rating data, a StateImpact analysis has identified 165 schools across the state … that saw higher final grades than they would have if [state officials] hadn't tweaked the formula roughly six weeks before releasing 2012's results.
—​How Tony Bennett's Last-Minute A-F Changes Lifted 165 Indiana School Grades, Aug. 2013
  • MAP of the data analysis (I made it.)
  • VIDEO explaining the results of the analysis. (I made this too.)
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Vaccination rates in California schools reached an all-time high last school year, but … a KPCC analysis of recently-released vaccination rate data shows … one subset of public schools still appears to be lagging behind: charter schools.
—Why are California charter schools' vaccination rates so much worse than district-run schools? Aug. 2017
  • First story outlining the middle school vaccination data
  • Follow-up story detailing the kindergarten numbers 
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The Associated Press's findings do shed fresh light on where to find racially homogenous schools across California. In fact, put the AP's data on a map, and it shows pockets of racially isolated schools spread south and east of downtown Los Angeles…
—The California schools where the kids are all the same race, all in one map, Dec. 2017

MORE OF MY WORK

Supporters of a sweeping plan to reduce K-12 class sizes in Washington public schools cheered its passage in November … Yet Initiative 1351 has landed with a thud in Olympia … and the budget Gov. Jay Inslee released Thursday only covers a portion of it.
—Here's How We Know Washington Schools Still Have A Funding Problem, Aug. 2015
Budgets are hard enough to read when everyone agrees what the numbers on the pages mean. But in L.A. Unified, two very different narratives have emerged… Either (1) LAUSD is hurtling toward bankruptcy … or (2) happy days are here, let's enjoy it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
—The L.A. Unified School District Is Rapidly Running Out Of Money. Wait, Check That — LAUSD Is Maybe Actually Flush With Extra Cash? ​June 2018
The move touched off a bizarre scene as Ritz and her staff filed out of the meeting room, the web stream of the meeting stopped and workers carted audiovisual equipment out of the room as frustrated State Board members kept their seats, remaining to discuss what to do next.
—Superintendent Ritz Abruptly Shuts Down State Board of Education Meeting, Nov. 2013

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