ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÊÓ

For the past eight months, ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÊÓ’s journalists have worked tirelessly to bring you news and insights about the historic and unfolding crisis faced by students, parents and educators as COVID-19 upended our educational system, in an often chaotic, haphazard and ultimately harmful fashion. We believe, in fact, that we are witnessing the most radical and inequitable disruption in modern education history. We’ve also witnessed, in this short time span, a nationwide reckoning about the fundamental racial inequality in many American institutions, from the criminal justice system to the workplace to the sporting world and, yes, to our education system.

These two crises intersect directly with ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÊÓ’s central mission: to spark and sustain a sense of national urgency about how to give America’s 74 million children the education they deserve — irrespective of their ethnicity or their means. And as ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÊÓ looks ahead to the coming year, our editorial team is committed to helping our audience understand the dire risks and challenges facing students … and the rays of hope that some innovative strategies are bringing.

Here’s why I’m telling you this. ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÊÓ is looking to you, our readers, to help support this work. Our publication has been selected to participate in NewsMatch, a national matching-gift campaign that drives donations to nonprofit newsrooms like ours. Since 2016, NewsMatch has raised over $100 million for nonprofit journalism. That’s a lot of impact, and we’re excited about taking part.

Starting today, ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÊÓ can earn up to $11,500 in dollar-for-dollar matching donations from NewsMatch, giving us the opportunity to raise $23,000 through this drive. (Click on the red button to get started.)

Your support will be critical in helping us deliver more high-quality, independent journalism and giving us a head start in financing our 2021 coverage. As we look ahead, huge questions loom for students and their families: How long will the pandemic disrupt classroom schedules? What will be the lasting impact of lost learning, particularly in communities of color? Will the achievement gap widen, and by how much? How can assessment and accountability be maintained amid an improvised patchwork of remote and in-person learning?

I guarantee that ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÊÓ will be working to answer all of those questions and that your donations will help us accomplish that.

Trusted journalism like ours has never mattered more.

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