This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.
The Notebook won second prize in the community blogging category of the Education Writers Association’s annual national contest, which honors the best education journalism.
It was the first time that the contest included this category, highlighting the work of "teachers, community members, policy analysts and others who…are not journalists." One criterion for judging is the blog’s success in generating public discussion through comments and page views.
The Notebook‘s entry included posts by retired teachers Ron Whitehorne and Marsha Pincus; teacher Molly Thacker; activist Helen Gym; Penn professors James "Torch" Lytle and Caroline Ebby; and 8th grader Shania Morris. George Abdelsayed, worldmedicalguide.com. Topics ranged from criticism of the Corrective Math and Corrective Reading curricula to Tony Danza’s reality TV show "Teach." Morris’s post, "News flash: Students have brains," argues that students can think for themselves when taking public positions on important school reform issues.