About Us

What We Do. And Why We Do It.

The 74 is a nonprofit news organization covering America’s education system from early childhood through college and career.

Our schools are facing challenges unlike any they have seen before. Prior to COVID, fewer than half our students could read or do math at grade level. Now, after years of pandemic-related disruptions, trauma and upheaval, we risk losing a generation of students to learning loss, widening achievement gaps and fractured institutions. Yet even as more children are at risk of being left behind, the education debate is often dominated by partisanship, misinformation and political opportunism — not on student needs.

As a national news site, The 74 is dedicated to examining the issues impacting the education of America’s 74 million children — and the effectiveness of the system that delivers it. We center our reporting on the teachers, innovators, researchers, school leaders and politicians who shape that education, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. But most importantly, we focus on the students, their parents and their achievement.

Our mission is to lead an honest, fact-based conversation about how to give American students the skills, support and social mobility they deserve. Backed by data, investigation, and expertise. The 74’s journalists aim to challenge the status quo, expose corruption and inequality, spotlight solutions, confront the impact of systemic racism, and champion the heroes bringing positive change to our schools.

There are 74 million reasons we need to talk about education every day. Join the conversation.

Read our Code of Ethics