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Articles by Taylor Swaak

Taylor Swaak is a correspondent at The 74, focused on the coronavirus pandemic, its impact on student learning, and how the Washington, D.C. region is approaching the many urgent challenges caused by the public health emergency.

3 DC Charters Seek Greenlight to Keep Virtual Learning

Summer Waitlists: Amid COVID Precautions, Desperate Parents & Kids Left Stranded

D.C. Public Schools Won’t Lose Money This Year Despite Enrollment Loss; Experts Ask: Is That Enough For Post-COVID Recovery?

Washington, DC Launched Free Internet Program For Students But Few Signed Up

D.C. Summer Jobs Program Will Pay Teens to Take Classes as City Combats Learning Loss

Legos, Meditation, Video Field Trips: How One D.C. School Is Using Virtual Clubs to Help Students Break Through the Isolation — and Reconnect With Friends — During the Pandemic

Bucking the Trend: How 2 D.C. Principals Restored Black Parents’ Trust in Returning Kids to the Classroom

As More DCPS Schools Open, Many Black Parents Keeping Kids Home

As Schools Face ‘Crisis,’ D.C. Advocates Worry Disappearance of Dedicated Council Committee on Education Will Restrict Oversight

District of Columbia

Meet 2 Aspiring D.C. Public School Teachers in This College’s Inaugural Class of ‘Ready-to-Go’ Post-COVID Educators

A ‘Plan B’: D.C. Sees Strong Interest in Adult Ed Programs During Pandemic as Many Seek Jobs or Help With Kids’ Virtual Learning

Photo Tour: Inside a Redesigned D.C. Elementary School, Partially Open For the First Time Since March

D.C. Public Schools Welcomes Hundreds to School Hoping to Expand After Thanksgiving; Advocates Ask that Safe, Clear Transportation Plans be Top of Mind

Four New Members to D.C. State Board of Education Appear Set; Will be Advisors on School Reopenings to Student Literacy as Pandemic Continues

D.C. Sees Warning Signs Teachers are Considering Leaving Jobs Amid Weeks of Uncertainty, Stress Over How District Will Open Schools

Republican Rep. Greg Gianforte Wins Montana Governor’s Race on Record of Supporting School Choice; Public Education Advocates Worry About Support for Private Schools

Republican Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox Wins Utah Governor’s Race, Calling for Boosted Education Funding in State with Lowest Per-Pupil Spending

D.C. Public Schools Cancels In-Person Learning Plans Days Before Start, as Teacher Protests Grow and Staffing Questions Continue

D.C. Schools Set to Reopen in Less Than Three Weeks: Teachers and Principals Have ‘No Idea’ If Buildings Are Safe or Who Is Staffing Them

D.C.’s Howard University, Other Historically Black Colleges Receive $15M From Gates Foundation to Expand Rapid Testing as U.S. Sees Surge in COVID Cases

D.C.’s Free Internet Initiative Launched This Fall to Provide Broadband for 25,000 Families Navigating Remote Learning. But Weeks After Launch, Only 4,000 Have Signed Up

With White House COVID-19 Outbreak as Backdrop, D.C. Schools Announce Plans to Begin In-Person Learning Next Month; Teachers Union Raises Safety Concerns

13 District Schools in D.C. Are Opening as ‘Student Support Centers’ to Serve Needy Students — but Questions About Selection, Safety Remain. A Look at One School’s Plan

As Many Public Schools Fight to Retain Students Amid Pandemic, Washington, D.C.’s Charters Are Closer to Meeting Fall Enrollment Projections Than DCPS’s Traditional Schools

11K D.C. Students Expected to Enroll in Public Schools Haven’t Completed the Process — a Data Point That, While Improving, Trails Last Year’s Numbers

4 D.C. Families Faced Homelessness, Language Barriers & Limited Special Education Services During Spring’s Virtual Learning. They’re Waiting — and Hoping — for a Smoother Fall

As D.C. Scrambles to Get Thousands of Students Laptops Before Monday Start of School, Many Parents Still in the Dark If Their Kids Will Get Them on Time

Less Than 2 Weeks From School Remote Opening, D.C. Yet to Disclose In-Person ‘Learning Hubs’ to Help Working Parents With Child Care

A School Budget ‘That Doesn’t Recognize There’s a Pandemic’: Experts & Advocates Sound Alarm That DC Is Underfunding Key Elements for All-Virtual Learning

DC Public Schools Is Latest District to Announce All-Virtual Start Despite Federal Pressure in Its Own Backyard to Reopen. 10 Things Families Need to Know

D.C. Public Schools Will Announce on Friday Whether It’ll Offer In-Person Learning. A Look at What’s Happening on the Ground as Decision Looms

Lessons from a Global Reckoning

Lessons From a Global Reckoning: D.C. Looks to Make 14-Year-Old Social Studies Standards More Inclusive as Cities Nationwide Grapple With Re-Engaging Students During COVID

Parents and Teachers Want Clarity on Technology Needs as D.C. Delays Reopening Plan by Two Weeks

A D.C. Dad Shepherded His 4 Kids Through Remote Learning by Relying on Structure. Now in Summer, That Structure Is Harder to Come By

‘Just Above Water’: As Hallowed D.C. Summer Youth Employment Program Preps to Go Virtual for First Time, Employers Rush to Create Meaningful Experience for 10,000 Students

74 Interview — D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Lewis Ferebee Talks COVID-19 Recovery Plans, With an Eye Toward Returning to In-Person Instruction

‘This Is a Revolution’: Student Activists Across the Country Take Their Place — on the Front Lines and Behind the Scenes — in Historic Protests

Taylor Swaak & Bekah McNeel

From Healing Children to Call Center Associate: D.C. School Nurse on the Front Lines Doing ‘Whatever We Need to Do’ for Coronavirus Patients

Still ‘in the Trenches’: D.C. Schools Warehouse Director Went From Graduation Planning to Distributing Devices, Homework Packets as Pandemic Became Daily Reality

D.C. Schools Avoided the Draconian Budget Cuts Many U.S. Districts Are Facing: How the City Did It — and What Advocates Say Still Needs to Be Done

Students Wanted to Ask NYC Mayor de Blasio Directly How He Plans to Create Summer Jobs for Students After Cutting Program. After 66 Calls, One Got Through

Five Months Ago, a Brooklyn Mom Filed a Due Process Complaint for Her Autistic Son. In the Midst of a School Closure and a Pandemic, Progress Is Finally Made

‘An Unknown They’ve Never Experienced Before’: As Coronavirus Death Toll Grows Among NYC Teachers and Staff, Union Support Team Ramps Up Its Efforts

‘In the Crosshairs’: As School Closures Extend, States Face Complex — and Often Localized — Decisions About How to Help Seniors Graduate

Success Academy Goes Virtual: New York City’s Largest Charter Network Shares How It’s Restructuring to Provide Online Learning

As Coronavirus Consumes Public Attention, NYC Advocates Remind Residents of a Vital School Revenue Stream: The 2020 Census

Hosting a Spirit Week, Rejiggering a Physics Lesson, Grappling With Attendance: How NYC Teachers Are Adjusting to Week 1 of Remote Learning in the Nation’s Largest School District

NYC Student Activists Can’t Boycott Schools That Are Closed, but as Coronavirus Highlights Longstanding Inequities, a Chance to Change Policy Emerges

At Least Half of CA’s Districts Are Closed Due to Coronavirus. A Look at L.A. Unified’s Plans to Teach, Feed Students — and How Community Members Reacted on Day 1 of Shutdown

As Mayor Faced Growing Pressure to Close NYC Schools, a Smaller-Scale Change — Virtual or By-Phone Parent-Teacher Conferences — Offered a Glimpse Into the Challenges of Going Remote

After Record Spending and an Ongoing Union vs. Charter Power Struggle, At Least 2 Los Angeles School Board Races Appear Headed to a Runoff

Urban Design Firm WXY Is at the Center of the Country’s Most Contentious School Integration Work — From New York City to Maryland. Who Are They, Exactly?

Within NYC’s Highly Segregated School System, a Group of Low-Income Students Sacrifice Their Summers, Weekends for a Chance at College Success

After 7 School Integration Strikes, NYC Students Get Rare Public Meeting With Ed Department Officials, Asking ‘How Much Longer Will We Have to Wait?’

Cal State University Approves Plan to Add New Admissions Requirement — but Delays Making Formal Change Before Studying Impact

Los Angeles Schools Regain Control of Special Education After More Than 20 Years. What That Means for Priorities, Parent Concerns in the Nation’s Second-Largest District

Many in Los Angeles Still Processing ‘Unprecedented’ Emergency Jet Fuel Dump That Inflicted Minor Injuries on Dozens, Including Elementary Schoolers

As Calls for Integration Mount, Analysis Finds 41% of New York City Schools Don’t Represent Their District’s Student Demographics

A 2019 Education Journalism Jealousy List: 19 Important Articles About Schools We Wish We Had Published Last Year

Beth Hawkins, Carolyn Phenicie, Laura Fay, Kevin Mahnken, Mark Keierleber, Meghan Gallagher & Taylor Swaak

Exclusive: Data Show Girls in NYC Schools Receive Special Ed Services at Disproportionately Lower Rates Than Boys. How Race and Gender Drive Inequities

Exclusive: Less Than 25% of L.A. Public School Seniors Last Year Took the Type of Elective Class California State University Wants to Make a Requirement

UFT President Michael Mulgrew on Making Sure Imagine NYC Schools Delivers, the Role Teachers Will Play and Whether the $32M Effort Will Define de Blasio’s Last 2 Years

Inside NYC’s ‘Imagine Schools’ Initiative: As $32M Public-Private Partnership Nears First Major Deadline, New Details Emerging About Effort to Create (and Recreate) City Schools

A Manhattan High School Reframes How Slavery Is Taught Using The New York Times’s 1619 Project

NYC’s Homeless Student Population Stabilized in 2018-19 After a Decade-Long Surge, Report Finds. But the Educational Crisis Continues

In NYC and Beyond, Foster Youth Data Still a Blank Space in State Report Cards Four Years After Federal Education Law Enacted

‘I Feel The Anger of 65 Years’: On Anniversary of Brown v. Board Ruling, NYC Panel Confronts Continued Segregation in Nation’s Largest School District

Advocates File Appeal With the State Charging L.A. Schools, County Still Not Accounting for More Than $1B in Funding for High-Needs Students

In Response to a Surge in Youth Activism, NYC Schools Hires Its First Student Voice Manager Who Says She’ll Bring Kids Closer to the Decision Making

10 Students, 10 Reasons Why They Skipped School Friday to Join the Climate March: ‘It’s Everyone Doing Something That Changes Everything’

As California Expands Ban on ‘Willful Defiance’ Suspensions, Lessons From L.A. Schools, Which Barred Them Six Years Ago

Seen and Heard: NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza Tout 3-K Expansion, Tour Schools on First Day

De Blasio: How to Make Every School a Good School for NYC’s 1.1 Million Students ‘Has Not Been the Essence of the Conversation’

Equity Advocates Push Back at CSU Hearing on New Admissions Requirement: ‘We’ll Just Be Re-Creating The Same Systemic Inequities That Already Exist’

From Threats to Gifted & Talented Programs to a State Audit of Special Ed: NYC School Headlines Worth Watching as 2019-20 Begins

NYC’s First LGBTQ Liaison Reflects on Progress — Including New Policy That Lets Students Change Their Names, Genders — as He Departs for Harvard

Our 5 Key Storylines Out of L.A. as the Nation’s Second-Largest District Heads Back to School

As Los Angeles Schools Combine Counselors for Foster, Homeless Students, Advocates Worry Services Will Suffer

With Less Than Half of Prospective Graduates in Los Angeles District Eligible for California State University System, College Trustees Eye New Requirement

In New Legal Complaint, Los Angeles Parents Say School District Is Failing to Ensure $1 Billion Is Going to High-Needs Students Annually

Los Angeles School District Approves $7.8 Billion Budget for Next Year: Here’s What It Means for High-Needs Students, Lowest-Performing Schools and District Finances

‘Voters Are Tired of You’: A Week After Parcel Tax Fails in Los Angeles, Parents Rail at District Leaders During Budget Hearing

After Los Angeles Voters Roundly Reject Parcel Tax Proposal, America’s Second-Largest School District Has Four Weeks to Prove Its Fiscal Solvency to the County

Los Angeles Voters Roundly Defeat $500M Annual Parcel Tax, Leaving Nation’s Second-Largest School District on Shaky Financial Footing

As L.A. Voters Go to the Polls on $500M Annual Parcel Tax, Lessons Learned From Two Other California School Districts That Approved Theirs Years Ago

Los Angeles Schools’ Bid for $500M Annual Parcel Tax Likely to Fail if Low Voter Turnout Trend Persists, Poll Shows

June’s Parcel Tax to Fund Schools Takes Center Stage After Jackie Goldberg’s LAUSD Board Win

Jackie Goldberg, Former California Assemblywoman and Los Angeles City Council Member, to Rejoin LAUSD Board After Decisive Victory in Tuesday’s Special Election

A Pivotal School Board Election in L.A.: Where Jackie Goldberg & Heather Repenning Stand on Key Education Issues — and How They Could Reshape America’s Second-Largest District

86% of Charter School Graduates in Los Angeles Are Eligible for State Universities — Two Dozen Points Higher Than Grads at Traditional LAUSD Schools

Facing Mounting Financial Pressure, Los Angeles’s School District Is Asking for a $500M Parcel Tax. Its Biggest Barrier: Business Leaders Who Want Reforms First

Less Than Half of Los Angeles’s Class of 2019 Are on Track to Graduate With Grades That Would Make Them Eligible to Apply for California’s Public Universities

As L.A. Schools Count 1,000 More Homeless Students in Just Five Months, a Search for Stronger Local and State Supports

Setting the Record Straight: An Education Expert Resurfaces Independent Report to Explain Los Angeles Schools’ Fiscal Turmoil

Q&A: Teachers Union Pick Jackie Goldberg Outlines Her First-Day Priorities and Strategies as She Prepares for a Pivotal School Board Runoff Race in Los Angeles

It’s Official: With County’s Certification, Pivotal Runoff Is Set in Los Angeles That Will Likely Reshape the Majority of the School Board

First Budget Update Since Los Angeles Approved Its Teachers Contract Shows It Needs New Funding to Stay Solvent in 2 Years

Following Close Vote, Two Finalists Seem Set for a Pivotal Education Runoff in Los Angeles That Will Reshape the Majority of the School Board

Los Angeles’s First School Board Election After Teacher Strike Is Headed to a May Runoff, With Only 35 Votes Currently Separating Second-Place Candidates

Pro-Union Candidate Dominates in First Los Angeles School Board Election Since Teacher Strike — but Will Likely Face a Runoff

On the Heels of the L.A. Teacher Strike, a Firebrand and Charter Critic Looks to Return to the School Board After Nearly 30 Years

Los Angeles Could Do Away With Policy That Requires Schools to Hire From List of Displaced Educators — and Forces Teachers Into Assignments They Don’t Want

The L.A. Teacher Strike May Be Over, but Observers Warn There’s No ‘Clear Path Forward’ for How the School District Can Afford Its New Contract

After Thousands Rally for Charter Schools in Downtown Los Angeles, School Board Asks State for Temporary Moratorium

Taylor Swaak & Esmeralda Fabián Romero

As the L.A. School Board Votes on a Resolution That Would Call for a Freeze on New Charter Schools, Inside the Debate — and Backlash — That’s Roiling America’s Second Biggest District

Following Its Teacher Strike Agreement, the Los Angeles School Board Is Now Set to Vote on a Resolution Calling for a Moratorium on New Charter Schools

A Look Into the LAUSD, UTLA Contract Deal That’s Ending the 6-Day Teacher Strike in Los Angeles

Welcome but Complicated — Mayor Garcetti, Gov. Newsom, and the Pressure to End the Los Angeles Teacher Strike

$75 Million Later: The ‘Painful Truth’ of the Ongoing Teacher Strike in Los Angeles — as Told by 9 Dire Numbers

After Nearly 2 Years of Failed Talks, Teachers Go on Strike in Los Angeles for First Time in 30 Years

Taylor Swaak, Esmeralda Fabián Romero & Laura Fay

As Teachers in Los Angeles Strike, the City’s School District Is Warned That It Could Lose Control of Its Finances If It Agrees to a New Contract That Depletes Reserves

Why Are the Teachers in Los Angeles Striking? 8 Ways Negotiations With the District Derailed Over the Holidays

Behind the Looming L.A. Teacher Strike, Crippling Long-Term Debt That’s Left the City Little Room to Negotiate — and May Ultimately Doom the District to State Takeover

18 Key Education Stories to Watch This Year (According to the Experts): Congress, Courts, Choice, Classroom Innovations & More

Beth Hawkins, Mark Keierleber, Carolyn Phenicie, Esmeralda Fabián Romero, Kate Stringer & Taylor Swaak

Los Angeles Teachers to Strike in January If Union Doesn’t Get ‘a Dramatically Different Approach’ From School District

With L.A. Bracing for Its First Teacher Strike in a Generation, Parents Feel ‘Stuck in the Middle,’ Worry Their Children Could Be Harmed by a Shutdown

‘Just Handing Out Diplomas’? New Study Shows California Students Are Enrolling in ‘Credit Recovery’ Programs at a Rate 60 Percent Above the National Average

Diplomas to Nowhere? Even as California’s Graduation Rate Increases, Fewer Than Half of 2018 Grads Meet Minimum Admission Requirements for State’s Public Universities

EDlection2018: Arizona Superintendent Race Between Charter Advocate and Public School Educator Remains Too Close to Call

EDlection2018: Rhode Island Voters Approve $250M Bond to Fix State’s Ailing Public Schools

EDlection2018: Georgia Voters Approve Amendment Empowering Large School Districts to Call Vote on New Sales Tax

EDlection2018: 2016 National Teacher of the Year Jahana Hayes Elected to U.S. Congress in CT, Promising to Back Teachers and Increase School Funding

EDlection2018: Republican Kevin Stitt Wins Oklahoma Governor’s Race, Stifling Democratic Hopes of a Teacher #RedForEd Victory

A San Francisco School Board Election Is Giving Non-Citizens a Vote — a First in California. But Here’s Why Many Are Staying Away

Every Student Succeeds Act

Nearly 30 Percent of Teachers Are Chronically Absent. How Rhode Island Is Using ESSA to Move the Needle

The Big Picture

Study: One-Fifth of States Fail to Either Collect or Publicize Racial Data on Teachers, Despite Yawning Diversity Gap

A Teacher Asked Twitter How to Explain the Kavanaugh Saga to Students. Thousands — Including Fellow Educators — Responded

Emanuel Confident That Chicago’s Universal Pre-K Program Will Live On After His Exit, but Will Next Mayor Balk at the Price Tag?

Zooming In on Chronic Absenteeism: New Interactive Tool Offers One-Stop Shop to Analyze State, Local, and School Attendance Trends

Every Student Succeeds Act

How States Try (and Sometimes Fail) to Combat Attendance Gaming and Errors as ESSA Ratchets Up the Stakes

‘In God We Trust’: Since 2017, Several States Have Passed Bills Requiring (or Allowing) the Display in Schools, Reigniting Church-State Debate

Every Student Succeeds Act

Educators Hoped ESSA’s ‘5th Indicator’ Would Paint a Clearer Picture of Student Success. But With Some States Now Choosing Up to 11 Different Measures, Experts Worry Results Are a ‘Hodgepodge’

Arne Duncan: ‘I’m Not Convinced This President Wants to Have the Best-Educated Citizenry in the World’

Democrats for Education Reform Release New Poll Suggesting Most Voters Are ‘Education Progressives.’ Here Are 7 Takeaways

Arne Duncan, Obama’s Former Secretary of Education, Just Wrote a Memoir. Here Are 7 Key Highlights

The Big Picture

How Many Students Are Chronically Absent in the United States Each Year?

Every Student Succeeds Act

With Nearly 8 Million Students Chronically Absent From School Each Year, 36 States Set Out to Tackle the Problem in New Federal Education Plans. Will It Make a Difference?

As Universal Pre-K Struggles to Secure a Nationwide Platform, It Finds Hope in Cities Like Chicago

Attorney General Sessions Announces $25 Million in Additional School Safety Funds, Saying Grants ‘Will Serve Both Safety and Peace of Mind’

‘One Foot in Puerto Rico, One Foot Here’: High School Seniors Who Fled to the U.S. Mainland After Hurricane Maria Recount Their Tumultuous Path to Graduation

In Emergency Move, DC Council Passes a Possible Reprieve for Chronically Absent Seniors — the Latest Response to the District’s Graduation Scandal

As America Grapples With Gun Violence in Schools, a UVA Librarian Recounts How — and Where — It All Began

Civil Rights Groups Are Pressing Betsy DeVos to Affirm a Supreme Court Decision That Protects Undocumented Students’ Education. Here’s the Backstory on Plyler v. Doe

2018 Gun Violence at America's Schools

Police Officer Thwarts School Shooting in Illinois After Exchanging Gunfire, Injuring Attacker; At Least 41 Killed and 70 Injured at Schools in 2018

‘All of These Tweets Are People’s Futures’: After Texas Tragedy, Hashtag #IfIDieInASchoolShooting Gives Voice to Students’ Despair

Former Education Secretary Arne Duncan Endorses ‘Provocative’ Call to Curb Gun Violence: A School Boycott

From Viral Video to the Classroom: Childish Gambino’s ‘This Is America’ Spurs Discussion on Race, Gun Violence, and History

2018 Gun Violence at America's Schools

7 Updates on Santa Fe High School Rampage: Here’s What We Know So Far About Mass Shooting That Left 10 Dead

2018 Gun Violence at America's Schools

10 Dead and 13 injured in Texas School Shooting Friday; At Least 41 Killed and 70 Injured at Schools in 2018

Teacher Appreciation Week: A Look Back at 18 Incredible (and Inspiring) Ways Students & Schools Celebrated Their Teachers Over the Past Year

Taylor Swaak & Laura Fay

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