Columbia

The Columbia story is told using text and inset pictures.

CBSMoneyWatch.com uses text and one image to tell the story.

The Wisconsin Rapids Tribune ran the story as text only.

Which version do you prefer and why?
From left: Columbia’s original presentation; simpler presentation with only one image; and a text-only approach. Click on each to study the differences. Please comment below.

PROJECT IN BRIEF
Much can be learned from a crisis. This story, “Grade-Schoolers Learn Money 101,” explores how the state of our economy has forced many of us to confront this uncomfortable truth: We did not learn all we ever needed to know in kindergarten. Across the country, teachers and politicians are taking action to ensure that today’s kids will be smarter. First-graders learn from Sammy Rabbit that saving is a habit. Middle-schoolers manage bank accounts and high-schoolers develop personal financial plans. In New Jersey, education officials are vetting changes in the K-12 core curriculum, to require more comprehensive instruction of financial-literacy concepts.

Grade-Schoolers learn Money 101 by Sharon McCloskey. Text, photos, links.

ABOUT THE REPORTING PROCESS
In 2009, Sharon McCloskey and the rest of the Columbia News21 team took notebooks, cameras and curiosities to places such as New Orleans, the Twin Cities, Newark, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., to explore the new marketplace of hybrid, public-private schools. Karn Dhingra, Sharon McCloskey’s reporting partner, wrote a post about their experience reporting at the RISE Academy in Newark, N.J.

USE OR ADAPT THE CODE USED IN THIS PRESENTATION
If you would like to examine the code to copy or adapt, contact News21.

CONTENT ON PARTNER SITES AND ELSEWHERE

• CBSMoneyWatch.com: In Downturn, Kids Get New Money Lessons, Jan. 27, 2010
• MarshfieldNewsHerald.com: Students Learn Money 101, Jan. 19, 2010 (link expired)
• StevensPointJournal.com: Students Learn Money 101, Jan. 19, 2010 screenshot
• WisconsinRapdsTribune.com: Students Learn Money 101, Jan. 19, 2010 screenshot

ABOUT THE NEWS21 FELLOW
Sharon McCloskey has been a practicing attorney in New York and New Jersey for 25 years, specializing in commercial and consumer litigation and serving as an arbitrator for securities regulatory authorities. A former deputy attorney general for the state of New Jersey, she is a magna cum laude graduate of Duke University and the Seton Hall Law School. Having earned her master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, she is now embarking on her second career, and hopes to continue writing long-form pieces online and in print. Born and bred on the Jersey shore (which true natives will tell you is nothing like the TV show), she will be moving to North Carolina this summer in pursuit of warmer days and great college basketball, watching her three children continue their success on the court.

The story, part of a larger package on New Orleans, includes videos.

The magazine story is on the U.S. News Site as text.

Which version do you prefer and why?
From left: Columbia’s original presentation; the article as a magazine article, with an accompanying map, though the two are not cross-linked. Please comment below.

PROJECT IN BRIEF
Hurricane Katrina washed away most of New Orleans’ public schools, known as some of the worst in the country, and cleared the way for a new “open-choice” system dominated by charters. Charter schools have moved from fringe to mainstay in New Orleans, leaving uncertain parents a dizzying array of options. Can they really sort them out? Text, graphic.

ABOUT THE REPORTING PROCESS
In 2009, the Columbia News21 team took notebooks, cameras and curiosities to New Orleans to explore the new marketplace of hybrid, public-private schools, allowing for site visitors to contrast the louisiana experience with other charter schools profiles around the country.

USE OR ADAPT THE CODE USED IN THIS PRESENTATION
Here is the Flash file associated with the “Charter Explosion” map: CharterExplosionCS4.fla

For more information, visit our “use our content for free” page or contact News21.

CONTENT ON PARTNER SITES AND ELSEWHERE

• U.S. News & World Report: Charter Schools Rise in New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina. Dec. 9, 2009.
• U.S. News & World Report: The Explosion of Charter Schools in America. Dec. 9, 2009.
• TroubleTheWaterFilm.com: Charter Schools Rise in New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina. Dec. 23, 2009. (Excerpt to U.S. News story)
• Educate Now: Charter Schools Rise in New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina. Dec. 23, 2009. (Excerpt to U.S. News story)

ABOUT THE NEWS21 FELLOW
Alexandra Fenwick is a multimedia journalist who has worked as a reporter in daily newspapers in New Jersey and Connecticut for four years, including one year as an education reporter. She grew up on the Jersey shore, split her high school career between public school and private boarding school and later studied writing at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She had a happy childhood, rode her bike everywhere and rarely got detention. She is trying to replicate that experience as an adult. Her byline has appeared in the Baltimore Sun, the Los Angeles Times, the Stamford Advocate, the Tribeca Tribune and Condé Nast’s Portfolio.com. She graduated from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in May 2009 and is an associate editor of the Columbia Journalism Review. Website. LinkedIn.