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California’s education system is grappling with stubborn achievement gaps across income, race and geographic lines. The pandemic widened them and recovery is difficult. Math skills are alarmingly low; English is better, but still troubling. Yet solutions exist.

The Answer Sheet from the Los Angeles Times aims to rigorously examine these challenges through innovative, solution-focused journalism. 

Our goal for this one-year project is to go beyond chronicling problems to search for how California can make progress. It will marry the hard-hitting explanatory journalism The Times is known for with deep community engagement and a singular effort to cut through the noise to examine what is working.

The role: This unique opportunity requires a deep interest in education policy and the ability to convene stakeholders, spend time inside classrooms and moderate  discussions about ideas.

The agenda: Your mission is to take on California’s most urgent education challenges. A few examples include literacy and math reform, chronic absenteeism, college readiness, the integration of AI in the classroom and the state’s ambitious cradle-to-career educational blueprint. Storytelling will be reported through the lens of data-driven progress, innovation and ground-level success.

The opportunity: This work picks up where many education stories end. Stories will be rigorous and evidence-based — grounded in the high standards of Times journalism — while remaining accessible and actionable to the educators, parents and students who need them most.

The reporter at its center will:

• Drive a solutions-focused newsletter that combines original reporting with guides, resources and direct audience engagement
• Produce vertical video content designed for the platforms where educators, students and families spend their time
• Build community conversations across social media and virtual or in-person events
• Create Instagram social cards that distill complex education issues for broader audiences
• Collaborate as a full member of the award-winning Times education team, contributing solutions expertise to breaking news and enterprise coverage

The ideal candidate is a journalist who understands that the best education stories aren’t written from school board meetings or committee rooms — they’re reported in classrooms, school hallways and kitchen tables where families are making daily decisions with often imperfect information. You are a clear writer with the instincts of an investigator and the patience of a community organizer.

You bring a genuine curiosity about how institutions fail — and how they can, remarkably, get it right.

Responsibilities:

• Drive the editorial vision of The Answer Sheet with ambitious, solutions-oriented enterprise reporting
• Identify and investigate why proven education solutions often fail to scale
• Report across California's education landscape with particular focus on historically underserved communities
• Develop and sustain a newsletter that informs and engages stakeholders
• Produce multiplatform content including vertical video, social media stories and audience-facing explainers
• Respond to breaking education news as part of a collaborative team effort
• Cultivate deep source networks among educators, administrators, researchers, students and families
• Appear on behalf of The Times at virtual and in-person events, podcasts, radio and television

Requirements:

• A minimum of five years of journalism experience, with a track record of enterprise and accountability work
• Solid familiarity with the education landscape, including state and local policy, key stakeholders and the communities most affected by inequity
• Fluency in creative multiplatform storytelling — video, social, newsletters — with a willingness to continue developing those skills
• Strong news judgment and the ability to balance a variety of work demands
• A solutions-journalism mindset: the discipline to report critically on what works and why
• Excellent writing and communication skills with the ability to make complex issues clear to a broad audience
• Comfort engaging directly with readers on digital platforms and in community settings
• Commitment to accuracy, ethical reporting and inclusive journalism practice

Bilingual or multilingual candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

This one-year initiative is funded by the Ballmer Group. The role is listed as Reporter in the Los Angeles Times Guild, with the complete array of health and other benefits offered to all full-time guild members. Occasional evening and weekend work is expected. Reporters must have a valid driver’s license and access to a vehicle in good working condition, with suitable auto insurance coverage.

Qualified candidates should submit a resume, a cover letter that includes your ideas and approach to solutions journalism in education and applicable links to clips and/or multimedia projects to Deputy Metro Editor Stephanie Chavez at the apply link.