The AP team of New York data journalist Larry Fenn, Pennsylvania correspondent Mike Rubinkam, Washington data editor Meghan Hoyer and Austin, Texas, reporter Jim Vertuno collaborated with Chalkbeat, a non-profit that reports on U.S. education, to reveal that schools serving primarily students of color were far more likely to start the year online than schools serving mostly white students – a divide that threatens to further exacerbate inequities in education.
Fenn and Hoyer gathered and analyzed the data from hundreds of school districts, while Rubinkam and Vertuno interviewed school administrators, parents and educators to learn about the pressures that shaped districts’ choices. The story was co-reported and co-written with Chalkbeat. The package included video from schools in Pennsylvania, Illinois and Tennessee.