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EdNC’s Alex Granados is Education Week’s inaugural Chronister Fellow

EdNC Senior Reporter Alex Granados has been named Education Week’s inaugural Gregory M. Chronister fellow. The fellowship supports the work of a reporter “who undertakes a significant enterprising or investigative journalism project that promises to inform and educate the field and the public about a timely and important issue for pre-K-12 education.” Through the collaboration, Granados will create a multimedia series on the experiences of migrant students and families in North Carolina to be published in Education Week, on EdNC.org, and on EdWeek.org

“Alex’s in-depth reporting is respected across party lines in North Carolina, allowing him to develop sources and tighten the cycle between reporting the news in real time and its impact on public policy,” EdNC CEO Mebane Rash said. “We are excited to partner with Education Week to highlight for our state, region, and the nation an issue that will shape our education system in the 21st century – the challenges and opportunities for migrant students.” 

Granados will work in collaboration with editorial staff at Education Week to document the narratives of migrant families through print and video media.

“The Fellowship drew lots of interest from across the country, which made the selection process both challenging and gratifying. We had many very good projects to consider and we’re especially excited to have Alex work with us on a subject that doesn’t get much attention,” said Scott Montgomery, the editor-in-chief and chief content officer of Education Week. 

Granados highlighted the need for increased coverage of migrant influence on education systems in his application. “For the children, in particular, the impact of living a migrant’s life is substantial. There is a strong correlation between a student’s academic achievement and his or her mobility during the school year. It is well established in North Carolina and elsewhere that students who do not complete an entire year at one school show less academic growth and weaker academic achievement than peers who spend the year at the same school. Weaker academic achievement may mean that a student is less likely to graduate from high school and go on to have a thriving career.” 

Learn more about the fellowship and the series here.

 

 

 

 

 

Laura Lee

Laura Lee is the former content director and managing editor for EducationNC and the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research.

Born and raised in Union County, North Carolina, Laura attended Benton Heights Elementary School, Unionville Elementary School, Charlotte Latin Middle School, and Piedmont High School. She graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and international studies. After graduation, she moved to Washington, D.C. where she worked as an educator with a civic education organization and then as a program administrator for two Fulbright grant programs.

She received her J.D. from UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law in 2007. In law school, she served as president of the Student Bar Association and was a Davis Society inductee. She also holds a certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from UNC-Chapel Hill. 

Laura briefly strayed from her Tar Heel allegiance in 2011 to obtain a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland where she was an Eleanor Merrill Fellow. She then worked at NPR producing content for the Washington desk, All Things Considered and Talk of the Nation

From 2013 to 2017, Laura oversaw daily production of North Carolina Public Radio WUNC’s The State of Things, first as assistant news director for talk programming and then as managing editor.