Harvard Education Letter Wins National Press Club Award
Takes first prize in newsletter category again

Cambridge, Mass.—The Harvard Education Letter has won a 2003 National Press Club award for its coverage of efforts to improve the professional standards of K-12 public school teachers.

Editor David Gordon's article "Putting National Board Certification to the Test" won Best Newsletter Journalism (analytical or interpretive story) at the club's annual awards dinner in Washington, D.C. on July 14.

Written shortly after the passage of the federal No Child Left Behind Act promised a "highly qualified teacher" in every classroom by 2005-2006, Gordon's article examined efforts of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, a private, nonprofit agency launched in the 1980s by leading school reformers, to develop a system of measuring and certifying teacher quality. He drew on a wide range of sources to show both negative and positive views of the process and to reveal key research findings about the Board's work.

Judges determined that Gordon made the most of the newsletter format and provided a significant service to the Letter's readers by analyzing this important topic in a useful, timely, and highly readable fashion.

Now in its 30th year, the National Press Club gives awards in 22 categories ranging such as consumer journalism to freedom of the press. This is the third consecutive year that the NPC has honored the Letter for its journalism: it won first prize in 2002 and honorable mention in 2001.

The Harvard Education Letter is written in a jargon-free way for school administrators, teachers, and policy-makers. Valued by readers for its concise and thought-provoking coverage, the Letter is published by the Harvard Education Publishing Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Visit www.edletter.org for more information.

David Gordon has edited the Harvard Education Letter since 1999. He has also edited three books: A Nation Reformed? American Education 20 Years after A Nation at Risk (Harvard Education Press, 2003), Better Teaching and Learning in the Digital Classoom (2003, in press), and The Digital Classroom: How Technology is Changing the Way We Teach and Learn (2000).

Before coming to Harvard, Gordon was an associate editor at Newsweek, where he wrote about foreign affairs, education, and culture.

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