Dear Reader,

It’s easy to get jaded thinking about the many problems with U.S. education. But our journalism is making a difference and forcing change.

• Thousands of students in Georgia were burdened with untenable student debt, even though the state had a huge pot of scholarship money sitting unused. After we reported on the surplus, the state created its first need-based scholarship.
• After the publication of our story about a mostly white community in Alabama that sought to secede from its school district to keep black students out of the local high school, the secession plan was dropped.
• On the day we published our investigation about how for-profit certificate programs often leave students deep in debt without the training they need, the school we wrote about was closed and ordered to provide $1.6 million in debt relief to its students.
• The Louisiana High School Athletics Association changed its rules barring kids without social security numbers from playing sports after we reported on how undocumented immigrant students were being left out.

We know that clear, well-reported journalism can change things for the better. Help us do more of it.

Any donation you make today will be doubled, thanks to the generous folks at NewsMatch, a campaign to support nonprofit news. And if you agree to support us with a monthly donation, every one of your next 12 donations will be matched. We're trying to raise $30,000 by December 31, and we've got a long way to go!

Best,
Sarah Garland
Executive Editor
The Hechinger Report