Regional Education Reporter
Required skills
- education reporter
- Houston
- public education systems
- suburban districts
- accountability journalism
- immigrant students
- multilingual learners
- special education services
- breaking news
- scoops
Nice to have
- professional working proficiency
- conduct reporting in Spanish
- range of formats
- reach and engage audiences
- curiosity
Role summary
The Houston Chronicle is seeking an ambitious education reporter to cover one of the country’s largest public education systems. This role will examine policies, demographic shifts, and political forces reshaping schools across the Houston region, focusing on suburban districts. The reporter will identify trends, produce accountability journalism, and connect local developments to broader forces. Key responsibilities include leading education coverage, developing ambitious reporting, tracking enrollment and demographic shifts, and breaking news. The ideal candidate is an aggressive, source-driven reporter with at least 3 years of experience in education, government, or public policy, comfortable interpreting data and public records, and understanding the intersection of education with various societal factors. Spanish fluency is strongly preferred.
The Houston Chronicle is seeking an ambitious education reporter to cover one of the country’s largest and most dynamic public education systems. This reporter will examine the policies, demographic shifts and political forces reshaping schools across the Houston region, helping audiences understand not only what is changing, but what those changes mean for students, families and educators.
Moving beyond a traditional district beat, this reporter will focus on the suburban districts where many of the Houston region’s biggest education stories are unfolding. The reporter will identify emerging trends across districts, produce accountability journalism that serves families and connect local developments to the broader forces reshaping public education in Texas.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead education coverage across Greater Houston, focusing on the systems, policies and regional trends shaping public education rather than a traditional district-by-district beat.
- Develop ambitious reporting from major districts including Aldine, Cypress-Fairbanks, Katy and Spring ISDs, using those communities to illuminate broader regional and statewide issues.
- Track enrollment trends, demographic shifts and student outcomes, with particular attention to immigrant students, multilingual learners, and students receiving special education services.
- Break news on major developments affecting schools across the region while producing scoops that explain why decisions matter to students, families and taxpayers.
- Produce a mix of breaking news, scoops and utility content that breaks down complex topics.
- We’re Looking for Someone Who
- Has at least 3 years of relevant journalism experience covering education, government, public policy or another complex accountability beat.
- Is an aggressive, source-driven reporter who consistently breaks news and develops deep relationships across communities and institutions.
- Is comfortable interpreting data, budgets, legislation and public records and translating complex issues into accessible journalism.
- Understands how education intersects with immigration, economics, workforce development, housing and demographic change.
- Has strong news judgment and can move confidently between fast-paced breaking news and longer-term reporting
- Thrives in a collaborative newsroom and enjoys working across teams to produce ambitious journalism.
- Brings curiosity, creativity and a strong digital mindset to storytelling, using a range of formats to reach and engage audiences.
- Is fluent in Spanish or has professional working proficiency strongly preferred, with the ability to develop sources and conduct reporting in Spanish.
