Education network collaboration shows how natural disasters disrupt kids’ learning for years

By Makiya Seminera, Sharon Lurye, Alia Wong, Laura Hackett, Jose Sandoval, Erik Verduzco, Stephanie Scarbrough, Megan Tagami, Carolyn Jones, Tatiana Díaz Ramos and Karena Phan

Building on AP’s industry role in covering natural disasters and the Education team’s Pulitzer-finalist work on educational disruption, AP’s Alia Wong led an Education Reporting Network collaboration to examine how schools recover from disaster. The “Disrupted by Disaster” project combined exclusive data on missed school days with on-the-ground reporting from AP, CalMatters, Honolulu Civil Beat, Blue Ridge Public Radio, and Puerto Rico’s Centro de Periodismo Investigativo.

Wong led the collaboration and the partners drove the themes: Paradise, California, reporting revealed pitfalls in sidelining academics after disaster and the difficulty of rebuilding community as families leave. Maui coverage showed youth mental health challenges intensifying two years later. North Carolina journalists spotlighted housing instability’s impact on students. And Puerto Rico reporting examined infrastructure struggles to keep classrooms safe and cool amid climate change.