Beth Fertig is WNYC’s Contributing Editor for Education. She previously covered politics, which included City Hall during the Giuliani administration, and the U.S. Senate campaigns of Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton. She also covered transportation and infrastructure.
Beth reported on education on and off during those years. She began covering education full-time in 2009 to document Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s school reforms.
"If New York City’s public schools were a city, they’d be one of the ten largest cities in the United States," she says. With over a million students and another couple of hundred thousand employees the Department of Education is a fascinating microcosm or macrocosm. And with the Obama Administration’s interest in school reform, there is a lot happening in education right now."
Beth is a New York City native who discovered her love for journalism at her college newspaper at the University of Michigan. She also has a Master’s degree in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago. Her first job after college was as a reporter for a chain of weekly newspapers in the Boston suburbs. Her boss told her she had a flair for quoting people exactly the way they spoke, so she began interning at the former Monitor Radio network to see if she would enjoy working in radio. She did and she hasn’t looked back since.
Beth is a frequent contributor to National Public Radio. She’s won many local and national awards, including the prestigious Alfred I. duPont Columbia University Award for Broadcast Journalism for her series of reports on an effort to privatize some struggling city schools. She also won an Edward R. Murrow award for an investigation of a subway fire. And she’s won awards from the city's Deadline Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the New York Press Club -- which gave her a special award after the 2001 terrorist attacks for a profile on the friendship of two WTC survivors. Beth was also sent on loan to public radio station KRVS in Lafayette, Louisiana in 2005 to cover the cleanup and recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina.
In 2008, Beth took time off from WNYC to write her first book. It’s called "Why cant u teach me 2 read? Three Students and a Mayor Put Our Schools to the Test" and was published in the fall of 2009 by FSG Books. The book grew out of a 2006 WNYC radio series on the low graduation rate for special education students.
Beth is also a regular contributor to Schoolbook.org, WNYC's Web site about K-12 education in New York City. You can follow her on twitter @bethfertig.
Beth Fertig appears in the following:
The Issues at Hand: Education Reform Over the Next Four Years
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Shortly following the November elections, a Gallup poll revealed that 68 percent of Americans believe that President Obama will improve education in his second term. Education reporters Beth Fertig and Rob Manning explain whether the optimism is warranted.
Teacher Evals Missed Deadline
Friday, January 18, 2013
Beth Fertig, WNYC's education reporter and contributor to SchoolBook, and Yasmeen Khan, WNYC associate news producer covering education and politics, update us on the apparent failure of negotiations between the teachers' union and the DOE, resulting in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in state aid.
School Bus Strike Update
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Many New York City school bus routes were shuttered today as drivers went on strike. Schoolbook reporters Beth Fertig and Yasmeen Khan update the latest. Then, Nicole Gelinas, contributing editor of the Manhattan Institute's City Journal, discusses how the city should approach negotiations with the union and the bus companies.
School News Roundup
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Beth Fertig, WNYC's education reporter and contributor to SchoolBook, updates the status of teacher evaluations and the possible school bus drivers strike.
Looking at Charter Schools
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Beth Fertig, WNYC's education reporter and contributor to SchoolBook, talks about her series on the issues surrounding charter schools, including attrition rates and locations.
School Report Cards
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Beth Fertig, WNYC's education reporter and contributor to SchoolBook, talks about this year's report cards for NYC high schools, plus updates the status of the system in the month since Sandy.
After Sandy: Schools and Displaced Students
Friday, November 09, 2012
WNYC’s Bob Hennelly and WNYC reporter and SchoolBook contributor Beth Fertig provide information for students in NYC and NJ who are attending different schools after being displaced by Sandy.
Election Day Call-In: Voting After Sandy, and Voting in the Swing States
Tuesday, November 06, 2012
It's Election Day! We talk to reporters, look at the important story lines, and more importantly take your calls. With:
- WNYC's Richard Hake and New Jersey Public Radio's David Furst with the latest news on voting and the Sandy recovery, with NJPR's Nancy Solomon and WNYC's Beth Fertig and Bob Hennelly
- Your calls for our Informal, Unofficial, Thoroughly Unscientific Exit Poll: How is post-Sandy voting going? What does voting today mean to you? Call 646-829-3980 or post below!
Plus, reporters from crucial swing states discuss the latest polls and how their states are shaping up on Election Day:
- Martin DiCaro, WAMU reporter, joins from Virginia
- John O'Connor, reporter for NPR StateImpact Florida, checks in from Florida
- Jo Ingles, statehouse news reporter for Ohio Public Radio and TV, covers the polls in Ohio
Back to Business, But With Limited Deliveries Downtown
Thursday, November 01, 2012
Three days after Sandy's wrath, restaurants and groceries with power in New York City are now getting back to normal. Delivery trucks are back on the roads and customers are back in the aisles. But not in downtown Manhattan, which is still waiting for its electricity to be restored. Con Ed says that should happen this weekend. But just how is the city's food supply holding up?
Setting Up ‘Home’ Inside an Evacuation Shelter
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Some people who fled their homes in Lower Manhattan, hunkering down in a city evacuation center, moved again after the power went out Monday night. They’re now staying at a school on the Upper West Side, trying to make the best out of the situation as they wait for the all clear to go home.
Crane Continues to Dangle from NYC High-Rise
Monday, October 29, 2012
Mayor Michael Bloomberg says a partially collapsed crane on West 57th street in midtown will have to endure Sandy's strengthening winds this evening like everyone else. He says it's too dangerous to try to secure it Monday night.
'Glaring Inaccuracies' Found in State Sex Ed Teachings: Report
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
There are "troubling and profound gaps" in how New York state school districts teach sex education, according to a new report by the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Combatting Cheating
Monday, September 10, 2012
Beth Fertig, WNYC's education reporter and contributor to SchoolBook, talks about the latest fall-out from the Stuyvesant High School cheating scandal and how the problem is being addressed in other schools.
New School Year Preview
Friday, August 31, 2012
Beth Fertig, WNYC's education reporter and contributor to SchoolBook, and Yasmeen Khan, WNYC associate news producer covering education and politics, talk about some of the issues facing New York City's public schools as they get ready for teachers and students next week.
Money Talking: Big Money in Schools
Friday, August 24, 2012
Summer’s coming to an end and that means it’s back to the classroom for millions of students around the country.
For Grown-Ups, the Field of Dreams is One With Lighting
Wednesday, August 01, 2012
During the summer, it seems like every field in the city is occupied by a softball or soccer game, no matter the hour. The demand is especially strong at night when working adults have time to play, but the city has a limited number of lit fields. WNYC took a tour of some of those fields and the adults that carve out time to play after the sun has set.
Study Examines College Experience of Immigrants, Offspring
Sunday, July 22, 2012
A new national study may yield some clues about how immigrant and second generation Americans differ from all other undergraduates, and from each other, when they get to college.
Following Up: PTA Funding
Friday, June 08, 2012
Beth Fertig, WNYC's education reporter and contributor to SchoolBook, follows up on the exploration of funding disparities in NYC's public schools with the rules as to what parents may, and may not, pay for.
Business Mentors May Help Middle Schoolers Stay in School
Thursday, April 26, 2012
We know middle school is when kids run the risk of losing interest in school and falling behind. There is a program that extends the school day for students at a few very low performing middle schools to keep them engaged, with "apprenticeships" led by volunteers who teach the students how to develop plans for a tech start-up, a sports franchise, or some other business idea they've concocted.
The program was successful at improving attendance and grades in Boston and is beginning to show promise here.
Making the Early Grade: More City Children Test into Gifted and Talented Programs
Friday, April 13, 2012
A total of 39,330 children took exams to get into gifted and talented programs in New York City's public elementary schools, and 24 percent of them scored high enough to be eligible. That's an increase in both the number of students who applied over last year, and the percentage of them who tested well enough to quality for the coveted programs.
