Chalkbeat now has a new look — and a public health sister site

Three logos, one blue, red and pink on a white background.
Chalkbeat, Votebeat and Healthbeat logos (Civic News Company)

Welcome to the new Chalkbeat!

If you’re a regular reader, you might notice that things look a little different here today. Nothing about our stories or the functionality of our site is changing, but we have a new look that we hope you enjoy: simple, modern, and with the work you know and love front and center.

Why? It’s always nice to feel fresh at the start of a school year. But more importantly, the change comes as we launch a new sibling site. Meet Healthbeat, which is officially launching today to cover public health.

Healthbeat reporters will be digging into issues that shape our collective well-being, from infectious diseases to air and water quality and food safety. And they will be bringing the Chalkbeat (and Votebeat) model of national and local reporting to bear on public health at a time when it’s badly needed. Healthbeat will start with bureaus in New York City and Atlanta as well as national reporting in partnership with the great folks over at KFF Health News.

I hope you will check them out, starting with editor in chief Charlene Pacenti’s introduction to Healthbeat’s work. You can also sign up for Healthbeat’s newsletters here.

— Sarah Darville, Chalkbeat editor in chief

The Latest

But Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova said “too many students are still attending schools that are struggling to meet their needs.”

John F. Kennedy High, Oakland Elementary, Rocky Mountain Prep Noel, and Academy 360 earned or maintained higher preliminary state ratings this year.

Philadelphia students will begin applying to selective schools nearly a month later than planned because official state test scores remain delayed.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced $43 million in funding and other reforms to resolve chronic city payment delays to early childhood education providers. The backlog threatens the rollout of his signature 2-K program.

Teachers say they are rethinking lesson plans and routines after immigration arrests and deportation orders rose over the summer in the state.

The July analysis of Colorado’s five-year-old law doesn’t provide evidence about how the policy has helped students as some universities nationwide have pushed back against it.