Chrissie Thompson to lead Education Reporting Network

We are delighted to announce that we have selected Chrissie Thompson as AP’s director of the Education Reporting Network. In this role, she will serve as the head of a new program designed to drive accountability reporting on the lasting impacts of the pandemic on education, and lift local newsrooms’ abilities to reach their audiences with engaging education news, too. Chrissie launched USA Today's education team in 2018. Under her leadership, the team has secured new grant funding and won first-place awards from the Education Writers Association and the Council on Contemporary Families. She also leads the USA Today Network education team, overseeing collaborations with about 70 local journalists. Chrissie also has experience inside the education field: She has a master's degree in higher education administration from the University of Michigan. She is a collaborative editor who understands the complexities of working in a big, complicated newsroom. She also has a record of driving journalism that puts the experience of parents, teachers and students at the center of her work by showing their human experience. She also has a powerful vision for how AP’s new network can help elevate education reporting across the industry. She is energetic and empathetic, and we are confident this new program will thrive in her care. Chrissie also brings a blend of national and local reporting experience, which will be key to the education network’s success. Before joining USA Today, Chrissie worked as a politics reporter and editor for The Cincinnati Enquirer. She was named the best reporter in Ohio and was a lead editor on a project that won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting. She also covered the auto industry for the Detroit Free Press, serving as lead reporter on coverage that won a Gerald Loeb Award. And she got her start right here at AP, as an intern in the AP's Mid-Atlantic bureau. Chrissie will be based in Spokane and will begin with us on April 25. Her first mission will be to build out the team, a project that begins right away! Please join us in welcoming Chrissie to AP and to an important project. We are thrilled to see what she will do for AP and our member newsrooms. Noreen and Lisa