John G. Merrow II (born June 14, 1941) is an American retired broadcast journalist who reported on education issues s tarting in the 1970s. He was the education correspondent for the PBS NewsHour program. These features - often under the umbrella heading of "The Merrow Report" - were a staple of education reporting on public broadcasting. Additionally, he was the executive producer, host and president of Learning Matters, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation that creates television, radio and online segments and

documentaries A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill ...

, focusing primarily on education.

Life

Merrow earned an A.B. from Dartmouth College in 1964, and received an M.A. degree in American Studies from Indiana University Bloomington in 1968. In 1973, Merrow graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, with a doctorate in Education and Social Policy. He began his career as an education reporter in 1974, when

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

began airing his first investigative reports on the nation's schools. Merrow quickly developed a devoted following with his program "Options In Education," which aired for eight years. The weekly radio broadcast received the prestigious

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

in 1981. Merrow later produced a seven-part television series for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

along the same lines, entitled "Your Children, Our Children." This program received an Emmy nomination in 1984. He also served as education correspondent for the

MacNeil MacNeil can have a number of different meanings and spellings: Clan MacNeil is a Scottish clan. Notable people * Al MacNeil (1935–2025), Canadian ice hockey player and coach * Angus MacNeil (born 1970), Scottish politician * Archibald Macne ...

Lehrer Lehrer, alternatively Lehr, Lehrian or Lehrmann, is a surname that can be either Germanic or Jewish. Origin Teacher The most probable option for the origin of the Lehrer surname is from the word ''Lehrer'', meaning teacher or rabbi in the Germ ...

Newshour ''Newshour'' is BBC World Service's flagship international news and current affairs radio programme, which is broadcast twice daily: weekdays at 1400, weekends at 1300 and nightly at 2100 (UK time). There is also an additional online programme ...

for five years (1985–1990), and briefly occupied a similar position with

The Learning Channel TLC is an American multinational cable television, cable and satellite television, satellite television network owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks, Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established in 1980 as The Learn ...

before returning to the PBS program in 1993. In 1995, Merrow established Learning Matters, which produced his NewsHour reports, along with other media content. In 1998, he created Listen Up! - a project which trains disadvantaged youth and their teachers in broadcast production skills and techniques. He received the

George Foster Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in ...

in 2001 for "School Sleuth: The Case of an Excellent School," and won a second Peabody Award for Listen Up's production, "Beyond Borders," in 2006. In 2005 and 2007, Learning Matters' programming received Emmy nominations. In 2012, Merrow was honored with the prestigious Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education. Merrow retired in 2015 and Learning Matters was acquired by ''

Education Week ''Education Week'' is a news organization that has covered K–12, K–12 education since 1981. It is owned by Editorial Projects in Education (EPE), a nonprofit organization, and is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. The newspaper publishes ...

''. Merrow is also a published book author: he wrote "Choosing Excellence" (2001), "Below C Level" (2010), and "The Influence of Teachers" (2011). He also co-edited, with Richard Hersh, "Declining by Degrees" (2005). He retired from the PBS NewsHour in 2015.

Works

*''Choosing Excellence'' Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2001, , *''Below C Level'' (2010) *''The Influence of Teachers'' (2011). *John Merrow, Richard Hersh, (eds) ''Declining by Degrees'' PBS Home Video, (2005) “Addicted to Reform: A 12-Step Program to Rescue Public Education” (The New Press, 2017)

References

External links

Learning MattersListen Up! Youth Media NetworkOnline NewsHour: Education Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merrow, John 1941 births Living people American male journalists American television journalists Taft School alumni Dartmouth College alumni Indiana University Bloomington alumni Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni Place of birth missing (living people)