About

Growing up, I wanted to be Nancy Drew. Or a crime scene analyst. Or an FBI profiler.

A focus on finding the truth translated into a focus on accountability and investigative journalism, particularly involving data. Now, I dig for answers and share them in hopes of informing and improving society. 

I often shine a light on inequities in education, using data to understand racial disparities from where kids go to school to how they fare once they’re there.

I frequently build and analyze datasets out of records requests and public data.

I’ve written the first draft of history as schools scrambled in the face of the dual crises of a global pandemic and a national reckoning with systemic racism and police brutality.

And I’ve won awards for my education coverage, data journalism and political reporting.

Right now, I write about education for the Pulitzer Prize-winning Courier Journal in Louisville, Ky. I keep tabs on one of the largest school districts in the country, state education policy and the teacher activism efforts and politics that influence both. I also write The Hall Pass, an education newsletter for CJ subscribers.

I previously covered education at Insider Louisville. Before that, I covered technology at TechRepublic, worked on the data desk at the Austin American-Statesman and ran The Louisville Cardinal.

A lifelong Kentuckian, I earned a degree in investigative journalism with a Russian minor from the University of Louisville.

Need more? Here’s my resume.

Home photo by Arry Schofield / About photo by Scott Utterback.