Jackie Mader

About

I am a senior early childhood reporter and currently lead early ed coverage at The Hechinger Report where I focus on policies that impact children and families. I have also been a staff writer, THR's Mississippi bureau chief, THR's multimedia editor and I wrote Education Week's rural education blog. My work has appeared in outlets nationwide including The New York Times, The Nation, The Christian Science Monitor, The Atlantic, The New Republic, USA Today, TIME and NBC News and has won awards including the Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Nellie Bly Award from The New York Press Club and a Front Page Award from The Newswomen’s Club of New York. In 2024, I completed the Spencer Fellowship for education reporters at Columbia University. In 2021, I was one of two American journalists chosen for the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma’s Early Childhood Development Fellowship. Prior to journalism, I taught special education in Charlotte, N.C. and trained first-year teachers in the Mississippi Delta.