Elaine Korry
Elaine Korry is an NPR contributor based in San Francisco. From August 2004-June 2007 she worked as an NPR senior reporter covering social policy for NPR, with a focus on education, and on the lives of the nation's most vulnerable citizens — the homeless, those living in poverty, working in low wage positions, and trying to find their way to a more stable life.
In 2007, she reported on hospitals struggling to serve chronically homeless people in Los Angeles; the debate over pulling welfare mothers out of school in favor of low-wage jobs; working families with children driven from San Francisco because of the spiraling cost of housing; and proposed budget cuts to literacy programs for immigrant families.
Prior to covering social policy issues, Elaine covered business and economics for NPR for 14 years. She has been awarded numerous reporting fellowships in social policy and education from the Hechinger Institute, Casey Journalism Center, and Wharton School of Business. She attended Rider University in New Jersey, and worked in public radio for 10 years prior to coming to NPR.
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In Oakland, Calif., hunger shows up where it's least expected: in upscale Oakland Hills, where Brian Donaldson and his wife, Tina, share an apartment that some would call luxurious. But at 52, Donaldson is jobless and his skills are outdated. -
In February, 21-year-old Matthew Carrington collapsed in a frat house basement at Chico State University, dying several hours later. Five of his fellow students pleaded guilty in his death; one will serve a year in jail. Carrington's parents are among those who want penalties for hazing toughened.
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A new government mandate requires schools and colleges that receive federal funding to provide some sort of educational program on Constitution Day. That's the day of the Constitution's signing in 1787. The date is Sept. 17, which falls on a Saturday this year, so they're allowed to plan their events for Friday or early next week.
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For low-income families, keeping babies clean and dry can be an expensive obstacle. A program in Boston that offers working poor families free diapers is easing some of the frustrations of parents. -
The No Child Left Behind Act requires low-income schools that haven't met performance targets for three years in a row to provide tutoring services to their students. The tutoring industry is benefiting from the influx of federal money, but critics worry about the quality of the services. In our second and final story on the rise of tutoring, Elaine Korry reports.
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Kids around the country are trying to make sense of the results of their SATs, which were changed this year. What once was a perfect score is no longer so.
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Two worlds have come together in a rare teaching program at one of the nation's top universities. Students at Stanford University are reaching across a cultural divide to help tutor the Mexican immigrants who clean their classrooms and dorms.
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Once prospective parents decide to adopt, the options before them can be overwhelming: Open or closed? Domestic or international? Same race and ethnicity, or different? Negotiating the details is an intensely personal process. NPR's Elaine Korry profiles one Bay Area couple for whom that process led overseas. -
A controversy over religion in public schools is raging in Cupertino, Calif. A fifth-grade teacher there claims school officials have muzzled him when he tries to teach his students about the role Christianity played in the American Revolution. Many parents in the community feel he's overstepped his bounds. NPR's Elaine Korry reports.
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One in four U.S. jobs now qualifies as low income, according to the Census Bureau. NPR's Elaine Korry reports on the efforts of Levi-Strauss and Co., to help workers cope with -- and avoid -- a crisis.
