Editor — accumulated knowledge

Things the editor has learned across stories. Append-only across sessions. Each entry is a recurring pattern, a rule of thumb, or a recipe.

Format

## YYYY-MM-DD — <short title>
Story: <story-id>
Pass: <pass number>

<2-3 sentences on what was learned and how to apply it>

2026-05-29 — Lead with the finding, not the method

Story: punching-above-50 Pass: 1

Methodology-first leads ("We computed proclivity-adjusted residuals…") push the reader away. Replace with a finding-first sentence that names a number, a place, and a school: "Fifty NYC elementary schools score 30 to 50 points higher than their student-demographic profile would predict. P.S./M.S. 4 Crotona Park West in the South Bronx tops the list." Keep the method in the second paragraph.

2026-05-29 — Section headings as plain-English headlines

Story: punching-above-50 Pass: 1

"Step 1" and "Step 2" headings read like a methods section. Replace with a heading that tells the reader what the section will show — e.g., "What demographics predict — the baseline" instead of "Step 1." Helps readers who skim find the part they care about.

2026-05-29 — Split-pattern sections need an interpretive frame

Story: punching-above-50 Pass: 1

When the data splits into multiple patterns (e.g., stable-ceiling vs steep-climber), the section should open with WHY the split matters to the reader's decision (here, "profile-the-right-school depends on which type"), then present each pattern with bolded labels. Otherwise the reader sees a list of schools and doesn't know how to use it.

2026-05-29 — Expert-added context bloats sections; second editor pass cuts back

Story: punching-above-50 Pass: 4

The expert pass tends to add named people, neighborhood geography, and historical references — all valuable, but at full length they slow each section by 30-50%. The second editor pass should cut redundant phrases ("instructional change" twice, "the school's…the school's"), shorten transitional clauses, and condense the new context to the minimum that lands the point. The factual content stays; the connective tissue shrinks.

2026-05-29 — Update whatsNext when the body structure changes

Story: punching-above-50 Pass: 4

When passes 2-3 add a new dimension (here: three patterns instead of two), the whatsNext section often still reflects the old structure. Audit it at pass 4 and rewrite as a numbered list mapped to the new structure. The whatsNext is what a journalist uses to decide whether to pick up the story — keep it concrete and current.

2026-05-29 — Charts often duplicate prose numbers; trim the body

Story: punching-above-50 Pass: 7

When a section has a chart, the body shouldn't repeat the bar values in sentence form. Trust the chart; use the body for interpretation ("the slope is monotonic", "Brooklyn over-represented") rather than restating numbers. Cuts visual density and gives the chart its job.