By late January, word about Banchero’s story had made its way around the Tribune newsroom. Managing Editor James O’Shea, who had heard about the story and thought it had potential, suggested that Banchero move temporarily from the Metro desk to the Tribune ’s Projects Team. The Projects Team’s purpose was to spot and develop stories that were broader and longer than the daily copy. These covered a range of topics. “It could be anywhere in the area, anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world,” says George Papajohn, the deputy projects editor at the time. “It could be hard investigations, traditional investigations. It could be explanatory. It could just be a good narrative tale, where you learned something in the process.” Often these were published as multi-part series. In order to bring these ambitious articles to maturity, the Projects Team provided Tribune reporters with enhanced resources and editorial support.

Though Banchero was already halfway through her reporting, the Projects Team was ready to help her shape and publish Rayola’s story. Banchero was temporarily relieved of her daily duties and assigned to work with Deputy Projects Editor George Papajohn and Associate Managing Editor Robert Blau. Tisue also would continue to work on the project as an editor. Kiernan, a projects reporter, would continue to advise. “Poor Stephanie,” says Papajohn. “At one point she maybe felt she didn’t get enough attention. Now she had three editors staring at her in the room.” [1] Banchero, however, was relived. She had “muddled” her way through reporting the first half of the school year; now she was meeting and collaborating weekly with her editors.

Shifting the angle. The Team’s first order of business was to get Banchero writing. This would, the editors hoped, help Banchero shape the material she had already gathered and focus her reporting going forward. Initially, Banchero and her editors decided that the story should run as a two-part series spanning the school year. Banchero would write one “chapter” on Rayola at Stockton, and another about Rayola at Attucks.

In February, Banchero submitted her first draft to her new editors. The first “chapter” set the scene, described Rayola’s transfer to Stockton, and featured several anecdotes about her home life. Because Banchero did not yet have enough material to tell the story of Rayola at Attucks, she turned in a placeholder second chapter, which closely tracked Rayola’s progress through the fall and up to her transfer to Attucks. But her editors found the straightforward chronological account rather dull. Banchero agreed with them. “To be honest, it wasn't that interesting, and I think helped them decide that the second story had to be more than just a ‘tick tock,’” says Banchero. “The focus of the story completely changed.”

The editors felt that Banchero had focused too narrowly on Rayola in the classroom, and resisted the most compelling angle to the story. They argued that Rayola had failed not because of NCLB shortcomings (although lack of transportation played a role), but because of her home life. The story therefore had to include the role played by poverty and lax parenting. “Stephanie [Banchero] had done a really nice job of getting access to the classroom and did a really nice job of showing us what was happening there,” says Papajohn. “But what we needed to get a more complete picture was the perspective of the mom. We needed to open the lens on the full spectrum of influences on Rayola’s life, and on her ability to succeed in the Chicago school system through No Child Left Behind.”