Chalkbeat is a non-profit news organization that covers education in several American communities. Its mission is to "inform the decisions and actions that lead to better outcomes for children and families by providing deep, local coverage of education policy and practice." It aims to cover "the effort to improve schools for all children, especially those who have historically lacked access to a quality education". Its areas of focus include under-reported stories, education policy, equity, trends, and local reporting.

Chalkbeat was founded as GothamSchools in 2008 by Elizabeth Green and Philissa Cramer. It merged with EdNews Colorado, founded by Alan Gottlieb, in 2013, and then redesigned and relaunched the website as Chalkbeat one year later.

In 2020, Chalkbeat created Votebeat, a similar newsroom focused on local election rules and processes, before restructuring under the parent organization Civic News Company in 2023 and adding Healthbeat in 2024.

Chalkbeat began as a merger of GothamNews/GothamSchools in New York City and EdNews Colorado in Denver. GothamSchools was founded in 2008 by Elizabeth Green and Philissa Cramer, who started off with a local New York City education blog. From the beginning, they received requests to expand their coverage to other parts of the country. The organization was initially funded by Open Plans, a technology non-profit founded by Mark Gorton. EdNews Colorado started as a magazine and was developed by Alan Gottlieb.

GothamNews and EdNews Colorado merged in January 2013 and were relaunched jointly as a national network, first known as Education News Network and then as Chalkbeat. Green said the organizations "decided to merge because it's hard to build a sustainable business around journalism". Though the existing brands had loyal followings, "there is power in numbers. It made sense that we should all have one name." The new organization started additional bureaus in Memphis and Indianapolis. These new bureau locations were chosen for having a lot of changes or possibilities in their local education policy as well as local foundation support.

Chalkbeat raised $2.2 million in revenue in 2013, most of which came from philanthropic funding and about one third from ads and job boards listings. As the organization has expanded, it has attracted more funding from foundational donors and individuals. Donors include local foundations as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Walton Family Foundation, each of which gives between $200,000 and $400,000 per year as of 2016.

As of 2015 in New York City, Chalkbeat's competitors include three daily newspapers and a public radio station with an education-focused blog. Another key competitor is Capital Education, owned by Politico.

In the year 2016, Chalkbeat had approximately 250,000 visitors per month. About one quarter of readers work for education non-profits, another quarter are teachers, 11 percent are researchers or policymakers, and 10 percent are parents, according to Green. Their target audience includes both "education insiders" and interested people who care about education inequality.