January 2006

NIE triples in Hood County

The Hood County News started small but in just one year it tripled distribution and turned its Newspaper In Education program from a fledgling start-up into a success story reaching 1,500 students per week.

TPA committee studies NIE

Newspaper In Education traditionally has a strong presence at daily newspapers but any size newspaper can participate in NIE.

Texas Press Association is trying to get more weekly and semiweekly newspapers involved in NIE. The TPA Newspaper In Education Committee will hold its second meeting Jan. 19 at the 59th Midwinter Conference in Dallas to discuss continuing efforts to educate members about the benefits of NIE.

NIE is a cooperative effort between schools and newspapers to promote the use of newspapers as an educational resource. According to the Newspaper Association of America Foundation, there are more than

950 NIE programs in the United States delivering newspapers and educational programs to nearly 40 percent of all public school students within the United States.

Over the last two years TPA began studying ways to improve participation in Texas, especially among weeklies and semiweeklies.

The first step was forming a voluntary committee of member newspapers. Bob Buckel, of the Azle News, serves as chairman. The committee held its inaugural meeting last year.

TPA also will run periodic articles on NIE resources in the TPA Bulletin and success stories in the Texas Press Messenger. To share ideas or comments contact 800-749-4793 or Pauline Word.

The effort already has received national attention. In just its first year the News won first place in the National Newspaper Association’s NIE Contest for best ideas at a non-daily.

The newspaper serves as a prime example of how NIE can work at community newspapers.

NIE is a cooperative effort between schools and newspapers to promote the use of newspapers as an educational resource. A successful NIE program does more than just dump newspapers in a teacher’s lap — it includes a curriculum instructing teachers how to use the newspaper to help students find facts, do research, learn math and other educational opportunities.

Before the Hood County News launched its NIE program in the 2004-05 school year, subscription services manager Martha Pyron didn’t have a clue how to begin. But she said “We jumped right in.”

Her first step was to join the Texas NIE association, a group of NIE coordinators at Texas newspapers, and to attend the TNIE annual conference. Pyron said that move paid off and TNIE has been an invaluable resource to help the News get started.

The News began by providing about 500 copies a week with corresponding age-appropriate curriculum to all the third-graders at Granbury Independent School District.

The News already was publishing a full kids’ page from NIE vendor Kids Scoop so bringing the newspaper into the classroom was the next logical step.

Now in the 2005-06 school year the News is providing 1,555 copies a week to 74 first- through fourth-grade classrooms and a handful of kindergartners. The response has been overwhelming.

“I get e-mails from my teachers all the time telling me how excited those kids are to get the papers in their hands,” Pyron said.

The NIE program also has had an unexpected benefit. Publisher Jerry Tidwell said the News’ aggressive reporting on the Granbury school district has created a rocky relationship with the superintendent, but NIE has improved that and the News’ image in the community.

“I get a completely different reaction when I go out in the community,” Pyron said. “Now they’re looking at us in a more positive aspect and that I think has been very beneficial for us.”

Although the program has been so successful, Pyron admits finding business sponsorships to pay for all those newspapers is the tough part. She said it requires face-to-face visits with potential sponsors describing how NIE works and helps students learn. Letters only go so far, she said.

One of her main sponsors is Tarleton State University, which makes a single monetary donation to help fund NIE. The college also works with Pyron to help develop curriculum to use with the newspaper.

Pyron hopes to eventually expand the NIE program to upper grade levels and offer it in the other two school districts in Hood County.

Editor’s Note: As part of our ongoing effort to promote NIE, the Texas Press Messenger will feature periodic success stories from member newspapers. If your newspaper has a story to share contact Pauline Word at 800-749-4793.