Newspaper In Education

What is Newspaper In Education

NIE at The Providence Journal | The history of NIE | The Goals of NIE | The statistics | Why are NIE programs so successful?

The Providence Journal’s Newspaper In Education program has been working with schools throughout Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts for nearly three decades. It was created in response to feedback from classroom teachers that budget cuts meant old and outdated textbooks and lack of informative, fun curriculum materials geared toward current educational standards.

The Providence Journal NIE Program is proud to provide schools with free or greatly discounted newspapers, free in-service workshops, free classroom speakers, and free educational supplements and curriculum guides.

Newspaper In Education (NIE) is not a new concept. The first known reference to NIE dates back to 1795 when the Portland (Maine) Eastern Herald published the following editorial:

“Much has been said and written on the utility of the newspaper; but one principal advantage which might be derived from these publications has been neglected; we mean that of reading them in schools, and by the children in families. Try it for one session – Do you wish your child to improve reading solely, give him a newspaper – it furnishes a variety, some parts of which must infallibly touch his fancy. Do you wish to instruct him in geography, nothing will so indelibly fix the relative situation of different places, as the stories and events published in the papers. In time, do you wish to have him acquainted with the manners of country or city, the mode of doing business, public or private; or do you wish him to have a smattering of every kind of science useful and amusing, give him a newspaper – newspapers are plenty and cheap – the cheapest book that can be bought, and the more you buy the better for your children, because every part furnishes new and valuable information!”

NIE programs grew in the 1930s and ’40s as “The Living Textbook Program” sparked by such esteemed publications as The New York Times and The Milwaukee Journal.

Prompted by a survey of 5,500 Des Moines, Iowa, secondary students that showed up to 40 percent of students spent zero leisure time reading outside of the classroom and those who did read only for 1/3 of the time they spent watching television, a national “Newspaper in the Classroom” program was established in 1957.

The program’s objectives are to promote literacy and to have students develop lifelong reading habits while mastering a variety of skills and meeting state and national educational standards.

NIE also strives to provide educators with an economical, effective and exciting way to teach a variety of subjects, assisting in the development of critical thinking skills.

Students in schools with at least some NIE programs perform 10 percent better on standardized reading tests than students in schools that have no NIE programs. Middle schools and schools with high minority enrollments show even better improvement on test scores when an NIE program is in place. (Dan Sullivan, media professor at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis.)

Third graders working on fluency and comprehension skills using the newspaper as text show statistically significant improvement on miscues, correct words per minute and prosody (metrical structure of verse) than those with only regular classroom instruction. (Wendy Grimshaw, Fredericksburg, Virginia, elementary-school educator and Free Lance-Star NIE Advisory Board Member.)

The newspaper is a living textbook, an up-to-the-minute chronicle of current events, politics and lifestyles. Through the daily news, features, business, sports and editorial sections students and their educators have access to hands on, motivating lessons in mathematics, science, history, economics, health, values education and literacy. Every day, for every age and every reading level, there is a lesson ready to go.

* Newspapers reduce avoidance attitudes related to reading. For those with reading delays, carrying beginner literature may appear “babyish” while a newspaper is something that adults and children feel comfortable holding.

* Newspapers get students interested in what they are reading both by offering relevant subject matter and by using materials written in a style that students prefer to textbooks. Young readers can learn mathematics and geography by following their favorite sports teams or creative writing and literacy skills by reading about popular television, movie or recording stars.

* NIE programs provide specific strategies and exercises that help students of varying abilities learn critical reading skills within the same classroom.

* Newspapers bring lessons alive. Information is seen by students as relevant to their lives and is therefore more likely to be retained.