NEWSPAPERS CREATE A HISTORY BOOK OF OUR TIMES

Students in area classrooms receive a brand-new textbook every day filled with information from around the world and down the street.

Their textbook is the Southeast Missourian newspaper, which is delivered daily to 200 teachers at no cost to schools through the Newspaper In Education (NIE) program. This marks the second year the Southeast Missourian has sponsored NIE.

Kim McDowell, who coordinates NIE, said the program is an effort to support education and promote literacy.

Jon Rust, who is working with McDowell, said: "Educational leaders are asking for better partnerships between industry and schools. With newspapers, we knew we had something very special to give to the educational process; newspapers are exciting, interesting, and fresh every day."

McDowell said: "We have heard about the needs of students to become more literate and their need to be motivated to learn. We knew that NIE was succeeding in other areas, so we thought we would try for ourselves.

"Last year the program was successful far beyond our expectations," said McDowell. "Teachers told us students love this. Students started out reading the comics and police report and ended up reading the front page and following news events.

"I was amazed at the number of teachers who said they wanted to continue receiving their paper daily rather than weekly because of the continuity of news," McDowell said. "Many of their students were following the news stories day by day."

Rust said, "We've been wonderfully surprised at how well it works."

The newspaper is used in many subject areas, including social studies, language arts, geography, math and science. And it is being used at every grade level. "I think we may actually have more elementary classes participating," said McDowell.

"Several teachers remarked that they would rather have NIE or the Mini Page than Weekly Reader or Scholastic News," she said.

During the first year, 200 teachers and about 2,500 students participated in the program. The Southeast Missourian funded 90 percent of the estimated $120,000 cost of Newspaper In Education.

"We can't afford to continue underwriting that much of the program," Rust said.

Last year a number of corporate sponsors joined the NIE team. Sponsors the first year included Health Services Corporation of America, Procter and Gamble, Venture, St. Francis Medical Center, Mid America Distributing, Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Missouri, and Boatmen's Bank.

This year the newspaper has made a commitment to continue providing newspapers to those teachers who asked that their classes continue to receive them. But the scope of this year's NIE program will be based largely on the success of the YELL for Newspapers campaign.

Half of the money raised through sales of the newspapers during the YELL promotion will be donated to NIE. The other half goes to the Area Wide United Way for literacy programs.

Rust explained that in addition to newspaper sales, local businesses are supporting NIE with advertising dollars. "Those businesses which advertised in the YELL publication, the money they spent goes directly to Newspaper In Education," he said.

"The people I've contacted at different businesses have seen the SAT scores going down and they see more and more young people caught up in watching television all the time," Rust said. "They realize that to have a strong community we need well-educated young people."

McDowell said, "Businesses are also seeing a problem in their work force with a lack of potential employees with the communication skills and critical thinking they need."

Newspaper reading can make a difference, they said.

"Students become more aware and interested in what is happening in the world and in the community," Rust said.

Day by day, week by week, year after year, newspapers compile a history book of our lives. Through Newspaper in Education, this daily history book has become an important teaching tool.