Innovator Awards Presented
T he second annual Newspaper Innovators in Education Awards for innovative Newspaper In Education programs that produce measurable results were given out this summer by the NAA Foundation and the Newseum of Arlington, Va. The award is given to partnerships between newspapers and educational organizations.
Each of the award-winning partners was brought to Washington, D.C., where their work was honored at a banquet. In addition, the five winning NIE programs each received $5,000 to be put toward future program efforts.
"These programs clearly demonstrate that newspapers are effective as tools to teach the basics and they can be used to help improve student performance," says Toni F. Laws, NAA senior vice president for diversity and NAA Foundation. "The creativity and resourcefulness demonstrated by the winning partners will serve as inspiration for NIE programs across the country."
The 2001 Innovators In Education Awards winners are:
The Quick Draw program was created by The Oregonian in Portland and local Benson Polytechnic High School. The program used an exhibit of more than 50 political cartoons from the past 100 years to teach a variety of subjects. The partners also collaborated on teachers’ guides utilizing The Oregonian as a teaching tool. A teacher survey indicated that the program helped teachers meet Oregon State Learning Standards. Amanda Austin is high-school coordinator for The Oregonian, and Rob Melton, a teacher at the school, is the education partner.
For the Will Read Program, The Mobile (Ala.) Register and Lille B. Williamson High School in Mobile developed curriculum materials to help Williamson students improve their scores on standardized tests such as the SAT and the state assessments. Only 67 percent of Williamson’s senior class met the state standards in 2000 and the school was in danger of being taken over by the state Department of Education. After implementing this program, the percentage of seniors passing the test improved dramatically to 87 percent in 2001. Trish LoPorto is the marketing NIE coordinator of The Mobile Register, and Terrance S. Mixon Sr. is the principal of Williamson High School.
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| Winners of NAA Foundation Innovators in Education Awards received $5,000 for their programs. |
The goal of the Perfect Together Program by The Record of Hackensack, N.J. and School #20 in Patterson was to improve the state assessment test scores of this inner-city school’s students. The partners created a program in which students worked with the newspaper in all subjects and resulted in dramatically increased scores in nearly every category. Layne Williams is NIE coordinator for The Record, and Ken Garrabrant is a teacher of language arts at School #20.
The Effective Learning Series brought together The Seattle Times and Seattle-based Teaching That Makes Sense Inc. to produce a program aimed at helping Seattle students meet the Washington state learning standards. The program used a curriculum guide, Web site, workshops and in-paper materials to reach 675 teachers and 20,500 students. Allana Bourne is program/curriculum specialist for The Seattle Times and Steve Peha is president of Teaching That Makes Sense.
Waco Schools + Waco Trib = Character Education is a character-education program created through a partnership between the Waco (Texas) Tribune-Herald and the Waco Independent School District. The program included nine monthly in-paper sections and a teacher’s guide. Each special section focused on a different character trait that students could improve on to create a better environment for learning at their school. A student survey determined that 85 percent of students felt the program did help make their school a better place. In a survey of teachers, 78 percent reported a positive difference in student behavior due to the program. Christienne Martin is the educational-services manager at the Tribune-Herald, and Nilean Folmar is the director of curriculum for the Waco Independent School District.