Kimberly A. Fabrizio, NIE & Literacy Projects Coordinator
205 West 12th Street
Erie, PA 16534
814-870-1820
Thank you for reviewing the following three-page preliminary proposal for funding under the Dirksen Congressional Center’s Robert H. Michel Civic Education Grants Program prepared for the Center’s October 2002 evaluation meeting.
Achieving Standards Easily – Civic Responsibility
The Organization:
The Erie Times-News In Education (NIE) program is a national award-winning 501c(3) organization that serves more than 30,000 students in over 200 Northwestern Pennsylvania schools. The organization is part of an international movement, utilizing the newspaper and its resource to educate children and families through direct service. With over two decades of service to Erie, Crawford, Venango and Warren Counties of Pennsylvania and the bordering towns in New York and Ohio, the NIE program is a leader in the education community. Erie Times-News In Education programs and projects have been successfully replicated at both the state and national level.
Erie Times-News In Education is a 2002 Pennsylvania Educational Tax Credit-offering innovative educational program. Employer ID # 25-1877033.
Our Mission:
We believe that children, who currently only make up 25% of our population, represent 100% of our future. The Erie Times-News In Education program promotes self-sufficiency and strives to encourage life-long daily reading habits which create informed, literate and educated citizens.
The Project:
NIEase: (Achieving Standards Easily) – Civic Responsibility is a two-part project designed to integrate civics instruction into the classroom with practical classroom applications for both the teacher and the student.
Objectives:
· Conduct a Pennsylvania Act 48 credit-offering professional development seminar for 50-100 Civics teachers, grades 6-12.
· Provide free curriculum materials to all teachers participating in the professional development seminar.
· Develop and distribute a 16-page newspaper supplement to more than 20,000 students in more than 150 middle and high schools in Erie, Crawford, Venango and Warren Counties – free of charge to students and teachers.
· Develop an on-line, Web version of the newspaper supplement, to publish simultaneously on www.GoErie.com/nie.
· Integrate the proposed Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Civics and Government into both the curriculum materials for the professional development seminar as well as in the newspaper supplement.
Methods/Work Plan:
Part I: NIEase – Civic Responsibility – the Seminar:
· Conduct a 4-credit offering professional development seminar for middle and high school civics (and related subjects) teachers who work in Erie, Crawford, Venango and Warren Counties on Saturday, January 11, 2003. Participants will be charged a minor registration fee of $10 to cover the costs associated with processing Act 48 credit-offering paperwork and minor incidentals.
· Provide each participant with a copy of the curriculum: “Presidents, Politics and the Process” at no charge. During the seminar, participating teachers will actively participate in completing student-based activities within the curriculum. Capturing each president’s personal imprint on U.S. history, lessons are designed to relate to themes and events in today’s presidential administration and the inner workings between the President and the federal government. Lessons make connections between political campaigns, power struggles, scandals, war and issues of yesterday and today and contain information about the process to elect a public official.
· Participants will also receive a preview of the “It’s Your Government” newspaper supplement, in order to prepare for use of the supplement in their classroom on January 27, 2003.
Part II: NIEase – Civic Responsibility – the Newspaper Supplement:
· Distribute more than 20,000 copies of “It’s Your Government” to students in grades 6-12 throughout Erie, Crawford, Venango and Warren Counties on Monday, January 27, 2003. All teachers in those grades, regardless of whether they attended the previous seminar will be eligible to receive complimentary copies of the newspaper supplement, compliments of the Center. “It’s Your Government” is a stimulating look at the many ways that students can become actively involved as responsible citizens in the political process, from voting to becoming an activist to running for office. A center-spread full color pull-out details how a bill becomes a law. A corresponding teacher’s-guide expands on lessons within the 16-page newspaper section. (This section was also previously utilized by another Center-grantee, the Peoria Star Journal).
· Publish “It’s Your Government” simultaneously with the print version on the NIE Web site: www.GoErie.com/nie.
Evaluation:
· Teachers participating in the professional development seminar will be required to complete a program evaluation at the closing of the seminar.
· All activities, administered at the seminar will have a corresponding rubric, to be used to evaluate performance of activities.
· Teachers receiving copies of “It’s Your Government” for their students will be required to complete an evaluation of the supplement.
· Attendance at the professional development seminar and distribution of curriculum and newspaper supplements will be closely monitored to ensure reaching program objectives.
Replicability:
One Erie Times-News In Education program (related to drug prevention education) has been replicated at the national level by nearly 500 NIE programs. The drug prevention program, originally named “Building Positive Teen Behaviors through the Media” was adopted by the White House Office on National Drug Control Policy and it’s National Anti-Drug Media Campaign, and was renamed “Majority Rules.” Through Erie Times-News In Education’s affiliation with the Newspaper Association of America, “Majority Rules” was then incorporated into nearly 500 NIE programs within each of the 50 states during 2001-2002. Prior to the “Majority Rules” program, 85% of NIE programs nationwide reported that they had never before included drug prevention education in their curriculum.
In addition, two other Erie Times-News In Education programs have been replicated. One program has been replicated in five other NIE programs in Pennsylvania, and a very recent 2002 program is currently being replicated in two other NIE programs, one within Pennsylvania the other in Chicago.
“NIEase – Civic Responsibility” is designed to easily be replicated at both the state and national level.
Budget:
Software Purchases:
“Presidents, Politics and the Process” $250
“It’s Your Government” $460
Distribution of Newspaper Supplement:
20,000 copies of supplement at half-priced educational rate of
12.5 cents per copy (to be offered at no-charge to teachers
and students) $2,500
Professional Development Activities:
Conference Speaker Stipends $500
Duplication of Curriculum $300
Seminar expenses (room rental, equipment rental) $700
Total $4,710
The Times Publishing Company of Erie, PA, publisher of the Erie Times-News and affiliated with the non-profit organization, Erie Times-News In Education, will incur all costs associated with printing and distributing the newspaper supplement, all promotional advertising expenses, all direct-mail promotion expenses, as well as all salary costs for the program coordinator. A minimal $10 tuition fee will be charged to workshop participants to offset Act-48 credit hour processing fees and other incidentals.
Recognition for the Dirksen Congressional Center:
The Center will be recognized as program sponsor in all in-newspaper and direct mail promotion of both the professional development seminar and the newspaper supplement. All curriculum will bear the Center’s name. The Center’s name and logo will appear on the newspaper supplement and on the NIE Web page designed in conjunction with the printed supplement. All teacher evaluations, surveys etc. will also bear the Center’s name and logo when appropriate. Teachers and students will be encouraged to send letters of appreciation to the Center’s Board members.