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Educational Initiatives

We believe that reaching out to the younger generation is critical and we have worked hand-in-hand with schools in New York City and across the country to attract the next generation of readers. We are committed to a number of educational efforts, including:

Grades Kindergarten – 12th

Newspaper in Education: Our two largest papers – The New York Times and The Boston Globe – are active in supporting the Newspaper in Education (NIE) program, which promotes the use of newspapers in classrooms to complement texts and encourage newspaper reading among young people. Many Kindergarten through 12th grade teachers who use The Times in their classrooms are now using the electronic edition – more than 60% of NIE copies in spring 2009 were served as electronic copies.

In addition, many of our regional newspapers allow subscribers to donate their papers to the NIE program when they are on vacation.

The Learning Network: The Learning Network is a blog that highlights rich and imaginative materials for teaching and learning using New York Times content. Geared to grades 3-12 teachers, students and parents, the site uses Times articles as springboards for activities for the classroom and home, including lesson plans, daily news quizzes, news summaries, crossword puzzles and an "On This Day in History" section.

News Literacy Project: The New York Times is a participating news organization in The News Literacy Project, an innovative national program to mobilize journalists to help middle and high school students sort fact from fiction in the digital age.

The New York Times Upfront: The New York Times Upfront, a news magazine for teens that makes it easy for teachers to connect current events to their curriculum, is published by Scholastic in collaboration with The New York Times. This biweekly magazine includes, among other features, reports from Times correspondents around the globe on national and international news.

College and Universities

College Programs: The Times currently has programs on nearly 1,300 college campuses across the country and typically distributes more than 130,000 copies a day during the school year. The Times collaborates with colleges and universities to custom-design programs that:

  • Provide newspapers at a discounted rate;
  • Support faculty in developing strategies to integrate The Times into the curriculum; and
  • Sponsor events and Times speaker programs that bring current issues to life.

In 2008 Times journalists made about 100 speaking appearances on college campuses across the United States.

The Knowledge Network: The Knowledge Network was launched in 2007 to deliver lifelong learning programs on timely subjects, pairing a rich array of Times articles, archives, graphics and multimedia content – and the participation of Times reporters, columnists and editors – with faculty course material at participating colleges and universities. These online programs are a significant expansion of a program that has provided copies of the paper, accompanied by curriculum guides, to faculty at colleges and universities for several years, bringing the resources of The Times into classrooms as part of the learning experience.

In fall 2009 the Knowledge Network launched 100 online courses, including seminars led by Nicholas Kristof and Gail Collins. Among the 22 participating institutions are NYU, the University of Chicago, Drexel, Emory and Stanford. These programs cover a wide range of topics, including business, writing, history, health and politics; they use The Times and its journalists as teaching resources for personal enrichment, professional development, certification programs and some credit-bearing programs. In addition, many programs feature live webcasts that allow students to interact and ask questions of participating Times reporters and editors.

The Knowledge Network, which is powered by Epsilen Environment, also serves as a global online network and academic development resource for faculty, students and alumni. Users are be able to share work with colleagues, create their own academic or professional ePortfolios, invite peer review and establish professional contact with people around the world based on common academic pursuits.

The New York Times Student Journalism Institute: The New York Times Student Journalism Institute brings together student journalists with writers, editors, designers and photographers from The New York Times, The Boston Globe and Times Company Regional papers to work individually in a newsroom setting. The students are assigned to cover real news and the results are posted on the Institute Web site, with the best work published in a newspaper at the end of the Institute.

The Institute is offered twice a year, in the first two weeks of January for student members of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and in the last two weeks in May for student members of the National Association of Black Journalists or students at historically black colleges and universities.

The New York Times ESOL Guide to New York: The New York Times ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) Guide to New York City assists adult students in their language development through engaging lessons, which incorporate interactive activities and tasks related to their language immersion environment. This guide highlights the vast resources of The Times by presenting structured lesson plans, which not only meet the language acquisition needs of students but can also empower them to use the paper as a guide to more fully experience New York City. The Times introduces its readers to restaurants, theater, cultural events, city landmarks, neighborhoods, and local news stories that can all be experienced firsthand.

The Choice blog on college admissions

The Choice

The college admissions process can be intimidating but it need not be. New York Times education writer Jacques Steinberg and his colleagues examine all facets of the college admissions process in The Choice blog.

The New York Times Knowledge Network

Education coverage

Read education coverage from The New York Times and The Boston Globe.

The New York Times Knowledge Network

The New York Times Knowledge Network

A learning and networking platform that combines the unmatched resources of The New York Times with the best educators from major institutions.