Education for Scholastic Journalism Revisited: Are We Doing Enough?
Paper Submitted to the Scholastic Journalism Division for Review for Possible
Presentation at the AEJMC Convention, August 1998
Tom Dickson, Associate Professor and Mark Paxton, Assistant Professor
Southwest Missouri State University
901 S. National Ave.
Springfield MO 65804
417 836-5423
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Abstract
The Journalism Education Association in 1987 said high school journalism
programs were at risk. We surveyed all colleges and universities in the country
with communications-related programs to try to determine to what extent they
were preparing future and current scholastic journalism teachers. We concluded
that few journalism and mass communication programs were involved in scholastic
journalism education and that those that were involved weren't doing enough.
Education for Scholastic Journalism Revisited: Are We Doing Enough?
Almost a quarter of a century ago, Dick Johns and John Butler (1974) looked
at teacher certification in journalism and concluded that "any real evidence of
drastic change taking place is scarce" (p. 16) They recommended that members of
what was then the Secondary Education Division of the Association for Education
in Journalism (AEJ) "take a long hard look at teaching methodology in the area
of secondary school journalism - a look to find out what is currently being
offered and what deficiencies exist" (p. 17). Johns and Butler suggested that
the AEJ "provide a coordinating effort for journalism education - a clearing
house (a central force united to help put more teeth into standards, directions
of journalism education)" (ibid.).
More than a decade later, the Journalism Education Association in a report
titled High School Journalism Confronts Critical Deadlines (JEA, 1987) concluded
that high school journalism programs were at risk. The JEA cited such things as
declining academic status, lack of training and certification, censorship,
financial difficulties, declining student enrollments, and insufficient support
from professional media, colleges, counselors and colleagues (p. 106).
Concerning the lack of support from colleges and universities, the report
stated: "Higher education has not assumed a sufficiently aggressive role in
nurturing scholastic journalism" (p. 107). It specifically criticized higher
education for not accepting academic-based secondary school journalism courses
for academic credit for incoming students, not identifying prospective
journalism teachers and not providing "a curriculum to prepare them for the
profession" (p. 107).
Death by Cheeseburger: High School Journalism in the 1990s and Beyond
(Freedom Forum, 1994) charged that college journalism programs still weren't
adequately addressing scholastic journalism education. It stated: "Some experts
attribute the shortage of college-trained high school journalism teachers to the
small number of colleges offering majors in journalism education" (p. 13). It
noted that some journalism programs had dropped their majors in journalism
education over the previous 10 years. Mary Sparks, a past president of the
Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication, was quoted as
saying that scholastic journalism education isn't a priority for most journalism
programs, who "feel their main job is to train people to be professional
journalists, and they are also driven by the numbers" (p. 14).
On the 10th anniversary of the JEA's call for higher education to improve
secondary education, we undertook a survey of journalism programs at colleges
and universities to determine what they were doing in the area of scholastic
journalism education. We wanted to find out whether they were offering
coursework that matched recommendations by the JEA Commission on the Role of
Journalism in Secondary Education and to determine the characteristics of
college and university journalism programs were most involved in scholastic
journalism education..
Studies of Education for Scholastic Journalism
Studies from 1970s onward have found that few advisers were adequately
trained. J William Click (1977), for example found that 57 percent of advisers
he surveyed in 14 states had never taken a college journalism course. Only 18
percent held state certification in journalism and just 13 percent had minored
in journalism (p. 2). In a study 15 years later, Dvorak (1992) found that 28
percent of journalism teachers/advisers held state certification in journalism,
second behind English (78 percent) and only somewhat ahead of social studies as
a certification area (18 percent). Only 8 percent of journalism
teachers/advisers had majored in journalism. Dickson and Paxton (1997) found
that 20 percent of high school newspaper advisers had more than 24 college hours
in journalism but just over half had six hours or less.
Education for scholastic journalism is driven by state certification
requirements, and many states had minimal or no requirements for teaching high
school journalism beyond certification in some other teaching area. A 1965
survey by Robert J. Cranford reported by Windhauser and Click (1972) found that
two-thirds of the 45 states responding had journalism certification policies
requiring fewer than 15 hours of journalism. Windhauser and Click found only 40
percent of the states in 1971 required publications advisers to have the
equivalent of a minor in journalism (15-24 hours), and only two states required
more than 24 hours (Yagle, 1975, p. 9). They found that 25 of the 50 states and
the District of Columbia did not require a journalism major or minor for
certification in journalism. Comparing their study to Cranford's in 1965, they
noted few improvements (Yagle, 1975, p. 10).
Several researchers have made recommendations about education for
scholastic journalism. For example, Click and Windhauser (1971) developed a
proposed curriculum for teacher certification. Dean (1973) surveyed high school
journalism teachers, high school principals, journalism deans and department
chairs, and newspaper editors in order to devise proposals for pre-service
training programs for high school journalism teachers. He found that most
respondents thought students wanting journalism certification should have 24-30
hours in journalism and that minors should take 12 to 18 hours of journalism. He
suggested both a college methods course for teaching journalism and one for
advising publications.
John Knowles (1974) surveyed 138 colleges and universities identified by
publications produced by The Newspaper Fund and Paul Peterson (1970) as
providing a course for high school journalism teachers and publications
advisers. Of 100 programs responding, he found that 84 offered a publications
course. Only 38 offered a methods course in teaching journalism, though 48
included a unit on methods in the publications course.
Pamela D. Yagle (1975) surveyed 117 colleges and universities, though she
does not state how those programs were selected. A total of 104 schools
responded. Just under a third of programs responding offered summer workshops
(p. 46). Fifty-eight programs either had or were planning scholastic journalism
courses, and 50 offered a journalism education sequence. (p. 49). Of the 48
schools providing the number of hours in their journalism education program, 25
provided a 21-hour to 30-hour sequence and 13 required 31 or more hours. The
rest had fewer than 21 hours. (p. 50).
In order to determine the skills for which advisers had the greatest need,
John William Click (1977) surveyed 300 newspaper and yearbook advisers in 14
states and the District of Columbia and 51 college professors who were known to
teach publications courses for high school publications. He compared rankings of
college and high school educators to 53 statements of needs and found
significant differences.
Stephen Shenton and Anne Smith (1982) undertook to determine how many
colleges and universities offered a scholastic journalism program. (Although
they say they looked through catalogues of all accredited schools, apparently
they used the AEJMC Directory listing, as they noted in a subsequent paper.)
They determined that 38 journalism and mass communications programs listed
offered some sort of journalism education program.
Doug D. Whittle (1983) also studied the needs of advisers in one state for
workshops. He determined that newspaper advising and teaching, photography and
journalism teaching methods were the top areas of greatest need (p. 49).
Julie Dodd (1984) surveyed high school principals and newspaper advisers in
Kentucky about their opinion of important characteristics for newspaper
advisers. She concluded that colleges and universities with journalism
certification should include journalistic writing, editing, design, advertising
and press law as well as methods of teaching journalism and advising
publications in the secondary school (p. 21).
The report of Journalism Education Association's Commission on the Role of
Journalism in Secondary Education (JEA, 1987) called upon colleges and
universities to do several things: 1. examine course offerings and make
adjustments to meet teacher and secondary needs; 2. re-examine admission
standards to define components of secondary journalism courses that would be
accepted for academic credit; 3. offer master's degree programs and continuing
education programs that focus on journalism teacher/adviser preparation as a
career option; 4. offer in-school and/or off-campus assistance for scholastic
journalism programs; and 5. lobby for development of a performance-oriented
Advanced Placement journalism education. It also called on colleges and
universities that sponsor state scholastic press associations to hire adequately
prepared personnel and provide adequate time and financial support for the
program (p. 113).
As part of the JEA report, John Butler reported on a study of JMC programs
listed in the 1985-86 AEJMC Directory about their scholastic journalism program.
Of the 186 institutions surveyed, 129 responded. Of the 39 accredited
institutions with graduate programs that responded, 22 offered workshops or
short summer classes. Ten of them reported they provided no encouragement to
teachers and two had "no interest or participation from high school teachers"
(JEA, p 102). Fifty-six of 61 non-accredited programs responding said they
offered no encouragement for teachers to continue their journalism training and
37 of them reported no teachers taking classes in 1985. Twenty of the 61 schools
reported offering no regular or summer courses of interest to journalism
teachers. Six of 18 schools with a graduate program that were not accredited
reported teachers took courses in 1985, and four offered short summer courses or
workshop.
Butler concluded that schools with graduate programs, whether accredited or
not accredited, appeared to be "more sensitive to the needs of teachers" and
that many journalism programs did not seem to attract enough teachers to
continue teacher training programs. He also called for studies to see why
programs that house scholastic associations "falter in promoting strong
programs" (p. 103).
The Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication and the
American Newspaper Publishers Association sponsored a High School Journalism
Summit on May 3, 1987, in New York City. Its report, The Status of Scholastic
Journalism: An Action Agenda ("The Status," 1988) noted that the problem of
having adequate college programs for scholastic journalism was "a vicious
circle" because universities in states that don't require certification of high
school journalism teachers may not allow scholastic journalism courses to be use
for college entrance credit and they also may offer few courses or summer
workshops for journalism teachers because of lack of demand (p. 3).
The ASJMC/ANPA study also reported a survey conducted by Mary Sparks of
Texas Women's University as to what ASJMC member schools were doing in
scholastic journalism education. Whereas 63 schools in 29 states reported having
a course designed for high school journalism teachers, only 42 of them stated
that they offered it at least once a year (p. 16).
The report recommended that ASJMC administrators "encourage faculty members
to treat high school journalism as a first-class subject." It supported the
JEA's call for minimum certification standards for journalism educators and
called for member schools to hold workshops for beginning and experienced
teachers and to encourage their scholastic journalism liaisons to join the AEJMC
Scholastic Journalism Division (p. 17).
Sharon Hartin Iorio and R. Brooks Garner (1988) found that one-day skills
workshops were the types of university-sponsored programs that were most desired
by Oklahoma teachers, followed by summer workshops for teachers and advisers,
individual student writing competition, one-day skills workshops for students
and workshops conducted via teleconference (p. 992). The type of instruction at
universities most desired was publication in the small school, followed by
yearbook design, yearbook copy writing, photography, news writing and editing,
and newspaper design (p. 993).
The ASJMC's Journalism Education in the High School Committee surveyed members
schools in 1990 in an effort to obtain a list of high school liaisons and to
compile a collection of activities and strategies to help in recruiting and
retaining high school students in general and minority students in particular
(Eveslage, T., & ASJMC, 1991, p. 21). The committee gave three reasons for the
importance of strengthening the relationship between college and high school
journalism programs: 1. to meet the ACEJMC's standard on public service; 2. to
fulfill ACEJMC's Standard 12 requirements to "recruit, advise, and retain
minority students"; and 3. to recruit better students. (p. 21). In a report on
the preliminary findings of the committee, Tom Eveslage (1991) provided an
related reason for trying to recruit more minority students - the
under-representation of minorities in the media (p. 12).
The committee identified six types of activities. Listed from most common to
least common, they were: 1. workshops, conferences and programs on campus; 2.
personal outreach through speeches, visits, press association contacts, etc.; 3.
indirect outreach through publications, mailings, admissions office; 4.
scholarships and financial incentives; 5. follow-through, such as mentoring,
alumni links, student organizations; and 6. miscellaneous opportunities (p. 22).
Ten years after his first study on the subject, Shenton (1992) surveyed the
38 institutions he had studied a decade earlier plus an additional institution
that appeared to have a scholastic journalism education program. He determined
that 10 of the institutions that had previously listed such a program in the
AEJMC directory no longer did, though one other institution had added such a
program. In the 1992 survey, only editing, reporting, and introduction to mass
communication were required by at least half of the 29 institutions listing a
program (p. 13).
William D. Downs Jr. (1996) conducted 70 interviews with recent recipients
of Gold and Silver Crown awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association
and with other successful publications advisers, workshop directors, college
educators, and directors of state and national scholastic press organizations.
The study produced a number of proposals for colleges to assist scholastic
journalism programs and to more effectively train teachers and publications
advisers. Downs made 13 recommendations for improving the training of teachers
and publications advisers. He listed 44 classes, from advertising to yearbook
production, that could be offered (p. 20).
Recent studies have shown the importance of scholastic journalism. For
example, Dvorak (1988), Dvorak (1989), Dvorak (1990), Dvorak, Lain and Dickson
(1994), Moran & Dvorak (1994), and Dvorak (1998) documented the academic
benefits high school journalism courses were to students. Also, 30 percent of
newspaper professional employees (editors, copy editors, reporters,
photographers and artists) responding to a national survey reported that they
first decided to choose a newspaper career while in high school, 38 percent had
taken a high school journalism class, and 55 percent had worked on a junior or
senior high newspaper (ASNE, 1989, pp. 108-109).
Methodology of the Present Study
Previous studies have used a variety of indicators of education for scholastic
journalism, such as whether a teaching methods course was taught, whether a
course in scholastic journalism was offered or whether a scholastic journalism
liaison was in place. In order to come up with a broader definition of a
scholastic journalism education program, we determined that education for
scholastic journalism for the purposes of this study could include: 1.
instruction of students who planned to be high school journalism teachers; 2.
instruction for students who wanted certification to teach high school
journalism; or 3. outreach to current high school teachers or publications
advisers. Thus, we defined involvement in education for scholastic journalism as
offering a course, seminar or workshop for current or prospective high school
journalism teachers or publications advisers. Though such things as student
journalism competitions might be held by programs meeting our definition, those
activities were not a factor in identifying a scholastic journalism program.
To obtain a more complete picture of which institutions offered education
for scholastic journalism, we obtained a list from Patterson's Educational
Directories Inc. of all 681 four-year colleges and universities in the country
that provided instruction in communications-related fields. We assumed that any
such institution might provide education in scholastic journalism. We sent a
postcard to all 681 institutions addressed to "Head, Jrn/Mass Communication."
All the recipient had to do was check one of three blanks on the back of a
business reply postcard that was supplied. The options were: 1. that there was a
program in the academic unit for instruction or certification of students
wanting to be high school journalism teachers or for outreach to current high
school teachers or publications advisers; 2. that there was such a program
elsewhere on campus but not in that unit; or 3. that there was no such program
on that campus. The back of the postcard was printed with a business reply
postal permit; so recipients could simply check the appropriate blank and drop
it in the mail. Respondents also were asked the name and phone number of a
contact person if there was a scholastic journalism program.
We received 195 reply postcards from that mailing: 67 from administrators
indicating their unit had such a program, 11 from administrators indicating that
such a program resided elsewhere in the institution, and 117 from administrators
indicating that the institution had no such program. We sent a survey to the 67
programs that self-identified as having a scholastic journalism program or that
reported such a program was located in a school or college of education. We also
sent a follow-up notice to 133 units that had not responded to the postcard but
that we thought might have a scholastic journalism program. That list consisted
of units that fit one or more of the following criteria: 1. It had a listing in
the current AEJMC Directory for a bachelor of arts in education or a bachelor of
science in education or for a program in journalism education, teaching or
secondary education or a similar title (13 institutions); 2. It was found by
Yagle (1975) to offer a scholastic journalism course; or 3. It had a nationally
known journalism department or school.
We received responses to the second mailing from 42 institutions that had
not returned the postcard, with 20 of them reporting that they had a scholastic
journalism program as described. Thus, after the second mailing we had a
response of 237 of 681 institutions (35 percent).
The survey asked questions about the institution and such things as the
types of activities the unit offered, the number of types of courses offered and
number of faculty teaching scholastic journalism courses. The list of courses
and topics offered was derived mainly from the Journalism Education
Association's proposed Standards for Teacher Education (JEA, 1987, pp 104-105).
Other activities were suggested by previous studies. The completed survey was
reviewed by three members of the AEJMC Scholastic Journalism Division, who
provided suggestions. Surveys were mailed during the spring of 1997.
Of the 88 JMC units in the two mailings that identified themselves as
having a program in scholastic journalism as described on the postcard, 53
returned a completed survey (60 percent). To underscore the uncertainty of some
administrators about whether their unit had activities related to scholastic
journalism education, three administrators that had responded on the postcard
that they had a scholastic journalism program as described returned a survey
stating that they did not have such a program. Thus, we had completed surveys
from 50 units reporting a scholastic journalism program as defined in this
study.
Demographic Information About Responding Programs
Seventy-two percent of the institutions reporting (N=50) were public and 28
percent private. Forty-five percent had an undergraduate enrollment of 10,000 or
less, and 45 percent reported fewer than 200 undergraduate majors in
journalism/mass communication. Just over half of the academic units in which the
scholastic journalism education program was housed (52 percent) had graduate
programs, and four of the units had doctoral programs. Forty-four percent of the
programs reported offering only an undergraduate journalism-related major but no
graduate program, and 4 percent offered no undergraduate journalism-related
major.
Thirty-one of the 50 programs reported offering a certifiable undergraduate
journalism major or minor. Four programs reported having a master's degree in
scholastic journalism. Half of the programs reporting were accredited, and
two-thirds belonged to the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass
Communication.
Twenty-three programs reported having one or more full-time faculty members
involved in teaching undergraduate courses primarily designed for students
seeking secondary school journalism teacher certification. Two of those programs
reported having two such full-time faculty, and two reported having four or
more. Ten programs reported having part-time faculty normally teaching a
scholastic journalism course. One of them reported two such part-time faculty,
one reported three, and one reported four. Fourteen programs reported having
full- or part-time faculty involved in teaching graduate-level courses designed
primarily for journalism teachers. Five of them reported two such faculty, one
reported three and one reported having at least four.
Seven of the 50 programs reported having a statewide scholastic press
association headquartered at the institution, and six reported housing a local
or area one. One program was headquarters for more than one such organization.
Responses to Survey Questions
Nineteen programs reported that they certified students in journalism as either
a primary or secondary teaching area, 18 reported certifying students in
journalism in a secondary area only, and one reported certifying in journalism
only in a primary teaching area. Twenty-seven of those 38 programs (71 percent)
reported certifying five or fewer students a year.
Three of the 38 certifying programs (8 percent) reported a journalism methods
course was required for students wanting primary certification in journalism,
and 17 (45 percent) reported one was required even for students wanting
journalism as a secondary teaching area.
Of the 20 programs offering journalism certification as a primary
certification area, 7 reported that between 24 and 29 hours were required, 7
reported that 30-32 hours were required, and 6 reported that 33 or more hours
were required. Fourteen of the programs stated that a student could be certified
in journalism as a secondary teaching area with fewer than 21 hours of
journalism courses. Only seven of the 38 programs that reported certifying
students (18 percent) actually oversaw their students' practice teaching
experience.
Thirty of the programs (60 percent) reported a moderate amount of contact
or quite a lot of contact with the state scholastic press association.
Twenty-one programs (42 percent) reported offering courses or workshops for
college credit for continuing education of secondary school teachers.
Thirty-nine programs (78 percent) reported outreach to high school journalism
teachers and advisers. Twenty percent of the 39 programs characterized the
outreach to high school teachers and advisers as not very successful, 44 percent
called it moderately successful and 36 percent termed it quite successful.
Respondents also were asked how successful their outreach efforts were in
attracting high school students into their program. Thirty-eight programs
reported such attempts at outreach. Five (13 percent) termed them not very
successful, 22 (58 percent) called them moderately successful, and 11 (29
percent) stated they were quite successful.
Respondents were asked if their outreach efforts through writing
competitions, workshops and camps were successful and, if so, why. The quality
of instruction by their own faculty members was the reason most given for
success. Instruction by top-notch high school advisers was rated second in
importance and instruction by media professionals third.
Twenty-five of the 38 programs having teacher certification programs (66
percent) reported that they staffed courses primarily designed for journalism
teacher or adviser training. Fourteen of them offered fewer than six hours of
such courses, four reported 6-8 hours and seven reported 9 or more hours.
Twenty-six programs reported attempting to attract students to their
journalism teacher certification program. Forty-two percent of them called the
effort not very successful, 50 percent called it moderately successful and 8
percent termed it quite successful.
Table 1 reports the journalism courses required for students wanting state
certification. News writing was most often required, followed closely by
copy-editing, media law and reporting.
Table 2 reports journalism competencies taught in units or modules of courses
required of students wanting state certification. Units or modules concerning
writing various types of leads and news writing were required by the most
programs, followed by media law topics, punctuation and grammar, and
copy-editing. Other competencies most often taught were reporting, interviewing
and journalistic ethics.
Table 3 reports teaching and advising competencies taught in units or
modules of courses required of students wanting state certification. Knowledge
of prior review and prior restraint of publications were taught most often,
followed by duties of the adviser and advertising.
Table 4 reports the percent of programs offering workshops, competitions
and other outreach. The types of outreach offered most were on-campus summer
workshops for teachers and advisers and individual high school student writing
competitions, followed closely by one-day on-campus skills workshops by faculty
for high school students.
Table 5 reports subjects offered for high school journalism teachers and
advisers
during workshops and student publication days. Newspaper design was offered by
the most programs, followed closely by news writing and editing, using a
computer, and photography.
Summary and Conclusions
We drew two basic conclusions from the study: that few colleges and
universities were involved in education for scholastic journalism and that many
of those that were involved were not doing enough.
That only about 88 colleges in the country have programs for scholastic
journalism education is likely close to the actual number. No more than 84 of
the programs responding to earlier surveys offered an activity defined as
scholastic journalism education, and we question whether very many
administrators with a program in education for scholastic journalism would not
have taken the time to place a check on the postcard we sent and returned it.
Fewer than 100 educational institutions can hardly meet the needs of the
country's secondary schools.
That the programs offering scholastic journalism education aren't meeting
the needs of both high school journalism teachers and students wanting to be
high school journalism teachers also is indicated by our survey results. The
activity most wanted by journalism advisers and teachers in Oklahoma as
determined by Iorio and Garner (1988), the publication in the small school, was
taught at only 24 percent of the collegiate programs offering workshops.
Yearbook design, ranked second by Oklahoma teachers, was taught by only 34
percent of the programs offering workshops, and yearbook copy writing, ranked
third, was offered by only 24 percent of the programs. Photography, news writing
and editing, and newspaper design - which were less desired - were offered by
considerably more programs.
Programs responding did a better job in providing teaching competencies
proposed by the Journalism Education Association. More than half of the
certifying programs offered most of the competencies proposed by the JEA, and
broadcast writing was offered by nearly half. Still a number of competencies
were not taught by as many as 40 percent of the programs, particularly two
non-skills topics: literary works of famous journalists and literary analysis
and criticism. Interestingly, almost as many programs now teach about electronic
publications as teach review writing. Also, only nine of the 21 teaching and
advising competencies were offered by half of the certifying programs. Six of
the competencies were offered by fewer than one-third of the certifying
programs.
The results of the study question suggest that nearly 25 years after Johns and
Butler's article, we can still say that "any real evidence of drastic change
taking place is scarce." Further study needs to be done to determine why more
journalism programs aren't offering education for scholastic journalism and why
programs with a scholastic journalism component aren't teaching more of the
recommended competencies. As suggested by the JEA study (1987) and others, it is
hard for academic programs to justify special courses, such as a methods course,
for only a handful of students. However, more might be done in the way of
workshops and short courses.
This study has again shown not only that many collegiate journalism and mass
communication programs are falling short in their service mission but also that
defining education for scholastic journalism is not an easy job. Perhaps as
Johns and Butler (1974) also suggested, members of the Scholastic Journalism
Division can play an important role in meeting the needs of secondary schools in
improving education for scholastic journalism.
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Yagle, P.D. (1975, May). Journalism teaching-advising courses at West Virginia
University and 103 other schools. Unpublished master's thesis, West Virginia
University.
Table 1 (Question 24)
Journalism courses required of students wanting state certification
Percent of Programs
Granting
Certification That Offer Course
(N=35)
News writing 83%
Copy-editing 66%
Journalism or mass media law 66%
Reporting 60%
Publication advising 51%
Photography 49%
Publication layout and design 46%
Theory or philosophy of journalism 31%
Journalism or mass media history 29%
Combined course in copy-editing and layout 20%
Advertising 20%
Feature writing 17%
Journalism or mass media ethics 14%
Broadcasting 12%
Business and financial practices for publications advisers 9%
Basic yearbook techniques 9%
Editorial and column writing 6%
________________________________________________________________________
Table 2 (Question 25)
Journalism competencies taught in units or modules of courses
required of students wanting state certification
________________________________________________________________________
Percent of Certifying Programs
Providing the Competency
(N=32)
Writing various types of leads 88%
News writing 88%
Freedom of the press, censorship, libel 81%
Punctuation and grammar 81%
Copy-editing 81%
Reporting/covering beats 78%
Interviewing 75%
Journalistic ethics 75%
Feature writing 72%
Design for various types of publications 72%
Journalistic (wire service) style 68%
Writing headlines 68%
History of journalism 65%
Photography 61%
Writing photo cutlines 61%
Journalistic search techniques 58%
Table 2 Continued
Journalism competencies taught in units or modules of courses
required of students wanting state certification
________________________________________________________________________
Percent of Certifying Programs
Providing the Competency
Writing depth stories 55%
Broadcasting 48%
Sports writing 39%
Opinion and column writing 39%
Review writing 29%
Electronic publications and web sites 26%
Semantics and/or proper usage of words for a particular audience 23%
News bureau organization 13%
Literary work of famous journalists or literary works 13%
Literary analysis and criticism 7%
________________________________________________________________________
Table 3 (Question 26)
Teaching and advising competencies taught in units or modules of courses
required of students wanting state certification
________________________________________________________________________
Percent of Certifying
Programs
Providing the Competency
(N=30)
Prior review and prior restraint of publications 72%
Duties of the adviser 69%
Advertising 66%
Correcting student newspaper/yearbook copy for libel, privacy invasions 59%
General business practices for advisers 59%
Evaluating students' written work 59%
Yearbook publication and production 59%
Correcting student newspaper/yearbook copy for grammar, spelling, etc. 55%
Correcting student newspaper/yearbook copy for accuracy, fairness and
balance 55%
The publications adviser's relationship with the principal 48%
Choosing a newspaper printer 41%
Selecting a yearbook company 41%
Publishing a newspaper (meeting deadlines, etc.) 38%
Selecting journalism text books, visual aids, and supplemental material 35%
Creating a publications staff and assigning duties 35%
Specific court cases pertaining to the high school student press 31%
Table 3 (Continued)
Teaching and advising competencies taught in units or modules of courses
required of students wanting state certification
Percent of Certifying
Programs
Providing the Competency
Staff motivation 28%
Publication budgeting 28%
Computer programs and word processing for student publications 28%
Arranging a school picture plan 21%
Organizing a subscription drive 10%
________________________________________________________________________
Table 4 (Question 12)
Outreach Activities Offered by Responding Programs
________________________________________________________________________________
______
Percent of Programs
Offering the activity
(N=50)
On-campus summer workshops for teachers and advisers 42%
Individual high school student writing competitions 42%
One-day on-campus workshops by faculty for high school students 40%
One-day on-campus programs with media speaker for high school students 32%
One-day skills workshops for area teachers and advisers 18%
Middle school outreach 16%
One-day skills workshops around the state 10%
Workshops/courses conducted via television 6%
Workshops/courses conducted via Internet 6%
________________________________________________________________________
Table 5 (Question13)
Subjects offered for high school journalism teachers and advisers
during workshops and student publication days
________________________________________________________________________
Percent of Programs
Offering the Subject
(N=50)
Newspaper design 54%
News writing and editing 52%
Computer uses 46%
Photography 42%
Journalism/mass communication law 36%
Yearbook design 34%
Ethics 30%
Broadcasting 28%
Staff management 24%
Publication in the small school 24%
Yearbook copy writing 24%
Career development 16%
________________________________________________________________________
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