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While readership of the ATA News is down slightly, the paper is well read and doing a good job of connecting teachers to their profession.
These are some of the messages that ATA News editor-in-chief Jonathan Teghtmeyer is taking away from a reader survey conducted in the fall of 2015. The survey attracted 394 responses both online and via paper entry.
Seventy-one per cent of respondents said they read every issue of the paper. “Although down slightly from the 73 per cent reported in 2012, the result shows that teachers are still finding time in their busy day to read the News. Teghtmeyer said.
The survey also shows that readers are spending more time reading the paper, as 47 per cent of 2015 respondents indicated they spend more than 15 minutes with each issue, compared to 41 per cent in 2012.
The results also indicate that readers are taking in more of the paper’s content, with 64 per cent reading at least half the paper (57 per cent in 2012).
“These results suggest to me that that we’re on the right track with some of the changes we’ve made in recent years,” Teghtmeyer said.
ATA News staff have taken steps to make the newspaper more visually appealing and move the most popular content toward the front of the paper, he said.
The list of most popular content remained virtually unchanged compared to 2012, led by stories on education issues, the Q&A, updates on collective bargaining, and editorials and opinions. Readers expressed interest in reading more content about breaking education news, what the Association offers teachers, teaching tips, technology related to education and national education news.
Many complimented the paper’s appearance while others requested more bite-sized information as well as more photographs and other visual elements.
“We are looking at ways to add the content that teachers are seeking, and are continually trying to keep the paper fresh, informative and relevant to teachers’ working lives,” Teghtmeyer said. “Clearly teachers value the News, whether they encounter it in print or in on-line formats, and the News continues to be an indispensable channel of communication reaching a great many of our members.” ❚
