Who is NESPA?

The National Elementary Schools Press Association is an organization dedicated to helping elementary and middle schools start new and improve existing class and school newspapers. The association serves as a clearinghouse for schools interested in sharing information and newspapers with member schools from coast to coast.

Educational research shows that students write more and better when they are writing regularly for a real audience. School newspapers offer kids wonderful writing opportunities for real audiences. NESPA helps schools pull everything together for members by publishing an extensive How-To Book and a regular newsletter published online (NESPAper) for member schools and individuals. These publications are filled with ideas, suggestions, hints, software reviews, and more. Teacher members are invited to submit their ideas and new discoveries for future editions of both publications.

The association also helps schools share their newspapers by encouraging paper swaps with fellow members. Students from NESPA schools are invited to submit writing for possible syndication in school newspapers nationwide.

NESPA boasts a membership of hundreds of schools representing 48 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Virgin Islands, Australia, and Ireland.

NESPA Mission Statement

NESPA is committed to improving the writing skills of elementary and middle school students by encouraging real-life writing experiences in student-published school newspapers.