Editorial Projects in Education, the publisher of Education Week and Teacher Magazine, announced last week that it was ceasing publication of the magazine with the May/June issue.
Founded in 1989, Teacher was nominated for several National Magazine Awards for general excellence. Until last year, it was distributed to every public school in the United States. It had a circulation of 95,000.
The May/June issue is the last.
Despite the acclaim for its high-quality writing and engaging design, Teacher Magazine struggled to attract advertising. Last year, EPE “relaunched” the magazine to appeal to “teacher-leaders” with a new design and format, and enhanced and expanded editorial content.
But the nonprofit corporation described advertiser interest in the new-look publication as mixed, prompting the decision announced May 3. Print periodicals of all types have struggled to attract advertising as more readers go online for news and information. The Bethesda, Md.-based EPE, like other publishers, has invested heavily in the Web, through its decade-old site, edweek.org.
Read the related press release from Editorial Projects in Education.
“Print-publishing realities have forced us to think creatively about how we fulfill our mission of serving teachers,” Virginia B. Edwards, the president of EPE and the editor and publisher of both Education Week and Teacher, said in a statement. “Despite every effort to make Teacher Magazine work, it has become clear that a traditional print magazine is not the most effective way to reach teachers with the information they need in the digital age.”
Instead, the company said it would serve the teacher audience with a comprehensive new Web site that is to debut on edweek.org this coming fall. Teacher Magazine already has a substantial online presence, and Ms. Edwards said it has seen “impressive growth” in its teacher audience online.
The enhanced Web site will combine content for and about teachers from Education Week and EPE’s other divisions, including Agent K-12, an online job site for teachers and administrators, and from other “content partners.” The company said its aim is to establish a forum to allow teachers nationwide to share ideas in a professional network.
