• by Dana Blankenhorn , April 8, 2003

Scholastic Administrator Finds Success Last year was one of the toughest times to launch a magazine in recent history, but believe it or not, there exists a technology magazine that launched in early 2002 and has found success.

Its name is "Scholastic Administrator."

Scholastic Inc. launched the publication in January 2002 and has won ad contracts from such firms as Hewlett-Packard, CDW, Gateway, Intel and Palm with articles that teach principals and school superintendents how to apply technology to learning through best practices and case studies

Group publisher Michele Robinson said the 100,000-circulation magazine has also been contracted by Dell Computer to build a special Web site dealing with technology education. "Dell hasn't done a lot of print advertising in education."

Robinson estimates she has won 25-30% of the market for K-12 technology education advertising. None of her competitors hit the target in the same way. "District Administration" isn't a tech book, "THE Journal" also covers higher education, while "Technology and Learning" is aimed more at teachers and parents, she said.

"We saw an information gap in terms of other titles going to administrators. There wasn't an administrator magazine that focused on technology but wasn't filled with techie jargon," she said, and "most administrators are not techies."

Some "Scholastic Administrator" readers are technical experts, but "this appeals to them for different reasons. The feedback from focus groups and reader surveys is this facilitates a dialogue between those with technology backgrounds and superintendents who may otherwise be intimidated."

Robinson has also leveraged her company's other operations and contacts. Scholastic Marketing Partners owns Quality Education Data (QED), which offers databases and The Heller Reports newsletters, which also present education conferences.

"We're able to offer vendors not only a publication, but research and databases and newsletters and conferences," she said.

Robinson has also gotten John Bailey, director of education technology under President Bush to contribute a regular column on implementing the "No Child Left Behind Act". "That's a big coup for the magazine."

Focusing on specific content for a specific reader niche, with ample supporting operations, has allowed Scholastic Administrator to prosper while other technology-related magazines have folded, Robinson concluded.