Corporate Contributions to Education
Sadlier
Education Publishing Company Celebrates 175th Anniversary
By Joan Baum, Ph.D.
The name of the oldest family-owned publishing company in
America may not (yet) be a household name, but some of its educational
materials, especially its best-selling graded Vocabulary Workbook series and
Progress in Mathematics textbooks are used in schools K-12 across the country
in numbers that can only be described as in the millions. “We may be one of the
best kept secrets in education,” suggests William S. Dinger, the soft-spoken
president of William H. Sadlier, Inc., now celebrating 175 years as educational
publishers, and an increasing and influential educational presence online. Mr.
Dinger, who is part of the Sadlier dynasty, suspects that he took up the mantle
as early as age seven, when his father would take him on occasional visits to
the office, but for sure, when he moved into top executive positions he felt
the obligations as well as the joys of heading a unique enterprise that for so
long had been making a contribution to education. Indeed, only two weeks after
having been graduated from Notre Dame in 1963, with a B.B.A., having majored in
accounting, Bill Sadlier was at work at the company in sales and marketing and
learning everything he could at all levels. He fondly recalls his father’s
wisdom: “you can’t be in publishing and have an ego.” Now, at the helm of
William H. Sadlier, Inc., having been active in the organization for over 40
years, and enjoying the support of family members and internationally known
education specialists, William Sadlier Dinger reaffirms his dedication to the
widened mission to provide instructional materials in the form of books and
technology-based programs that teachers can readily access and recommend to
their students.
From its early 19th century beginnings as an innovative leader
in publishing materials to meet the spiritual and educational needs of the then
small but growing Catholic community in this country, many immigrants, William
H. Sadlier, Inc. evolved in the `70s, under the rubric of Sadlier-Oxford, into
a publishing company also dedicated to addressing other disciplines and
academic subjects and to serving public schools as well as nondenominational
private schools. With continuing input from leading national figures in
mathematics and phonics, it has been making inroads in the highly competitive
textbook field. Though Bill Dinger courteously credits everyone involved,
invoking another motto that “a good textbook is built, not written,” it is the
online segments of Sadlier’s educational programs that are enhancing the
mission, or what its president calls “reteaching.” He means by that,
interactive reinforcement of concepts and application of the pedagogical theme
that “every child can learn, going as quickly as they can or as slowly as they
must.” Teachers, particularly those in the formative grades K-2, direct
students to Sadlier sites that reinforce classroom concepts and that also
provide assessment, every three or four concepts.
Does Sadlier work? The president answers by noting that teachers
using Sadlier materials in the middle schools—grades that nation wide
have been identified as the most challenging for retention and new
learning—report that students are doing well, especially in crucial areas
such as critical thinking and problem solving. Bill Dinger has nothing but
confidence regarding future endeavors. Last year, the company introduced online
audio component to assist learners of English, a feature that should be
particularly significant in districts with large Latino populations, one of his
main emphases ever since he and his brother years ago visited Mexico and became
involved with an orphanage there. Under his auspices the company continues its
benevolent outreach. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Bill Dinger organized a
schoolbook replacement committee to go to Mississippi, and he participated in
the Principal for a Day program in the New York City.#
For more
information—and subject links, readers should go to
www.sadlier-oxford.com.
