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1995-2000


MAY 2007

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.

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Education Update, Inc.
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