In a state where the high cost of housing mandates a head start on the road to home ownership, the real estate industry is this fall expanding a newspaper-based educational program to school more students on home ownership.

Students who take the special curriculum can't fail.

Statistics reveal that consumers who get special home ownership counseling or education before they buy a home make for smarter home owners who are more capable of holding onto what's likely to be their most valuable asset.

With California taking the lead to quickly expand the program in state, the valuable curriculum could go national -- as many California initiatives do.

"HomeWords," is Newspapers in Education (NIE) curriculum that uses newspaper editorial content and other tools to teach high schoolers about home ownership while strengthening their reading and writing skills.

HomeWords was originally developed a few years ago by the Los Angeles Times, in conjunction with the Southland Regional Association of Realtors and Fannie Mae for San Fernando Valley Schools.

HomeWords' appeal quickly led San Diego Union-Tribune to join with the San Diego Association of Realtors to expand the program into dozens of school districts in the San Diego-Riverside-Imperial County area in midterm this year.

This fall, for the 2003-2004 high school year, thanks to the California Association of Realtors, HomeWords will get a further boost to high schools in Northern California in the communities served by the San Francisco Chronicle, Fresno Bee, Sacramento Bee, and the San Jose Mercury News, all of which offer NIE programs.

NIE is a consortium of publishers created to develop educational programs using newspapers as educational tools. Newspapers, in turn, partner with schools and local groups to disseminate the curricula, including algebraic word problem studies based on sports news and statistics, social studies that use national and world news stories and stock market games that rely upon business and financial news.

Using newspapers in education makes sense. News is, after all, the first draft of history. And home ownership also is a natural for NIE. Buying a home is the largest, most emotionally trying transaction most consumers will ever complete. Achieving what many consider the centerpiece of the American Dream requires extensive reading, writing, mathematical and analytical skills to master the credit, savings, finance, cost and affordability issues that come with it.

Success at home ownership is a big pay off for better educated home buyers. Home owners who received home ownership and mortgage counseling have an average 19 percent lower 90-day mortgage payment delinquency rate than those who don't receive counseling, according to a Freddie Mac study, "A Little Knowledge Is a Good Thing: Empirical Evidence of the Effectiveness of Pre-Purchase Homeownership Counseling".

Teachers who enroll in the HomeWords program will receive classroom sets of newspapers plus teaching materials and lesson plans for several weeks.

The HomeWords curriculum includes the opportunity for students to consider the differences between what they want and what they need, particularly with respect to buying, selling, or renting a home; to understand how location plays a part in the cost of a home; to learn how their behavior with money could affect their lifestyles and ability to become homeowners in the years to come; and to learn about the choices and trade-offs that are made when cities try to meet housing objectives while addressing concerns about growth.

"We're excited about the opportunity to reach students in our community and to contribute in a meaningful way to their education," said C.A.R. President Toby Bradley.

"It is our hope that through the HomeWords program, teachers, students and their parents will have a better understanding of the process involved in buying, selling, or renting a home and realize that home ownership is an attainable goal."