Education news goes paperless in Houston

Texas students have access to a customized education portal from the Houston Chronicle that includes an online daily newspaper and numerous education-specific programs. By making the news paperless the Chronicle estimates in the first year of the program it will eliminate nearly one million hard copies delivered to schools.

The paperless news offering is reaching students thanks to a partnership between the Houston Chronicle and digital publishing solution provider, NewsStand Inc. The award-winning Chronicle in Education (CIE) program now incorporates eEdition, delivering daily news to hundreds of thousands of students across Texas. eEdition offers an online replica edition of the daily paper, curriculum for teachers and access to the numerous education programs. The Chronicle has a range of content and curriculum designed specifically for the classroom, including Goal Post Geography, a program that allows students to learn geography by following their hometown sports team; The Club Chronicle serial stories, short story classics printed in Spanish and English; and The Stock Market Game, a program sponsored by the Texas Council for Investor Education that teaches kids about the stock market.

The Texas Board of Education has outlined a variety of requirements for ensuring that students are leveraging and exposed to technology in the classroom. Using the eEdition in the classroom meets the accreditation requirement for all Texas schools; districts must provide time for teachers to teach and students to meet the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Technology Applications standards. These standards are to be integrated throughout the curriculum in grades K-8 and they are to be an integral part of every classroom’s use of technology. “The new CIE eEdition delivers daily news to hundreds of thousands of students across Texas. The new format allows schools to, not only continue to receive the benefits of newspaper content for educational purposes, but integrate it into the technology available in the classroom — a key objective for Texas educators,” said Ed Vaughn, Chronicle in Education manager, Houston Chronicle.