TIME Edge provides interactive, current events-based reading content for students as well as lesson plans for teaching this content. The product was designed to capitalize on TIME for Kids’ expertise at writing content for students, as well as the company’s deep history of reporting. The product allows teachers to assign articles to classes, and then use the provided questions and activities to monitor and improve students’ reading abilities. TIME Edge can be purchased for use by a teacher or administrator and requires an annual license based on the total number of students. 

APPROACH

Upon signing up for TIME Edge, teachers see the program’s article dashboard, where all of the available articles are displayed. TIME Edge presents articles with a headline and brief description, and categorizes based on the article’s subject (e.g. World news, debate, environment, etc.). Icons on the article’s picture also show whether the article on contains an embedded video, quiz, timeline, or other features. Teachers can browse articles by specific topic, or search to find relevant articles.

Once they have found an article they like, teachers can assign it to a class with two clicks. Each of the teacher’s classes can be managed separately, and therefore assigned different articles to complete. Teachers are free to add or remove students from classes, and can mark students who are low skilled to receive an alternate reading. Teachers can also track individual students’ progress through an article. as well as their scores on items assigned to a variety of Common Core standards.

Students track their progress through each article with a progress bar at the top of the page. Difficult words are highlighted in yellow, and include definitions when the student hovers over the word. A student can also choose to listen to the article, or to have it displayed in Spanish. A number of interactive features, including timelines, videos, slideshows, and others, augment the text.

The teacher version of each article provides a full Teacher’s Guide, complete with discussion questions and the Common Core standards linked to the article. Teachers can also see additional discussion questions in line with the text.

IMPLEMENTATION

TIME Edge is a browser-based tool.

PRICING

TIME Edge can be purchased by a teacher or administrator, and the cost per student decreases as the total number of student users increases. Teachers can obtain a 60 day free trial of the product at the company's website. Pricing details can be found  here.

• For 10-149 students: $8.99 per student per year.
• For 150-299 students: $8.54 per student per year.
• For 300+ students: $8.09 per student per year.

WHO IS USING IT

As of August 2015, tens of thousands of teachers have used TIME Edge.