America Online is preparing to launch a new closed online content service that will give kindergarten through 12th graders and teachers access to educational content and communication tools like e-mail, chat-rooms and instant messaging, for free. Schools can sign up for the service this summer and be registered for the fall semester. Content for the site will be culled from materials approved by a panel of teachers and the American Association of School Administrators.

"These type of portals, more than just distance education, may be one of the more powerful levers of innovation," said Robbie McClintock, professor of education and co-director of the Institute of Learning Technologies. "These kind of services may make it possible to make the educational life of the schools a continuous presence at home, in school and in between."

The article, entitled "Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and AOL" appeared in the May 9th online edition of Fox News.

Published Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2001