MacNeil/Lehrer Productions is committed to enhancing digital learning opportunities and the teaching of current affairs. With a commitment to the highest journalistic standards and emerging online platforms, MacNeil/Lehrer Productions works with educators and students around the country to make current events, science, economics, arts, and media more accessible and more engaging.

NewsHour Extra
NewsHour Extra provides teachers and students with free quality educational resources to help middle and high school students better understand news and current events. NewsHour Extra works with educators around the country to produce lesson plans for use in classrooms, as well as classroom videos accompanied by discussion questions, worksheets, and teacher guides. NewsHour Extra also maintains an active online community for educators.

NewsHour Extra hosts Student Voices, a weekly online feature that publishes student stories and reports about how the news affects young people. Student Voices offers an outlet to speak out on important issues, as well as improve writing and communication skills. In addition, Student Voices offers unique and personal views of the news, from the experiences of a teen living in Iraq to obstacles faced by homeless youth, that engage their peers in ways that general media do not.

NewsHour Extra recently launched Student Reporting Labs, a project that connects students with a network of public broadcasting mentors, an innovative journalism curriculum, and an online collaborative space to develop digital media, critical thinking, and communication skills while producing original video reports. Funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the project is in a pilot stage with schools in Texas, Utah, Louisiana, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. The Student Reporting Labs provide footage, sources, and mentoring for students, who develop and report about how national issues are affecting their communities. Final reports are featured on the PBS NEWSHOUR Web site, YouTube, and other venues.

NewsHour Extra also offers specially tailored educational services. For further information on currently available resources or to discuss a special project, please visit the NewsHour Extra Web site or contact Leah Clapman, Managing Editor of NewsHour Extra, at LClapman@NewsHour.org.

The.News
The.News is a non-commercial, multi-platform news broadcast in development for the nation’s high school and middle school students. Through an partnership with Reality Digital, the.News provides students with online access to news content and video remixing tools to create and edit their own news content. The.News videos and curriculum resources support social studies, language arts, and science learning objectives.

For further information on currently available resources or to discuss a special project, please visit the.News Web site or contact Karen Jaffe, Project Manager of the.News, at KJaffe@NewsHour.org.