If your question is about Cloud streaming, please see the separate FAQ on the Benefits of Cloud Streaming page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this a one-year program or does it cover all of high school?
Byline covers one school year, and can be used by students in 9th–12th grade. Byline isn’t intended to give students everything they need over all four years. It is not multi-year in design. Our suggestion would be to use the course for one year of English and in successive years, if students want to continue, use it as an elective or focus on areas that were difficult for them. You may also wish to consider our other high school curriculum, The One Year Adventure Novel.
My student is in 9th grade. Which of your courses should my student take?
We really encourage students who are “borderline” between Cover Story (grades 6–9) and Byline (grades 9–12) and The One Year Adventure Novel (grades 9–12) to do Cover Story first. This is especially true for 9th-grade students who are not strong writers. Give them the gift of doing each program when they are ready. Tackling too much too soon does not build a young writer’s confidence, and sometimes they get frustrated and think the problem is with them as a writer rather than the course level.
If you have a 9th-grade writer who is a strong writer, we would suggest going straight for The One Year Adventure Novel or Byline.
How do I choose between Byline and The One Year Adventure Novel? Is it better to do one first?
Byline and The One Year Adventure Novel (“OYAN”) are designed for the same grade range (9th – 12th) and are distinct from each other. There is no “right” order in which to take them. They focus on different types of writing—Byline focuses on journalism and essay writing and OYAN focuses on writing novels—but they are both great training for young writers.
Does Byline count for high school credit?
Yes, it is one high school English credit! To be eligible for 1 credit, a course must involve a minimum of 120 hours of instruction and activities. On average, a student using Byline will spend 1.5 to 2 hours on each lesson, including watching the video. There will be times, however, when the student will need more time for a writing assignment. We anticipate this, and we intentionally allow wiggle room in the traditional school year schedule for using an extra day here and there. Accounting for this, every student will meet the 120-hour requirement handily.
Is this program appropriate for students below 9th grade?
We do not recommend using Byline for students below 9th grade level. Younger students would probably enjoy watching the video lessons but some of the concepts might be too advanced, and the work load might frustrate them. We recommend looking into Cover Story, our curriculum for grades 6–9.
Does this program include literature?
Byline students read many historic pieces of journalism (printed in the Training Manual and the Retro Metro newspaper), but the program does not involve reading any fiction or novel-length books.
Should my student have done Cover Story to successfully complete Byline?
Cover Story is not a direct lead-in into Byline (or The One Year Adventure Novel), but we do see it as a good first step for young writers who are not yet ready for the high school courses. In fact, one of the reasons we created Cover Story was in response to the demand from parents, teachers, and students for a program for younger students.
If your student completes Cover Story during middle school, we still recommend that students wait until at least 9th grade to do Byline.
Is the program suitable for a classroom or co-op?
Yes, we offer a licensing option for co-ops and classes. To read about using Byline in a group setting, check out the “Using Our Programs in a Co-op or Group” page.
What are the licensing terms?
Does Byline have an online forum as The One Year Adventure Novel does?
No, this program does not include access to an online forum (this is one reason why Byline costs less than The One Year Adventure Novel).
If your student could really benefit from an online, interactive experience, consider doing The One Year Adventure Novel first. Under a Household License, your student can stay involved in the OYAN forum (and the other OYAN support resources) through age 19, so your student could continue to interact with other young writers once he/she moves on to do Byline.
It should be noted that the Student Forum is not a requirement for the One Year Adventure Novel, but a support resource that you may or may not choose to utilize.
Can my student submit their completed portfolio of journalism pieces to you for publication or sharing with other students?
We encourage Byline students to submit individual pieces of their work to newspapers and magazines. There are many print and online magazines that accept submissions from high school students. Some of them are even managed by young writers! You can find these by searching online. We do not run such a publication ourselves, however.
This program also does not involve a forum experience for students to share their work (for more, read question above). We only offer a forum to high school students taking our flagship course, The One Year Adventure Novel.
Will my student actually create a physical newspaper? Is layout software included?
This course is for writing newspaper content—or “copy” as it is called within the industry. Byline does not come with special layout software, in part because our customers vary in the type of technology they have access to. At the end of the course, the student is asked to compile physical copies of their writing projects and present them in a physical format. This can be as simple as a presentation binder. The goal is for the student to be able to share their writing with family and friends.
If your student would like to present their work in a newspaper layout, there are many easy-to-use programs for this out there.
Do the video lessons offer closed captions or subtitles?
Yes, Byline offers closed captions for the Cloud version only. (Closed captions provide a text transcription of the instructor’s speech anddetail sounds in the background.) We added captioning to the videos to serve students and/or parents who are hearing-impaired.
To view closed captions: You must select subtitles in media player menu. On a computer, you may need to turn subtitles on in the player settings.
(One Year Adventure Novel and Cover Story Cloud video lessons also offer closed captions. The Cover Story DVD video lessons offer English subtitles.)
Does my student have to write by hand? Is typing an option?
We actually encourage students to type their writing projects if they would like to, because this makes it easier for them to track their word count. However, we don’t offer digital or online versions of the consumable materials. Students can still type their answers and entries, of course, but they would have to refer to the books themselves for direction.
Can I get digital files of the Training Manual and Reporter’s Notebook so my student can complete the work entirely on the computer?
It is fine for students to type instead of writing by hand, but we do not offer online or digital worksheets for this purpose.
How long is each lesson? What is the schedule for this program?
Each lesson begins with a 15–20-minute video. Students then proceed to work in the Training Manual and Reporter’s Notebook, following the direction provided in the video.
The average student will spend 4.5-5 hours per week on Byline when following the suggested pace of three lessons per week. It’s possible your student will need more than 5 hours if he or she tends toward wordiness or is an avid writer who really enjoys creative projects.
Read more on the How to Use Byline page.
Is this course for students who enjoy writing or is it suitable for reluctant writers?
We created this course to transform essay instruction into a confidence-inspiring adventure—which is to say, Byline was designed with reluctant writers and bored writers in mind. Our goal was to produce a curriculum exciting enough for strong writers who might be fed up with the restrictions of essay writing, but also create a program practical and interesting enough for those reluctant writers out there who want to know why they should care about improving their writing skills.
Byline focuses on breaking down the essay-writing process into manageable steps. Daniel Schwabauer is candid with students about research and writing. He takes them seriously as young reporters, both inspiring them to uncover important stories and conveying to them the challenges. Yet Byline is also full of humor and action. It is not dull. It kindles students’ imaginations in a genre of writing where they don’t expect to enjoy themselves.
Is this program a good fit for students who are not American?
We have many non-American students in our programs, especially Canadians. This course does not set out to teach American history, and does not require knowledge of American history and culture, but it does feature some American history. While Daniel Schwabauer often uses examples from American history, he also uses examples from many other countries. It was also very important to us that the 100+ “Tips” in the Training Manual feature people who are not American.
The spelling and grammar is American, but there is no formal spelling or vocabulary component to the program, so the spelling should not be a problem for you if you use British spelling.
Is this course approved for purchase with government funding?
Byline is published by Clear Water Press. Please contact your educational representative to find out if Clear Water Press is an approved vendor in your area or program. Qualifications for government funding vary. If we have not yet been considered as a potential vendor, your representative will contact us directly.
We do accept purchase orders.
Does this course contain religious material?
Byline is non-sectarian, and is approved for purchase with public funding. It is a writing program, not religious instruction. However, the instructor himself is a Christian, and everything taught in the course is compatible with a biblical worldview.
Most of the families who use our programs are Christians, but we also have families who are secular or of a different faith.
Can I purchase this curriculum from another distributor?
We are the sole distributor of our curriculum, worldwide.