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Welcome to the education.com Help Desk. We understand how frustrating it can be to have your visit to a favorite web site cut short by a frozen computer screen, error message, or even simple confusion over what to do next. Whether you’re having difficulty accessing one of our features, would like to know how to submit an article to our editorial department, or have a general question about something you’ve seen on the site, you’ve come to the right place!

Joining education.com

Have you joined our community yet? Membership affords you all sorts of fun and informative opportunities. Create a profile and the education.com team will tailor the site to suit your needs and interests. Search the profiles of other members and find like-minded to people to chat with, learn from, or lean on for support. As a member you can also comment on our articles, and share them with others who might find them useful. And once you get going and see for yourself everything our site has to offer, make sure you invite your friends to join education.com as well. What are you waiting for? Join us.

Answers

How do I create a profile?

When you join education.com, we will ask you specific questions about your interests, your family, and what you would like to get of our site. This information makes up your personal profile. You can also post pictures as well. To make certain your profile really stands out, be sure to fill out all four brief sections of the “my profile” page: “basic profile,” “extended profile,” “my kids,” and “my settings.” If you were too busy to fill out this information when you first joined, it’s not too late! Simply click “my profile” in the top right-hand corner of the home page, and you will be able to edit each of these sections. This allows other members to get to know you better, but don’t worry, we won’t show other members any information you don’t want us to! Use “my settings” to set your privacy preferences.

My profile isn’t very interesting, how can I make it better?

When you first joined education.com, we set up a very basic profile for you using the registration information you provided. If you want to add your own personal style, you can add to it by filling out all four sections of the profile set-up page: “basic profile,” “extended profile,” “my kids,” and “my settings.” Simply click “my profile” in the top right-hand corner of the home page and you’ll be able to edit each of these sections. Don’t forget to post at least one photo as well, nothing spruces up a profile like pictures! And even though a picture is worth a thousand words, we’re still pretty fond of words as well. So don’t forget the “A few words about me” section of the “extended profile.”

What is a signature?

A signature is a short bit of information, provided by you, that will appear at the end of every message you send to other education.com members. Choose a favorite quote, a witty quip, or anything else you would like members to see every time they receive a message from you.

What is “a few words about me?”

The “a few words about me” box is a place for you to let other education.com members know a little more about you. Be creative and write as much or as little as you would like. This information will appear on your public profile under “a few words about me.” You can edit this information anytime using the “extended profile” section of the profile page. Be sure to check out our Terms of Use for rules of conduct regarding appropriate language.

What are kudos?

Kudos are a way for members to applaud each other and provide some well-deserved pats on the back. Want to let your group moderator know you think she’s doing a bang-up job? Give her a kudos. Want to tell that dad in your preschool group you think it’s fantastic he’s volunteering to teach music workshops? How about a kudos? Members can use the “my settings” function of the profile page to control whether or not the kudos they receive are visible to the rest of the education.com community.

What’s a featured member?

The education.com team regularly selects members to be highlighted on the site. We ask featured members to fill out our “Lessons Learned” questionnaire, so that the rest of the education.com community can share a bit of their wisdom. Being a featured member is a great way to participate in the site, but we’ll only select you if you give us permission. Use the “my settings” function of the profile page to let us know if you would like to be considered to be a featured member.

My profile isn’t showing all the information I want it to, how can I fix that?

Click “my profile” in the top right-hand corner of the page, and then click “my settings.” Read through the options and make sure you have allowed the education.com community to see everything you want us to see!

I tried to upload a photo, and it won’t work. What’s wrong?

The ideal image size is 107x107 and less than 500kb. We accept .gif, .jpg, .jpeg or .png files. If your photo file meets these specifications and you are still having trouble, please contact our technical team directly. Also, make sure your photo does not break any of the rules of conduct for posting photos outlined in our Terms of Use.

What are your sources for your reference articles?

The education.com reference team has partnerships with some of the best educational content providers in the world. The reference team edits and fact-checks all sponsored content pages before they ever hit the site. Only the most trusted and reputable information is allowed on education.com. Our partnerships include prestigious organizations such as: New York University Child Study Center, Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), Duke University Talent Identification Program, National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), not to mention dozens of other non-profits, government agencies, and universities.

How do I search for reference articles on specific topics?

You can click any one of the topics listed on the “Reference Desk” of our home page. Or use the search function (available at the top of every page). Be sure to choose “reference” from the drop-down menu!

Can I submit a reference article?

We’re sorry, we are not accepting unsolicited reference articles at this time.

Sure! Simply click the “share article” button at the top of the article and follow the instructions. But don’t forget to invite that friend to join education.com as well!

How do I comment on an article?

Simply click the “comment” button at the top of the article. A box will pop up for your comments.

What happens if I click the “add to favorites” button?

The specific article or post you are reading will be added into your favorites folder. Then you can find it easily whenever you want. Like to share? Using the “my settings” function of your profile, you can determine whether or not other members see your favorite education.com selections.

How can I learn more about your writers?

Our writers are made up of a crew of parents, educators, and experts. For more information on a particular writer, check out his or her profile.

Can I submit a magazine article?

Absolutely! The education.com editorial team welcomes all submissions for feature articles, Daily Buzz, and Activity of the Week. For more information check out our submission guidelines.

How do friends work on education.com?

Making someone a friend allows you to stay connected with other education.com members. You can share new pictures, comments, discussion board posts and participate in each others groups seamlessly.

How do I find friends within the education.com network?

The more the merrier! You can find friends and add them to your network. Once you’re logged in, just click on the “communities” tab from the homepage. Then click the “members” tab. Once you’re there, you can search for friends by typing in their names. When you find them, click “Add to Friends” under the Action heading, and they’ll be added to your education.com community. This will make it easier to invite them to groups and discussions, share picture galleries, and more.

How do I start a group?

To start a group, find the “create a new group” box on the right hand side of the homepage. Pick a catchy name for your group and type it in. Hit “create” and you’ll land on the “start a group” page, which will take you step by step through the group activation process. Hopefully you’ve added all of your friends to your education.com community. In this case, they’ll show up automatically as choices under “Invites” in your group profile. Check off any friend in the drop down who you’d like to invite to join your group and they’ll be sent an invitation.

How do I add friends to my group that aren’t education.com members?

Never fear! You can invite non-education.com members to join your group!

Your first option is to let people know about your group by using the “SHARE” link on any public or semi-private group. (It appears in the “group overview” box at the top of the page.) Your friend will get an email invitation. Once they register as an education.com member, they can find and join your group.

Coming soon, users will be able to directly invite non-members to their group by using their email address. These new users will be able to join both education.com and the group in one place.

What’s the difference between Public, Semi-Private, and Private groups?

Public groups are open to the entire education.com community. Everyone on the site can see that the group exists and anyone can join. “Semi-Private” groups are partially shielded from the public. Anyone can see a very a very basic description of what the group is about if they come across it. (For example, a quick summary of a preschool’s name, location, and philosophy.) And anyone can request membership. But in order to join the group and have access to discussion boards, calendaring, picture galleries, and other features, you must receive approval for membership from the group’s moderator. Private groups are by invitation only and they’re completely hidden from view. No description or information can be seen by the general public.

How do I find a group?

Click on the “my edu” tab from the homepage. Look for the “my groups” box at the bottom of the page and click on “find groups”. Alternatively, you can click the “Communities” tab and then the “Groups” sub-heading and browse for groups.

How do I remove myself from a group on education.com?

No longer interested in a group you’ve joined? No problem. Just go to the group page and click on the “leave group” link.

Can people see me outside of my network?

Only if you let them! At education.com we care about your privacy. Other than your user name, you control what is displayed in your public profile. Go to “my edu” and click on “Edit Profile” under the “my profile” box at the upper right hand corner, to change anything at any time.

What schools are included?

Currently, education.com publishes data on public and charter elementary, middle, and high schools in a limited amount of states in the United States. Certain types of public schools such as adult education or occupational schools may not be included. In the future, public and charter schools in all states will be included, as well as private and independent schools.

Where does education.com get its public and charter school data?

School contact information, test scores, and student and teacher statistics come from each state’s Department of Education and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The year of the data is noted on the bottom of school data pages. The amount and type of school data may vary from state to state based on the data released by the state Departments of Education and collected by education.com.

When is school data updated?

The state Departments of Education and the National Center for Education Statistics report data at different times in the year. Education.com does its best to publish the most recent data available.

What if I see an error in the school contact information, test scores, or teacher and student statistics?

How do I notify education.com about a missing public or charter school?

Contact Us about the missing school. However, please be aware that the school may not be included because data was not reported by the state Department of Education.

Where can I find out district and school boundaries and enrollment information?

Please contact the individual school district to obtain boundary maps and other enrollment information.

Where do the school ratings and reviews come from?

The school ratings and reviews are completely user generated and are not generated by education.com. Although the ratings and reviews are subjective, reviews containing negative comments about named individuals will be pulled from the site.

If my question is not answered, what should I do?

If these answers did not help answer your question, please Contact Us.

What is my edu?

“my edu” is your personalized dashboard at education.com. It’s there to help you keep track of your personal messages, your calendar, the groups you’ve joined, friends, favorite articles, and picture galleries.

How do I send a message to a friend?

There are many ways to contact friends and members on education.com. If you’ve added a friend to your friend list, just click on the “communities” tab and you’ll see them in your “my education.com community” box. You can send them a message directly from there. Want to send a message to someone not yet in your education.com community? Go to the “featured members” area of the communities page and click on “Go To Members”. This will allow you to search from members. Once you’ve found the person you’re looking for, simply click on the “Send Message” link.

How do I check my messages?

Once you’re logged in, your messages will appear in the “my messages” box on the left hand corner of the homepage.

How do I know when I have new messages on education.com?

Your new messages appear in the “my messages” box on the homepage. You can also set up your profile so that you get an email whenever you have a new message on education.com. Just go into your profile from the “my edu” tab. Under “basic profile” you have the option at the bottom of the page under “communications” to request “message notification”. Anytime you get a new message at education.com, we’ll shoot you an email to let you know.

… search for a specific topic or article.

Use the search function that is available at the top of every page. Using the drop-down menu you can select specific sections of our site to search. To search the entire site, simply type in your topic, or the title of the article you are looking for, and click ”Go.“

… know how to use tags.

Tags are a way for users to help control how content on education.com is categorized. Members can tag articles as being related to a specific topic, and from that point on other users will be able to find that information when they do a search for that keyword.

… contact a specific department.

To contact a specific department at education.com, use our contact form.

… log in, but I forgot my username/password.

On the login page, click “Forgot your login information?” and follow the Reset login info instructions. Your username and a new password will be sent to your email address. Once you receive this new password and login with it, you can go to the “extended profile” section of your profile and choose a new password that will be easier to remember.

… invite a friend to join education.com.

At the bottom of every page at education.com you will see a light green box that says “Invite Friends” inside. Simply follow the directions inside to invite people to our site!

This feature is coming in the very near future! Check the “basic profile” section of your profile and make sure you indicated that you would like to receive our newsletter. If you marked the checkbox, rest assured it will be coming to your inbox soon!

… contact education.com's technical team directly to resolve my problem.

Our technical team is happy to assist you.

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