Instagram is giving verified students at partner schools a set of school-focused features, including clubs and teams, school stories and notes, and a student banner and directory, Meta said today. The additions are aimed at students at middle and high schools in the US that have signed up for the company's School Partnership Program, which Meta says now covers nearly 17,000 schools.
Meta says the third-party validator UNiDAYS checks high schoolers before they join the verified community at their school, and teens who are not verified cannot use the features. Clubs and teams let administrators, educators and students create a shared space for a group, such as a math team, where upcoming events and information can be posted. School stories and notes show announcements, game results and event reminders, and only club and team account admins and program admins can post them.
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The student banner and directory is designed to help classmates stay connected, letting students see a directory of others at their school or create a school banner. Meta says this is visible only to other students and to teen followers they follow back. School administrators can monitor and remove stories and notes, and can also remove club and team accounts.
For schools, the program adds a centralized hub that Meta says was prompted by feedback from administrators, educators and parents about how hard it is to keep students informed about what is happening across their school communities. Schools that join get access to channels for quick updates to followers, with posting limited to school administrators, plus prioritized review of reports that may violate Instagram's Community Standards and status updates and notifications when the company acts on a report. Meta also says it will provide educational resources for educators, parents, guardians and students.
Parents can follow their teen's school participation through Meta's Family Center, including notifications if the teen joins or leaves a school. The company also points to Teen Accounts, which it says give parents ways to block their teens from using Instagram during school hours. Middle and high schools in the US can sign up by selecting "Account type and tools" or "Business tools and controls," according to the announcement.
The expansion builds on the School Partnership Program Meta launched last year with ISTE+ASCD, which lets educators report potential safety issues such as online bullying directly to the company. Meta says the program has reached nearly 17,000 schools so far. The announcement comes as the company faces continuing litigation over teen social media use; a rural Kentucky school district settled a bellwether addiction case with Meta in May, less than three weeks before trial, with financial terms undisclosed.
Meta frames the new tools as a way to keep social media from distracting students, saying they are built to support educators and help teens stay informed outside classroom hours.
