Homeroom for Advisers · for yearbook and publications advisers
Everything a publications adviser needs, in one tool.
The yearbook or newspaper adviser is usually the hardest-working volunteer in the building — running the production, teaching the class, selling the ads, and keeping the deadlines, often on top of a full teaching load. Homeroom for Advisers is built for that reality: a complete editor, a teach-as-you-build curriculum, an ad-sales engine to fund the program, and a deadline-friendly workflow a brand-new adviser can actually run.
The full editor, all publication types, the curriculum, lesson plans, and ad sales are live today. The picture-day store, offline capture, and outside-lab order routing are in early access; this page says plainly which is which.
The whole production
Layers, version history, your own fonts, a print check that refuses a broken job, and the yearbook, newspaper, and online edition in one tool — the depth an adviser needs without a second piece of software.
Curriculum included
A teach-as-you-build curriculum and sequenced lesson plans mean a first-year adviser can hand a class real work on day one, course-credit friendly, at no cost.
Fund the program
A built-in ad-sales engine and a picture-day store above a cost floor let the program pay for itself, so an adviser is not also a fundraiser begging the front office for a budget.
The whole production, in one editor
The editor is desktop-class: undo and redo, version history, layers, masking, auto-layout, brand-locking, full keyboard control, your own fonts and color palettes, and a print check that refuses to send a broken job rather than shipping one. One editor makes the yearbook, the newspaper, the literary magazine, the memory book, and the online editions — plus every publication a program runs, from a sports annual to a district edition — so an adviser is not learning a second piece of software for a second title.
The newsroom runs on a real pitch-to-editor-in-chief approval workflow, and public online editions carry a story that cannot wait for the printer. It is the depth an adviser needs to run the actual production, not a simplified demo of one.
A curriculum a new adviser can teach day one
The class and the publication are the same class. Thirty-four lessons surface on the exact screen a student is working — the caption box, the photo tray, the story pitch, the layout grid — so a first-year adviser can hand a class real work without writing a syllabus from scratch. A standards alignment report shows how each lesson matches journalism, English, career, technology, and media-literacy standards across 51 states and areas, and every match links to a checkable public code, so a review does not have to take the claim on faith.
The lesson plans are sequenced, and the honest framing that comes with them matters: aligning to a standard is not the same as a credential or automatic course credit. “Course-credit friendly” means the material is built to support a school’s own credit decision, not that Homeroom grants one. Completion is tracked per student and posts back to the school’s own gradebook, with the adviser keeping final say on the grade. See the full curriculum page for the complete standards-alignment detail.
Fund the program, without being the fundraiser
A built-in ad-sales engine handles senior tributes and business ads, and a fundraising lane adds no platform fee on top of a gift (card-processing fees still apply) — so an adviser is not also cold-calling local businesses with a spreadsheet or watching a cut come off the top of a family’s donation.
A picture-day store above a code-enforced cost floor is the other funding lane, with payouts running to each party’s own connected account. It is in early access — built, opening gradually, not generally available yet, and this page does not run a live checkout for it.
A deadline-friendly workflow a brand-new adviser can run
A page ladder keeps the whole book’s deadlines visible in one place, and the pitch-to-editor-in-chief approval workflow keeps a story moving toward its own deadline instead of stalling in a shared drive. There is no minimum-order commitment and no overprint built into the workflow — a late book just prints later rather than forcing a rushed, broken send.
Because the curriculum lives inside the same tool as the production, a first-year adviser who has never run a publications program before can teach the lesson, then hand the student the real page — on the same screen, the same afternoon. That is the whole point of a deadline-friendly workflow built for the adviser who is new to the job, not just the veteran who already knows the ropes.
Student work and rosters, said honestly
Student work and rosters are kept in our own systems and are never sold; they are never handed to an outside company. Find-my-photo is a roster lookup, not a face match, and photos are never sold. An adviser at one school cannot see another school’s students — that wall is enforced one layer below the screens, inside the database itself, not as a policy an app could be talked around.
A picture-day order routed to an outside lab — the early-access outside-lab order routing described below — does leave the school by the nature of printing off-site; this page does not claim otherwise. What stays private is the student record and the roster itself, not every physical print in a supply chain.
What is live, and what is early access
The core toolkit an adviser runs the program on is live today. A few money-adjacent pieces are still opening up, and this page keeps the line between them honest.
Live today
The full editor, every publication type, the curriculum and its lesson plans, and the ad-sales engine all run on the platform right now.
Early access: the picture-day store
A parent-facing storefront above a cost floor, with payouts to each party's own account. Built, opening gradually, not generally available yet.
Early access: offline capture
Capturing picture-day portraits without a live connection at the moment of capture. In early access, the same status as offline capture on the platform's other picture-day surfaces.
Early access: outside-lab order routing
Routing a print order to an outside lab rather than an in-house one. In early access; a routed order does leave the school, and this page says so.
How we label it
If a capability is live, this page says live; if it is in development, this page says that — not “coming soon” theater. An adviser should never plan a deadline around a feature that has not actually shipped.
Common questions
Is this for yearbook, newspaper, or both?
Both, and more: one editor makes the yearbook, the newspaper, the literary magazine, the memory book, and the online editions, plus other publication types like a sports annual or a district edition.
I am a first-year adviser with no journalism background. Can I actually run this?
That is the case the curriculum and the deadline-friendly workflow are built for. The lessons surface on the exact screen a student is working, so you are not writing a syllabus from scratch, and the page ladder keeps every deadline visible in one place.
Does the curriculum grant course credit?
No. The curriculum is course-credit friendly and includes a standards alignment report with checkable public codes, but aligning to a standard is not the same as a credential or automatic course credit -- that decision belongs to your school.
How does the ad-sales engine work, and who keeps the money?
The built-in ad-sales engine handles senior tributes and business ads, and the fundraising lane adds no platform fee on top of a gift (card-processing fees still apply) -- the program keeps what most tools would otherwise take a cut of.
Is the picture-day store live?
Not yet. It is in early access -- built, opening gradually, not generally available. The same is true of offline capture and outside-lab order routing.
Does an order routed to an outside lab ever leave the school?
Yes, when outside-lab order routing is used -- that is what routing to an outside lab means, and this page does not claim otherwise. What stays private is the student record and the roster, not a physical print in an external supply chain.
How is this different from /for-advisers or homeroom.software?
/for-advisers is the broader adviser and school marketing page, covering records, accessibility, and migration alongside this same toolkit. homeroom.software is the flagship front door for the whole platform. homeroom.guru is the adviser's own toolkit, narrowed to one job: run the production, the curriculum, and the fundraising.
Is it free, and is there a checkout on this page?
The core is free to start. There is no checkout and no live charge anywhere on this page.
What this page is and is not claiming
Homeroom for Advisers is the publications-adviser toolkit inside the Homeroom platform: a complete editor for every publication, a teach-as-you-build curriculum, an ad-sales engine, and a deadline-friendly workflow. The editor, every publication type, the curriculum and its lesson plans, and ad sales are live today. The picture-day store, offline capture, and outside-lab order routing are early access — not live, and this page never implies otherwise. Student work and rosters are kept in our own systems and are never sold or handed to an outside company; find-my-photo is a roster lookup, not a face match; photos are never sold. There is no invented adoption count, testimonial, sample layout, or sample story on this page, and no competitor is named. The curriculum is course-credit friendly, not a credential or a grant of automatic course credit. This is a for-profit vendor, not a charity, and nothing here is dressed up as a charitable gift. The core is free to start, and this page runs no checkout.