REDMOND, Wash., Jan. 20, 2000 — Microsoft Corp. today announced a $344 million donation of software (estimated retail value) and program support to a worldwide industry initiative to train more than 400,000 classroom teachers to use technology to improve teaching and learning. This support for the newly announced Intel Teach to the Future program is the single largest software donation in the company’s history and builds on Microsoft’s longtime commitment to teacher training.
Today’s announcement is in response to the ongoing worldwide focus on improving teacher quality, particularly in the area of technology skills. In the United States, a recent Department of Education report found that four out of five classroom teachers do not feel prepared to use technology as part of daily instruction.
“This donation couldn’t be going to a better cause — helping teachers and helping young people,”
said Steve Ballmer, president and CEO, Microsoft.
“Microsoft is proud to work with Intel to expand the opportunities teachers have to learn how to best use technology to improve student learning.”
Over the next three years, Intel Corp. will invest $100 million in cash, equipment, curriculum development and program management to provide teacher-led, hands-on training in 20 countries. Leading computer manufacturers also have offered equipment donations and discounts to make this the largest private industry effort to date to help ensure that teachers are prepared to use technology in the classroom.
“The scope of this program represents the industry’s recognition that all the educational technology in classrooms today is worth nothing if teachers don’t know how to use it effectively,”
said Intel Chief Executive Officer Craig Barrett.
“Computers aren’t magic — teachers are.”
Regions for the first year include Arizona, Northern California, Oregon and Texas, followed by Washington and New Mexico. Additional areas will be added in subsequent years with the expectation that 20 training agencies will be in place in the United States by 2002 and a total of 100,000 classroom teachers will be trained. The program will reach an additional 300,000 teachers and hundreds of additional labs in 20 countries worldwide.
“I am pleased to see how the technology industry is collaborating with the education community to help our nation’s teachers be prepared to use technology to help students achieve at their highest levels,”
said U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley.
“It is important that we use the most modern and effective learning tools to help our young people reach the highest levels of academic achievement, which will pave the way for future success.”
Each of 400,000 U.S. classroom teachers participating in the program will receive a free copy of Microsoft® Office 2000 Professional, which is the cornerstone of the Intel Teach to the Future hands-on training curriculum, and Microsoft Encarta® 2000 multimedia encyclopedia. Teachers will take this software back to their classrooms so they can immediately put into practice what they have learned. In addition to donating software and licenses to the worldwide training labs involved in the program, Microsoft will provide lab kits to the master teachers who will lead training in the U.S. classrooms.
“The demands on education are changing at an unbelievable speed,”
said Arizona Gov. Jane D. Hull.
“It is exciting to see companies like Microsoft and Intel wanting to jump in and help teachers to get the tools they need to be successful in the classrooms of the new millennium.”
Microsoft’s support of teacher training grows out of its vision for the use of technology in education, the Connected Learning Community. To date, Microsoft has supported the training of more than 1 million teachers worldwide through a variety of programs and initiatives. Since 1992, Microsoft has worked with colleges of education and state departments of education to support preservice and in-service training for teachers. This school year, more than 450,000 teachers are receiving training at 800 sites. Microsoft also supports professional development grants and provides free instructional resources through its new online community, the Microsoft Classroom Teacher Network, which reaches teachers in more than 80 countries. In addition to teacher training, Microsoft is committed to helping schools increase access to technology for every student and teacher and build strong infrastructures that support student learning and school administration.
Building on a Successful Model
Intel Teach to the Future is modeled after the award-winning Intel Applying Computers in Education (ACE) Project, sponsored by Intel, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard Co. Intel ACE was piloted with 3,200 teachers in nine communities in cooperation with Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard. Teachers who participated in the first year of training were surveyed nine months later; 84 percent reported that using computers improved their instruction, and 80 percent found their students’ learning enhanced.
Last summer, Jan Coleman-Knight, a 7th-grade teacher from Thorton Junior High in Fremont, Calif., realized that her students knew more about technology and the Internet than she did, so she turned to the ACE program for help.
“I simply didn’t know how to use technology, and I can’t be asked to teach something that I don’t know,”
she said.
“Once I learned how to use tools like Microsoft PowerPoint® and Publisher and ways to use them in my teaching, the possibilities became endless. My students use them for research, problem-solving, critical thinking, creating new ideas, editing work and communicating. These software tools are important to everything that happens in the classroom.”
More information about Microsoft’s support for teacher training and other education programs can be found on the Microsoft Education Web site, at http://www.microsoft.com/education/ . Microsoft’s support of the Intel Teach to the Future program and other teacher training initiatives is part of the company’s continuing initiative to help every school build a Connected Learning Community, in which technology enables learning without limits — any time, any place.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
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) is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
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