BellSouth Releases Results of Five-Year, $10 Million Education Initiative - Results Provide Valuable Insight for Harnessing the Power of Technology for Learning - WASHINGTON, March 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today's schools have an opportunity to make a fundamental shift in their use of technology and to leverage it as a powerful tool for student learning. That conclusion is one of the findings in the final report of the BellSouth edu.pwr(3) (pronounced ed-joo-power) initiative, released today in Washington, D.C. Edu.pwr(3) was a five-year, $10 million program designed to increase the capacity of educators and students to fully harness the power of technology for learning. In 1999, the BellSouth Foundation launched edu.pwr(3) with three components: -- Power to Lead -- Leadership development seminars and grants to support school superintendents with technology deployment strategies ($2 million) -- Power to Teach -- Teacher professional development grants for school districts ($6 million) -- Power to Learn -- Deeper exploration of four schools' efforts to integrate technology schoolwide and the effects on learning over a two-year period ($2 million) Key edu.pwr(3) Findings: -- Education is on the brink of radical transformation and technology is both a catalyst for this change and a key to its success. -- The opportunity to change how our schools utilize technology is driven by the demands and interests of students, their choice of learning tools, and the "real world" environment outside of schools. -- The combination of the science of learning principles and technology can improve instruction. According to Kim Mulkey, director of the technology program, BellSouth Foundation, edu.pwr(3) exceeded all goals. "This five-year experience saw significant progress in the role technology can play in learning," stated Mulkey. "Specifically, I was impressed by the students' strong desire to have a voice in how to use technology to impact their learning experiences and what applying the science of learning principles can do to transform the quality of instruction in the school." The edu.pwr(3) initiative looked at technology's impact and transforming power amongthree groups of "change agents:" superintendents, teachers and schools. A Vision for Educational Transformation This report suggests methods for transforming our systems: -- Superintendents can engage multiple measures of effectiveness for their systems by actively addressing policy issues and making technology a priority. -- Teachers can incorporate the ideas of students and help close the perception gap between teachers and students in how technology can best be used for learning. -- Students can be engaged in the conversation about how to transform their classrooms. Applying the science of learning principles to technology in education can improve instruction. The results from the three edu.pwr(3) components show that even the initial work toward change from school leaders has a powerful impact on schools and school systems: -- Teaching: Teachers had made significant gains in incorporating technology into their teaching. Their students, however, reported little or no change at all in the way technology was affecting their learning experience. By finding new ways to provide students with the learning experiences they crave, schools can begin to close this "perception gap." -- Leading: Neil Peddersen, Superintendent of the Chapel Hill-Carboro District in North Carolina realized technology needed to be one of the top three strategic priorities. He leapt from thinking of technology purely as a tool for automation to embracing it as a means of innovation. By doing so, he began to find specific ways to incorporate technology into the innovative work of the organization. -- Learning: Principal Frankie St. James at Key Largo Elementary School in Florida served as a buffer between her teachers and outside distractions -- testing, state report cards and other community factors -- to help them maintain their focus on a shared vision of incorporating technology for learning. As a result, the teachers reported more sustained energy and enthusiasm and less emotional drain at the end of the school year than their counterparts at other schools. For a copy of the BellSouth edu.pwr(3) report, The Point of Transformation, please visit http://www.bellsouth.com/foundation . About the BellSouth Foundation The BellSouth Foundation is an endowed trust of BellSouth Corporation that is devoted to education in the South. Since its creation in 1986, the Foundation has funded over 595 grants and operated numerous special initiatives, with a total investment of more than $56 million. For more information about the BellSouth Foundation, please visit http://www.bellsouth.com/foundation . About BellSouth Corporation BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100 communications services company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth serves nearly 50 million local, long distance, Internet and wireless customers in the United States and 12other countries. Consistently recognized for customer satisfaction, BellSouth provides complete communications solutions to the residential and business markets. In the residential market, BellSouth offers DSL high-speed Internet access and long distance, advanced voice features and other services. The company's BellSouth Answers(SM) package combines local and long distance service with an array of calling features; wireless data, voice and e-mail services; and high- speed DSL or dial-up Internet service and Cingular Wireless. In the business market, BellSouth serves small, medium and large businesses providing secure, reliable local and long distance voice and data networking solutions. BellSouth also provides online and directory advertising services through BellSouth(R) RealPages.com(SM) and The Real Yellow Pages(R). BellSouth owns 40 percent of Cingular Wireless, the nation's second largest wireless company, which provides innovative wireless voice and data services. DATASOURCE: BellSouth Corporation CONTACT: Karen Pace of BellSouth Corporation, +1-404-249-2504, or +1-770-653-7171 Web site: http://www.bellsouth.com/ http://www.bellsouth.com/foundation Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/095650.html

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