Eight Innovative Community Partnerships Recognized As Nation’s Best in Using

Technology to Enhance Education

Editor’s Note: Ceremony begins 10:45 a.m. CST at the Westin Galleria, Houston, Texas.

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (November 16, 2000)—Students in New Jersey are boarding simulated spaceships in the name of education. Underserved youth in Fairfax, Virginia, are learning how to use computers at their community clubhouse. Children in Minneapolis are reaching out to mentors online.

These are just three examples of how technology is helping to improve education. These programs and several others have been selected as recipients of the first SBC National Telecommunications Partnership Awards, which recognize programs nationwide that best illustrate the successful integration of technology into education. The SBC Foundation and PARTNERS IN EDUCATION sponsor the awards, which grew from the two organizations’ earlier collaboration on “Out of the Box and Onto the Web,” a guide for using technology partnerships to create systemic change.

“SBC supports collaborative initiatives that strengthen education by effectively integrating technology into the learning experience,” said Nancy Gerval, president of the SBC Foundation. “From closing the digital divide to opening new avenues of communications between schools, businesses and communities, the 2000 SBC National Telecommunications Partnership Award winners showcase the best in innovative learning.”

The SBC Foundation and PARTNERS IN EDUCATION will honor award recipients today during the National Symposium on Partnerships in Education luncheon being held in Houston. Nancy Gerval, president of SBC Foundation, and Dr. Peter Benson, president of Search Institute, will speak at the luncheon. This is the first year for the awards, which recognize outstanding partnerships that have facilitated the integration of telecommunications technology into education and documented positive outcomes of student achievement and success.

“Telecommunications technology partnerships are growing in number and effectiveness in schools and communities across America,” said Daniel W. Merenda, president and CEO of the National Association of PARTNERS IN EDUCATION. “The generous support of the SBC Foundation allows us this unique opportunity to disseminate best practices by recognizing these exemplary partnership models.”

-more-

SBC National Telecommunications Partnership Awards/Add 1

Winning partnerships were selected based on criteria including community involvement, consensus building, continuous improvement, overcoming challenges and evidence of success.

A total of $10,000 in prizes is being awarded to two grand-prize winners and two winners each in the categories of urban, suburban and rural partnerships.

GRAND PRIZE AWARD WINNERS

· Parents And Children as Co-Travelers in a World of Ideas project (PACCT) of Morristown, New Jersey, lets families tackle scientific problems hands-on and create their own lunar colonies. PACCT targets state and national educational goals in math, science and technology skills, workplace readiness, and communication skills while building collaborations between corporate/career sites, schools, Challenger Learning Centers and homes. By the end of 2001, PACCT will have reached 25,000 families through a network of 10 learning centers and science museums.

· The Dakota Interactive Academic Link (DIAL) addresses the educational needs of South Dakota youth. DIAL eliminates barriers such as geographic isolation, limited curriculum, shortage of certified teachers with advanced degrees, and declining funds. Enabled by a $9-million Technology Innovation Challenge Grant from the U.S. Department of Education, DIAL has implemented and Interactive Learning Campus through which students can now have access to a high quality, comprehensive education. DIAL has invested more than $40 million in rural area schools. DIAL partners with 80 organizations and businesses, supporting 16,000 students, 1,300 teachers and 65 percent of South Dakota’s American Indian youth.

URBAN WINNERS

· Cargill Inc. of Minneapolis, Minnesota, is changing the lives of hundreds of city youth with its innovative Cargill/Olson e-Mentoring program. This program, which connects its employees with students from Olson Middle School via electronic mail, exemplifies that flexible e-Mentoring partnerships between businesses and schools impact young people.

· TECH CORPS OHIO of Columbus, Ohio, is a nonprofit organization whose focus is to improve K-12 education by building partnerships that empower and enable educators and students to effectively use technology in schools. TECH CORPS OHIO recruits technologically adept volunteers from the community and matches those volunteers with schools that are in need of technology assistance. Through TECH CORPS OHIO, volunteers provide help with wiring for the Internet so that teachers can utilize Internet-based resources as an integral part of their classrooms.

SUBURBAN WINNERS

· The Gum Springs Community Center Computer Clubhouse of Fairfax, Virginia, provides a creative and safe after-school learning environment where youth from low-to-moderate income communities work with adult mentors to explore their own ideas, develop skills, and build confidence by using technology. Youth gain access to positive adult role models, resources, technology, skills, and experiences that will help them succeed in school, develop career interest, contribute to their communities, and lead outstanding lives.

· The Sacramento Educational Cable Consortium (SECC) of Sacramento, California, has provided educational opportunities for everyone in the Sacramento area whether they want to receive credit or just have a desire to learn. The SECC is a major partnership between all levels of education, business, and the community. This unique partnership of SECC continues SBC National to realize the importance of its mission to provide Sacramento’s community with precious educational resources using cable technology.

-more-

Telecommunications Partnership Awards/Add 2

RURAL WINNERS

· The Frontier Learning Network (FLN) of Condon, Oregon, is one of the two Rural Award winners. FLN reaches beyond the environment of providing flexibility to fixed school sites. It has evolved into an essential contributor in an extensive collaborative effort that includes both public and private organizations committed to building sustainable communities in an economically distressed region of Oregon. The FLN is an effort on the part of the North Central Education Service District and its six remote rural school districts to integrate distance learning into their curricular, thus minimizing the digital divide between remote rural counties in Oregon and the urban centers.

· The Spreading Educator to Educator Developments (SEED) program of Auburn, Maine, is also a Rural Award winner. SEED provides innovative uses of technology that help students achieve state educational standards. The program works through regional partnerships to assist teachers with learning how to integrate technology into their classroom lessons. It also provides for special attention to 14 target school districts in the state. SEED supports both developers and adaptors with small grants. Developers receive a cash reward as recognition for their contribution to education and as an honorarium for sharing their ideas with others. Adaptors receive a small cash award to defray the costs of implanting the innovation into their own classrooms. The monetary incentive invites the tentative to take the plunge into using new media.

For more than 30 years, Partners in Education has been a leader in developing school volunteer, intergenerational, community service, and business partnership programs that ensure success for all students throughout the United States and abroad. Partners in Education and its diversified membership represent over 7 million volunteers involved in more than 400,000 partnerships nationwide.

The SBC Foundation addresses community needs in the areas of education, community economic development, health and human services, and culture and the arts. Since its formation in 1984, the SBC Foundation has distributed nearly $600 million in grants, United Way support, and employee outreach programs focused primarily within SBC’s core service areas. It is an independent foundation funded by SBC Communications Inc. and its family of companies.

SBC Communications Inc. (www.sbc.com) is a global communications leader. Through its subsidiaries' trusted brands - Southwestern Bell, Ameritech, Pacific Bell, SBC Telecom, Nevada Bell, SNET and Sterling Commerce - and world-class network, SBC and its affiliated companies provide a full range of voice, data, networking and e-business services, including local and long-distance voice, high-speed Internet access and data transport, voice and data network integration, software and process integration, Web site and application hosting, e-marketplace development, paging and messaging, as well as cable and satellite television, security services, and directory advertising and publishing. In the United States, the company currently has 61.3 million access lines and is undertaking a national expansion program that will bring SBC service to the nation's top 50 markets. SBC has a 60 percent equity interest in Cingular Wireless, its joint venture with BellSouth, which serves 19 million wireless customers. Internationally, SBC has telecommunications investments in more than 20 countries and has annual revenues that rank it among the largest Fortune 500 companies.

###