MCI joins leading U.S. educational organizations in launching unique Internet-based learning initiatives WASHINGTON, DC - MCI joined three leading U.S. educational institutions to launch a unique initiative that offers millions of American teachers, students and parents a multi-faceted program that uses Internet-based, content-rich core curricula to advance learning in the key disciplines. Through its Foundation, MCI will fund programs to create and provide access to specially tailored Web sites, customized search engines and teacher training materials that will support challenging curricula in science, economics, English, history, philosophy and foreign languages for students in grades K-12. In addition, students will be able to interact over the Internet with academic experts. The programs will be developed and administered by three of the nation's leading educational organizations -- the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Council on Economic Education. `MCI has already connected schools, libraries, museums, and, of course, American homes and businesses to the Internet through its educationMCI initiatives. Now we're going one step further to help provide superior educational, Internet-based curricula,` said MCI President and COO Timothy F. Price. `At MCI, we pride ourselves on translating technology to the benefit of our customers. The comprehensive nature of these programs will enable teachers and parents to use the Internet to build a complete curriculum, instead of having to lose time surfing randomly to find information,` Price said. `We'll work closely with teachers so they'll know exactly how to reach content and effectively incorporate it into their individual lesson plans. Helping teachers help students is what this program is all about.` Price said MCI is `honored and excited to be working with three of the nation's most important educational organizations on this profoundly important project. We believe it will become a model of a successful public-private partnership to help schools realize the vast potential of Internet-based education.` Attending the announcement of this new program, made at MCI's world headquarters, were U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley; Dr. Sheldon Hackney, Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities; Dr. Richard S. Nicholson, Executive Officer for American Association for the Advancement of Science; Robert F. Duvall, President and CEO of the National Council on Economic Education; and Mr. Price. `I want to congratulate MCI, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Council for Economic Education for the commitments they have made to bring content-focused learning into our nation's schools via the Internet,` Secretary Riley said. `Partnerships such as these, pairing the strengths of America's leading corporations with the expertise of some of our finest educational organizations, are critical to bridge the 'learning gap' that now exists between having the technology available in our schools and actually using it as a learning tool.` MCI's partners said the first-of-its-kind alliance will offer unique learning opportunities to both students and teachers. `This unique partnership offers unlimited educational potential for today's youth. This alliance will result in the creation of worldwide, academically rich Web sites that offer one-stop shopping to teachers, parents and students in search of high-quality educational instruction on the Internet. The creation of this world-class source of information will set the highest standard for the distribution of instructional material over the Internet for years to come,` said Dr. Sheldon Hackney, Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities. `We commend MCI for the vision to recognize that technology without training is as useless as a telephone that doesn't make a connection,` said Robert F. Duvall, President and CEO of the National Council on Economic Education. `This partnership allows us to create and extend economic literacy from the earliest levels of schooling through entry into the workforce and the professions.` `Much has been said about how teachers, parents and librarians can use the information superhighway to help educate children,` said Richard S. Nicholson, Executive Officer for AAAS. `But not enough has been done to show them how to navigate, where to go, and what to do with the information when they get there. Through this program, the potential to teach kids about science through technology can become a reality.` Through the partnership, educationMCI will develop and distribute background materials, including teacher guides, and `classroom kits,` to thousands of teachers, students and parents across the country. Each program will emphasize rigorous academic content, teacher training, professional development and widespread parental involvement in student learning. A brief description of each of the programs follows: .. MCI/NEH EDSITEment -- Leveraging the expertise and resources of MCI, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Council for Great City Schools, the MCI/NEH EDSITEment project will provide superior educational content to teachers and students via the Internet. The project's Web site will offer one-stop shopping for teachers, students and parents in search of high-quality education Web sites in history, English, and foreign languages which can be incorporated into classroom use and used by students on their own. The project's teacher guides are intended to help teachers use the Web site as part of their curriculum design, offering suggestions for classroom use, lesson plans and student learning activities. The project is projected to reach 250,000 teachers and in excess of five million students and parents in 1997. .. AAAS/MCI SCIberLinks -- MCI and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) SCIberLinks project will use the Internet to help teachers, librarians, parents and other adults teach science more effectively. The project will offer a World Wide Web site that shows teachers how to make maximum use of a wide range of existing Internet content -- providing a custom search engine that allows users to quickly access reviewed, high quality science-education sites. That same Web site will feature the characters of AAAS' popular `Kinetic City Super Crew` weekly radio program, which is designed to help stimulate children's interest in science. The AAAS/MCI SCIberLinks program will include teacher training sessions, to be teleconferenced around the country, the development of teacher guides, and student/parent science rallies at prestigious science centers. AAAS/MCI SCIberLinks is expected to reach 2.2 million parents, teachers and students in 1997. .. MCI/EconomicsAmerica Technology Education Program -- The National Council on Economic Education led the development of the voluntary National Content Standards in Economics and provides standards-based curriculum for K-12 economics education that is supported with hard copy and CD-ROM-based materials. The MCI/EconomicsAmerica Technology Education Program will harness both the Internet and teaching guides to improve the economic and technological literacy of the nation's students. The project will provide an on-line/hard-copy teacher guide designed to train teachers on using technology in economics education, and a Web site that features economics topics and the opportunity to communicate with top economics experts via e-mail. The MCI/EconomicsAmerica Technology Education Program is expected to reach 500,000 students and teachers in 1997.