6.25.2007 - 06:28pm ET

(CSRwire) ATLANTA, GA.- June 25, 2007 –The Pearson Foundation today announced that Phi Delta Kappa International (PDK), the premier professional association for educators, has joined the Digital Arts Alliance, the consortium that promotes digital arts in K-12 education through fully funded and staffed programs delivered directly to schools and community centers nationwide. The Pearson Foundation is the founding partner in the Digital Arts Alliance, and part of Pearson, the international education and information company.

The announcement was made at the opening of the annual National Educational Computing Conference (NECC).

Each year, the Digital Arts Alliance makes it possible for more than 15,000 students and their teachers to experience firsthand how laptop computers, video production equipment, and the latest mobile-phone technologies are changing the ways young people can organize, present, and share information and issues that matter to them. Alliance members believe that using technologies to enhance personal expression creates an expanded kind of literacy, often referred to as 21st Century literacy, that people - especially young people - already use in their everyday lives.

PDK joins other Digital Arts Alliance members, including Nokia, Adobe, The National Academy Foundation, and the American Red Cross, in supporting an extended network of teachers and students who take advantage of Digital Arts Alliance student and educator residency programs to develop proficiencies in core subject knowledge and other 21st Century skills.

Together with the Pearson Foundation, PDK is introducing the Inside Our Schools video competition to schools engaged in the Future Educators Association (FEA), the only internationally-recognized organization promoting education as a career. This student-focused documentation program encourages the 20,000 high school students who take part in FEA clubs to create digital films that identify what they believe to be best practices and examples of teaching excellence in their own schools.

Inside Our Schools, sponsored by FEA and launched in February 2007, is an initiative created to capture examples of excellent instruction occurring in classrooms, prepare prospective educators to recognize excellent instruction, and help them incorporate these instructional methods into their schools.

With support from the Pearson Foundation’s Digital Arts Alliance, FEA will announce the three winning teams from schools at the February 2008 FEA National Conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Digital Arts Alliance crews will visit each of the schools to capture additional video footage of the students and their teachers. The end result will be a digital film created by student participants that showcases future educators and their role models - current teachers - who embody good teaching practices.

"We believe strongly that digital arts are essential to promoting the mission of education to the young potential teachers we bring to the Future Educators Association," said Dr. Bill Bushaw, executive director of PDK, which manages the FEA. "These programs are highly relevant and exciting to young teachers and provide an immediate way to engage 21st Century skills in a classroom setting."

Mark Nieker, president of the Pearson Foundation, added, "For today's young people, success in school and in life requires educational experiences that meet the challenges of our new century. In the Digital Arts Alliance, we strive to bring together leading organizations that foster the development of confident school leaders. We are extremely pleased to join Phi Delta Kappa International and the FEA as they cultivate new young leaders in education."

About Phi Delta Kappa International

PDK International is a leading association of education professionals that has been advocating high-quality education for all since 1906. Currently, PDK has more than 50,000 members, including university faculty and administrators, school superintendents, principals, and teachers. Today, as it has for the past 100 years, PDK strives to prepare the next generation of educators as well as to serve practicing teachers, administrators, and college educators through a wide range of innovative programs. PDK also sponsors the Future Educators Association (FEA), the only internationally recognized organization promoting education as a career. FEA currently has nearly 1,000 clubs in middle schools and high schools across the nation and abroad. For more information on PDK and its programs, visit www.pdkintl.org.

About the Pearson Foundation.

The Pearson Foundation extends Pearson’s commitment to education by partnering with leading nonprofit, civic, and business organizations to provide financial, organizational, and publishing assistance across the globe. The foundation aims to make a difference by sponsoring innovative educational programs and extending its educational expertise to help in classrooms and in local communities. More information on the Pearson Foundation can be found at www.pearsonfoundation.org.

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