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Bell Atlantic Foundation Awards $500,000 For School-to-Career Programs in Technology

Bell Atlantic Foundation Awards $500,000 For School-to-Career Programs in Technology

Published 06-06-00

Submitted by Bell Atlantic Corporation

Students and educators throughout the state will benefit from more than $500,000 in grants awarded by the Bell Atlantic Foundation for school-to-career initiatives that creatively use technology in education. Some 19 grants will benefit organizations representing more than 60 Massachusetts communities.

"As the largest private employer in the state, Bell Atlantic realizes how important it is for schools, businesses and communities to work together to help students prepare for the workplace," said Robert Mudge, Bell Atlantic - Massachusetts president. "We are facing an increased need for employees who possess solid academic knowledge, strong technical and computer skills, and effective work habits and interpersonal skills. These grants will help address that need."

Eleven partnership projects will receive grants of up to $50,000 and eight classroom and teacher internship projects will receive grants of up to $10,000. (A complete list of recipients is attached.) The grants will be presented at 11 a.m. today in a ceremony at the Museum of Science. Mudge and Dave Lussier, Massachusetts Teacher of the Year, are hosting the ceremony.

Winners include:

* Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, which was granted $35,000 for partnering with Boston University's Department of Rehabilitation Counseling;

* Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard & Nantucket School to Career Partnership, which was awarded $50,000 for a project with the Dennis-Yarmouth School District, Sandwich Public Schools, Cape Cod Community College and Cape Cod Technology Council; and

* Northern Essex Community College, which will receive $50,000 for a program that collaborates with the Amesbury Public Schools, Methuen Public Schools and Pentucket Regional School District.
In addition, 18 project teams that won EdLink grants in 1999 also will attend to celebrate the completion of their projects. Results of the projects will be featured on the Bell Atlantic Foundation web site at www.bellatlanticfoundation.com. Some of last year's winners were the Roxbury Multi-Service Center, the Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts Consortium for Distance Learning at University of Massachusetts in Lowell, Merrimack Valley MentorNet and the University Park Campus School in Worcester. Three project teams will share their results and advice with the new group of winners.

"Education for all students can be made more relevant and useful if students apply what they learn through participation in work and community-based learning opportunities," Mudge said.

In its fourth year, Bell Atlantic's EdLink initiative integrates technology-based learning with a school-to-career focus. The grants target grades 7 through 12 in public and private school districts that collaborate with institutions of higher education, community organizations, non-profit agencies or businesses.

The Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing will use its grant to collaborate with high-tech businesses to promote links between school and work.

Using teleconferencing, participants will discuss learning strategies, integrate vocational and academic learning, and tackle problem-solving challenges. The goal of the project is to use technology to increase student and teacher awareness of industry and to increase industry's understanding of the capabilities of deaf students.

The grant will enable the Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard & Nantucket School to Career Partnership to team up with the Cape Cod Technology Partnership to offer computer and technology professional development for teachers. Select teachers will participate in a program called TechLink that enables them to examine the use of computers and technology in education. TechLink connects classroom activities to the real world by enabling teachers to study technology at area businesses. Ultimately, teachers will develop a regional databank of technology projects they can use in the classroom.

The Northern Essex Community College program will help area teachers and students in grades 7 through 12 better prepare for the challenges of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests in mathematics using the college's distance learning network. Twenty teachers will participate in internships with industry and receive multimedia training. They will use their experiences to create "real industry" math units with a goal of improving student learning and success.

All 19 winning proposals seek to promote collaboration among schools, teachers, businesses and communities; increase teachers' and students' technology skills; strengthen connections between school and industry; and develop models that can be used in other communities and schools.

In addition to EdLink, the Bell Atlantic Foundation also has announced grants of $500,000 to technology projects for after-school programs across the Commonwealth tied to the United Way's Keeping Kids on Track program. This year, Bell Atlantic will invest more than $3 million in a variety of education, civic, cultural and health programs in Massachusetts.

The Bell Atlantic Foundation supports a variety of projects domestically and internationally, with an emphasis on new technology applications in education, health and human services, the arts and humanities, and civic development in the communities served by Bell Atlantic. For more information, visit www.bellatlanticfoundation.com on the Internet.

Bell Atlantic EdLink 2000 Winners

Partnership Grants (up to $50,000):

Assabet Valley Education Foundation

Boys and Girls Club of Greater Holyoke

Bristol Tech Prep Consortium, Fall River

Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket School to Career

Greenfield Community College

Horace Mann School, Boston

Lowell High School

MetroWest School to Career, Framingham

Northern Essex Community College, Haverhill

Tech Boston, Roxbury

Valley Tech Education Foundation, Upton

Classroom/Teacher Internship Grants (approximately $10,000):

Danvers Public Schools

East Bridgewater High School

Ipswich Public Schools

Leominster Public Schools

Massachusetts Telecom Council

New Mission High School, Boston

Newton Public Schools

South Shore Education Collaborative, Hingham

For complete EdLink project descriptions, refer to our Web site at www.bellatlanticfoundation.com.

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