Microsoft Holds Education Summit

It is clear from its prominence as an issue in the recent presidential election, that Americans are once again concerning themselves with the education of their children.

While former President Clinton’s “wired schools initiative” has shown great success in providing access, issues surrounding how to best utilize the technology are still being felt out.

Today, more than 500 leaders from top U.S. and Canadian school districts will join technology industry leaders and educational experts to begin an in-depth discussion on how the use of technology increases the quality of education for K-12 students.

During the three-day Connected Learning Community Technology Summit, superintendents, curriculum and technology specialists, principals and teachers will share their successes and learn more about how to improve student learning, create smarter and more agile schools, and increase parent and community involvement.

“Technology is the most powerful tool we have to transform our schools,” says Mark East, worldwide general manager of the Microsoft Education Solutions Group. “The in-depth conversations and learnings at the summit will inform the national discussion on education and move us forward.”

Organized by Microsoft, the summit will showcase the company’s Encarta server, aimed at the educational market, as well as technologies from over 20 other companies.

Dr. Arthur Levine, president of the College of Education at Columbia University, and Dr. Rudy Crew, executive director of the Institute for K-12 Leadership at the University of Washington, will deliver opening addresses on the first and second day of the summit, respectively. Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft, will close the conference on Wednesday with an address on his vision for how technology will change the way students learn and give educators tools to improve their schools.