New York State to Roll Out MarcoPolo in Every Classroom

- MCI Foundation Delivers Cutting Edge Education Content and Training to New York - 


ASHBURN, Va., Nov. 21  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- MCI, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCIP) today announced the launch of an innovative public-private partnership between the MCI Foundation, the New York State Education Department (NYSED), the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) and New York State Teacher Centers.  The initiative aims to improve student achievement by training K-12 teachers throughout New York on how to effectively utilize the thousands of educational resources from the MCI Foundation's renowned MarcoPolo program.  As part of this new initiative, NYSED is calling for every K-12 teacher throughout New York State to access MarcoPolo's sophisticated professional development program which trains teachers on how to integrate MarcoPolo resources, and its cutting-edge educational content and training, effectively into the classroom.

MarcoPolo's resources, available online at no charge to teachers throughout the United States and around the world, are -- for the first time ever -- now aligned in New York not only at the state standards level, but also at the performance indicator level.  This depth of alignment is unprecedented, bringing into the classroom thousands of tools to empower teachers and help students.  The resources are accessible 24 x 7 through NYSED's virtual learning system (VLS) at http://eservices.nysed.gov/vls/.  The MCI Foundation encourages other states interested in following New York's lead to email  for more information.

"MarcoPolo was designed with teachers and students in mind, and educators rely on it for its quality and creativity," said Elisa L. Liang, president of the MCI Foundation. "MarcoPolo's unique combination of rich, comprehensive, online educational content and professional development, coupled with the NYS Teacher Centers' extensive standards alignment project and statewide training rollout, and NYSED's innovative VLS system, are what prompt our passionate belief in the potential of MarcoPolo to transform teaching and change classroom learning."

"MarcoPolo is going to change the way we think about education reform in New York State.  Up until now we've been thinking a lot about changing the big system of education . . . but this begins to help us look at how we can change classroom practice," said NYSED's James A. Kadamus.  "This is a great example of a public/private partnership, where the state government and a private foundation are coming together to pool their resources and create free -- for all teachers -- online instructional resources."

This fall, NYSED, NYIT, the New York State Teacher Centers, and the MCI Foundation, launched a public awareness campaign about the initiative, providing 14,000 copies of a video, "MarcoPolo and NYSED-VLS: Redefining the Future of Education," to every member of the Board of Regents, each District Superintendent and all school principals throughout New York State.  The video is designed to introduce MarcoPolo's capabilities and features NYSED Deputy Commissioner, Elementary, Middle, Secondary and Continuing Education, James A. Kadamus, while also capturing the views of teachers, staff development experts, and administrators from across the state, as they discuss their experiences using the MarcoPolo educational resources.  To watch this video, please visit http://www.marcopolo-education.org/marcopolovideo.aspx.

MarcoPolo is valued by teachers across the country for its rich educational content, created by the MCI Foundation's eight Consortium Partners, each of whom are the premier education leaders in their subject matter areas. The MCI Foundation and its partners, leading national and international educational organizations, launched MarcoPolo in 1997.  Over the course of the program, the MarcoPolo Professional Development program has trained teachers in all 50 states across the United States, including 45 percent of U.S. public school districts and 44 percent of New York public school districts.

MarcoPolo resources, including lesson plans, student interactives, innovative educational search engine, and other tools, are accessible online from the NYSED -- VLS Web site, (http://eservices.nysed.gov/vls), New York Teacher Centers Web site (http://www.nyiteez.org/MarcoPoloNY/), or the MCI Foundation's MarcoPolo Web site (http://www.marcopolo-education.org/.). Subject-specific resources are also available through the MarcoPolo Consortium Web sites.

About MCI Foundation's MarcoPolo

MarcoPolo is a nonprofit consortium of leading national and international education organizations that have joined together with the MCI Foundation to provide the highest quality online educational content and professional development to teachers and students throughout the United States.  MarcoPolo Content Partners include: the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/), National Council on Economic Education (http://www.econedlink.org/), National Endowment for the Humanities (http://edsitement.neh.gov/), The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (http://illuminations.nctm.org/), International Reading Association (http://www.readwritethink.org/), The National Council of Teachers of English (http://www.readwritethink.org/), American Association for the Advancement of Science (http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/), and the National Geographic Society (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions). Visit http://www.marcopolo-/ education.org for more information.

About MCI, Inc.

MCI, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCIP) is a leading global communications provider, delivering innovative, cost-effective, advanced communications connectivity to businesses, governments and consumers. With one of the most expansive global IP backbones and wholly-owned data networks, MCI develops the converged communications products and services that are the foundation for commerce and communications in today's market. For more information, go to http://www.mci.com/. 

DATASOURCE: MCI, Inc.



CONTACT:  Brittany Feinson of MCI Public Relations, +1-800-644-NEWS



Web site:  http://www.marcopolo-education.org/

http://eservices.nysed.gov/vls

http://www.mci.com/ 

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