The BellSouth edu.pwr

3

Initiative Programs

Power to Lead

Power to lead provided an electronic simulation experience for 401

superintendents (61%) in the Southeast to show how their decisions 

about technology would have an impact on their school systems overall.

Eighty three superintendents continued their professional development 

Power to Teach Results

% of schools

with $1,039,790 in follow up grants. 

2000

2002

Elementary Teachers

65% and above

14%

30%

Power to Teach

60 64%

8%

13%

Power to Teach gave 10,000 teachers in 300 schools hands on experiences 

50 59%

19%

27%

Total above 50%

41%

71%

to improve their own technological capabilities and incorporate their 

Middle/High Teachers

newfound knowledge into their teaching at the classroom level. In Power 

65% and above

12%

32%

to Teach, the percentage of schools with 50% or more teachers who are 

60 64%

7%

17%

50 59%

30%

25%

integrating technology into the classroom increased significantly over 

Total above 50%

49%

75%

two years.

Power to Learn

Too much stability can be 

Power to Learn provided an intensive year of funding to four exemplary

as detrimental as too little.

schools to help them more fully incorporate technology into their everyday

If a person stays in a place

teaching, school operations, parent communication and more. Program

researchers studied the resulting impact of the school wide infusion of 

too long, they may not rec 

technology on student learning. Preliminary findings reveal several lessons:

ognize that the community

  Focus is essential.

Without a clear, common sense of direction, schools will

around them has changed

shift energy and direction from day to day, based on outside distractions

or internal competitors for attention.

and that the old approach

  Context is key.

Teachers and principals need a common language with

is no longer appropriate.

which to discuss current practice and ongoing change. For Power to Learn,

While change may seem 

we used the Science of Learning Principles detailed in How People Learn: Brain,

Mind, Experience, and School (National Research Foundation, National Academy

to be unstable, it actually

Press, 2002). This context served as a catalyst for new conversations about

can be a breakthrough 

learning and new energy and enthusiasm among teachers. When com 

and create momentum.

bined with technology, it resulted in improved classroom instruction.

  Change happens on multiple fronts.

Principals in the Power to Learn

  Margaret Greene, President, 

schools had to address multiple areas of change simultaneously, from 

Regulatory and External Affairs, 

the physical infrastructure of the school, to the culture inside the building,

BellSouth Corporation

to interactions with the external community. Relationships both outside

and inside the school brought opportunities and challenges that became

factors in change. 

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