Making Progress on ConnectED (updated)

President Barack Obama visited Buck Lodge Middle School in Adelphi (MD) to announce major progress on the ConnectED initiative, designed to enrich K-12 education for every student in America. ConnectED empowers teachers with the best technology and the training to make the most of it, and empowers students through individualized learning and rich, digital content.

President Obama announced that private-sector companies have committed more than $750 million to deliver cutting-edge technologies to classrooms, including:

• Apple, which will donate $100 million in iPads, MacBooks, and other products, along with content and professional development tools to enrich learning in disadvantaged U.S. schools
• AT&T, which pledged more than $100 million to give middle school students free Internet connectivity for educational devices over their wireless network for three years
• Autodesk, which pledged to make their 3D design program "Design the Future" available for free in every secondary school in the U.S. -- more than $250 million in value
• Microsoft, which will launch a substantial affordability program open to all U.S. public schools by deeply discounting the price of its Windows operating system, which will decrease the price of Windows-based devices
• O'Reilly Media, which is partnering with Safari Books Online to make more than $100 million in educational content and tools available for free to every school in the U.S.
• Sprint, which will offer free wireless service for up to 50,000 low-income high school students over the next four years, valued at $100 million
• Verizon, which announced a multi-year program to support ConnectED through up to $100 million in cash and in-kind commitments

Reaction from Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller:
“It’s imperative that we expand high-speed broadband connections to our schools and libraries, and the President’s announcement about private sector donations to bring technology and training to schools and students is a valuable complement to that expansion. I appreciate these companies stepping up to provide our school children with important digital learning tools and services, and I look forward to working with them and the FCC on the larger effort to update and strengthen the successful E-Rate program. Every child in America deserves the bright future that can come with an expanded E-Rate in our nation’s classrooms and libraries.”