Press Release: After Achieving Early Success, Innovative Program That Helps Teachers Use Mobile Technology to Improve Student Learning Expands to 12 More Schools

To help ensure that more students learn the skills necessary for success in higher education and careers in science, technology, engineering and math, the Verizon Foundation and the International Society for Technology in Education will expand an innovative professional-development program for teachers at schools in underserved areas. The expansion, announced on Monday (June 24) by the foundation and the ISTE, will build on the initial success of the program, Verizon Innovative Learning Schools, which was launched at 12 schools last summer.

The expansion will add 12 more schools to the VILS program this fall. The Verizon Foundation, which provides funding through grants to the ISTE and the participating schools, will increase its funding to $1.6 million to cover the 24 schools that will now be in the program. More than 12,000 students will benefit from classroom environments that effectively integrate technology and exhibit NETS standards. (NOTE: For a list of the current and newly named Verizon Innovative Learning Schools, see the end of this release.)

Under the program, teachers receive two years of professional development that will prepare them to better incorporate existing mobile technology into classroom learning with strategies that support teaching the so-called STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and math – and making these subjects more appealing to students.

Click here to see the full story, from eSchool News.