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Microsoft Bolsters Efforts to Create More Opportunity for College Grads
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Posted by Fred Humphries
Managing Director, U.S. Government Affairs
Career prospects for recent college graduates got brighter today thanks to a new initiative announced in Washington, D.C.
America’s strength and future growth in the global economy rests in the next generation, and in the opportunities that will nurture their talent and lead to technological innovation. Yet recent graduates have had a tough time finding jobs.
Today, Microsoft is proud to join the Invest in America Alliance in a significant commitment to jump start the U.S. economy through job creation for this year’s college graduates. Seventeen major corporations, brought together by Intel Corporation, committed today to substantial increases in hiring goals. In total, this initiative will result in 10,500 new college graduate hires in 2010 for a range of positions.
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Infusing “service-learning” and technology in the classroom
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Posted by Anthony Salcito
Vice President, Worldwide Education
As educators, government officials and business leaders look for collaborative ways to reform U.S. education, we believe “service-learning” and technology can play central roles in the success of our young people.
I’ve blogged before about the benefits of connecting kids to volunteerism (see posts here and here). Right now, only 32 percent of elementary and secondary schools offer service-learning opportunities, which incorporate community service into education to teach the value of civic responsibility. But we know the benefits are widespread. Likewise, the demonstrated effects of career and technical education (CTE) have included higher scores in math and science and lower dropout rates. So, we think service and technology could be the perfect marriage.
We also know that in addition to technology support, teachers need help enriching their curriculum with interactive and comprehensive classroom experiences that keep students engaged. And we know kids have embraced the role of technology in their lives -- often they know more than their teachers about computers and mobile devices! -- and are excited about the opportunity to give back. So, in partnership with the Corporation for National and Community Service, today we are excited to announce the Service & Technology Academic Resource Team (START).
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Steve Ballmer Helps Bring Elevate America to Georgia
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Posted by Andrea L. Taylor
Director, North America Community Affairs
Earlier today Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer joined Governor Sonny Perdue to launch Elevate America in Georgia, making it the 10th state to join the program.
Microsoft created Elevate America a year ago to help equip people with the technology skills needed to succeed in the 21st century workplace. Working in partnership with state governments, Elevate America provides vouchers for free technology training and certification. Today, over 50 percent of jobs require technology skills, with estimates showing that number reaching 75 percent in the next decade.
With unemployment still high in most of the country – including 10.3 percent in Georgia -- programs like Elevate America help displaced workers find jobs, and help those currently employed keep pace with the changing demands of their positions.
Working with states across the U.S., Elevate America can reach a broad number of people in urban and rural areas, regardless of their education level, income or employment status – ensuring that anyone who wants and needs access to these resources can get it.
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Microsoft Settlement to Fund $60 Million for Eligible Public Schools in Iowa
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Posted by Rich Wallis
Deputy General Counsel
Hundreds of public schools in Iowa will soon begin receiving approximately $60 million for education technology as part of the settlement of a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft in the state. Schools with a high percentage of students coming from low-income families are eligible to receive the funds, a provision Microsoft specifically negotiated to help bridge the technology gap that exists for low-income students.
This is a positive resolution of competition law concerns first raised in the 1990s. When we began settlement discussions in these cases several years ago, we sought to structure each settlement to support education. Microsoft has long worked to bridge the “digital divide” between those students and teachers who have access to the latest technology, and those who do not. Beginning with the earliest antitrust class-action settlements, such as Montana in 2003, we pushed to provide a significant portion of unclaimed proceeds to benefit schools serving students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. When the case in Iowa reached a point where settlement was possible, we insisted on the same basic structure. As part of this approach to settling antitrust class-action claims, Microsoft has provided over $600 million in technology vouchers to schools in 19 states and the District of Columbia over the past six years.
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Partnering with the White House on “Educate to Innovate”
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Posted by Pamela Passman
Corporate Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs
Pamela Passman, Corporate Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs
Today, President Obama is announcing “Educate to Innovate,” a national initiative aimed at inspiring students to develop the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills that will help them become the problem solvers of tomorrow. The future of our nation’s economic competitiveness is directly related to the ability of our young people to use such skills to innovate across a range of fields, including IT, manufacturing, energy and health care.
Now more than ever, all students need specialized knowledge to succeed in our complex, technologically advanced and globally competitive world. The vast majority of family-wage jobs in the 21st century will require employees with technical skills and an aptitude for life-long learning.
Across the U.S., student performance on international math and science benchmarks lags behind that of their peers from other nations such as England, China and Japan. The disparities are even greater for low-income and minority students. To maintain America’s competitiveness in rapidly growing, technology-dependent industries, we must work especially hard to encourage young women and minority students that their contributions are needed and valued in science and technology fields. Expanding the base of students interested in STEM throughout our society is not only a matter of ensuring that all young people have access to economic opportunities, but also a business imperative if the U.S. economy is to grow and prosper.
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North Carolina Becomes 8th State to join Elevate America
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By David Bowermaster
Administrator, Microsoft on the Issues
North Carolina Governor Bev Purdue announced yesterday that North Carolina will partner with Microsoft to implement Elevate America, an initiative designed to help get people back to work by giving state and local governments the tools and resources they need to provide no-cost or low-cost technology skills training to job seekers.
North Carolina joins seven other states that have launched Elevate America since the program began in February, including Illinois, Iowa, Virginia, Washington, Maryland, Mississippi and Missouri.
As Microsoft Corporate Vice President Pamela Passman previously blogged, more than 50 percent of today’s jobs require technology skills, with experts predicting that percentage will rise to 77 percent in the next decade. In today’s market, jobs in almost every industry and at every level require at least basic proficiency with computers and other digital technologies.
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Let’s Get Behind Online Citizenship Education to Tackle Cyberbullying and Harrassment
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Posted by Chuck Cosson
Senior Policy Counsel
Cyberbullying was in the news again last week as local authorities try to crack down on the problem. At Microsoft, we believe the best way to prevent cyberbullying is through education. We’d like to see it included in Internet safety curricula in schools.
Cyberbullying methods may be virtual, but the pain is real, especially for young people whose social lives depend heavily on their online connections. Communities are searching for the right boundaries to set when the rough-and-tumble of online discussion turns cruel and even harassing. Context and individual judgment are important in setting limits that protect healthy child development and personal reputations without inhibiting free expression of critical opinion, political and cultural discussion.
Education is not the single solution, but it has proven effective against cyberbullying, it doesn’t impinge on free expression, and it receives broad support around the world as an important and appropriate response. Education was mentioned by nearly all of the witnesses at a recent Congressional hearing on cyberbullying. Reports from safety experts note the importance of education, particularly as part of child development and as a means to more effectively target high-risk situations. Education can help individuals distinguish appropriate social boundaries, identify ways to protect their privacy and reputation, and learn how to be civil while speaking candidly.
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Teaching 21st Century Skills for Employability
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Posted by Lutz Ziob,
General Manager, Microsoft Learning
The disappointing U.S. employment numbers released today demonstrate again the importance of providing students and workers with the best possible education to compete in the 21st century global economy. Unemployment is rising even as employers continue to struggle to find enough workers with technical and other needed skills. Specifically, lack of computer skills is a barrier for many job seekers. Equipping current and future workers with appropriate skills and competencies is critical to U.S. economic strength and competitiveness.
We still have a long way to go. Workforce development resources are inadequate to cope with the overwhelming number of workers in need of assistance. The federally-funded workforce training system served an impressive six million people last year, but managed to provide training to only about 410,000 of them, according to the U.S. Dept. of Labor. Yet, significant new federal resources are unlikely to be available in the near future to broaden the reach of workforce readiness training.
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Making an Education Count Once School is Over
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Posted by Pamela Passman
Corporate Vice President
While there is broad consensus that education is critical for social and economic development, relatively little attention is given to the issue of ensuring that education has a tangible impact on students’ lives once they leave school. This is particularly true in developing countries.
The unfortunate reality is that the hard work and resources invested in providing a great education are often lost when disadvantaged students finish high school but continue living in impoverished conditions. A high school diploma does not guarantee a job. In Kenya, high school graduates who qualify for the government’s university loan program typically must wait 22 months for a place in university. During this time, students often do not have an opportunity to join the workforce and many never resume their studies.
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High Capacity Broadband is Core to America’s Future
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Posted by Anoop Gupta
Corporate Vice President, Technology Policy & Strategy
Today I had the privilege of participating in a workshop convened by the Federal Communications Commission as part of its effort to develop a National Broadband Plan by early next year. Today’s session focused on how best to supply the greater bandwidth required by emerging applications and devices, which could deliver huge social and economic benefits in nearly every aspect of our lives – in education, healthcare, commerce, energy and government, to name a few.
I want to commend FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and his colleagues for vigorously taking on this incredibly important and urgent challenge. Every 18 months, data storage capacities (driven by Moore's law) are doubling, and devices and applications are quickly evolving to take advantage of the trend. Bandwidth available in homes is rising too, but more slowly. This discrepancy is already creating a bandwidth bottleneck, and the situation will get worse over time.
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