ADVISORY/IBM, Durham Public Schools Launch New Student Achievement Initiative in Durham on March 21.

News/Assignment Editors/High Tech, Education Writers

ADVISORY...for Thursday (March 21)

DURHAM, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 21, 2002

Governor Easley Tours IBM's Reinventing Education Program

and Supports High-Tech Tools for Teachers

On Thursday, March 21, 2002, at 11:30am ET North Carolina Governor Mike Easley, a delegation of education officials from Durham Public Schools, and IBM (NYSE:IBM) officials are launching a new technology initiative to improve public school education through better teacher preparation.

This new effort is part of IBM's Reinventing Education program in the Durham Public Schools. The initiative, called Instructional Planner, is designed to help school teachers share lesson plans over computer networks and better share their "best practices" for teaching. For the past three years, Durham Public Schools has focused its work with Reinventing Education on strengthening communication between teachers, students and parents.

"Partnerships like this demonstrate the type of creativity and innovation it takes to help our students succeed," Governor Mike Easley said today. "IBM has shown over the years that true investments in our schools lead to true progress by our students. The benefits of partnership between business and education are endless; our students get more hands-on opportunities to learn, our teachers get more resources they desperately need and the business community gets a better-trained workforce down the road."

"We are very excited to begin this new phase of our technology implementation program in the Durham Public Schools because we realize improved student performance begins with teachers who are supported with the best technology available," said Superintendent Ann Denlinger. "We continue to strive for a high-performing public education system in Durham and we are grateful for the support of government leaders like Governor Easley and corporate sponsors like IBM."

IBM's Reinventing Education grant of $875,000 in 1997 led to the development of a program called Learning Village, formerly known as Wired for Learning. This cutting-edge, computer-based technology program, links teachers, administrators and parents via the world wide web, allowing the flow of information critical to the improvement of public school education. Since it began in North Carolina in 1994, IBM's $70 million Reinventing Education grant program has expanded to school districts around the world, including 21 U.S. grants, plus six international sites. Recent reports and analysis from leading learning institutions including New York's Center for Children and Technology indicate that Reinventing Education has resulted in significant gains in student achievement.

The Instructional Planner tool will allow teachers to submit their best lesson plans to a core team of teachers. Using an extensive review process, called a "juried process", experienced teachers will review and refine candidate lesson plans. The best plans submitted will be made widely available for other teachers in the county to draw upon.

Since the beginning of the Reinventing Education grant, the Durham Public Schools, in partnership with Duke University and IBM, have been working to establish Learning Village in its 10 middle schools. Durham Public Schools are currently supporting teacher websites containing homework assignments and school activities. The Learning Village platform also gives teachers access to e-mail a student's parent or other teachers on the system. More than 90 percent of participating Durham Public Schools teachers have personal Web pages and e-mail capabilities.

In September 2001, IBM was awarded the prestigious N.C. Governor's Business Partnership Award for their work on Reinventing Education with Durham Public Schools. Governor Easley visited Shepherd Magnet Middle School in Durham to view firsthand the Reinventing Education operation there today.

The first Reinventing Education grant was given to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in 1994. It's estimated more than 26,000 students and teachers have been touched by Learning Village projects in North Carolina since 1994.

For more information contact, Michael Yarbrough of Durham Public Schools at [phone] or at [e-mail] or Kathryn Bishop of Governor Easley's Press Office at [phone] or at [e-mail] or Lynne Beaman of IBM at [phone] or at [e-mail].

For more information on IBM Corporate Community Relations, go to ibm.com/ibm/ibmgives. IBM is the world's largest information technology company with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. In addition to Reinventing Education and other philanthropic programs, IBM is working to encourage fundamental school reform, shape state and local education policy, and mobilize complementary business initiatives. IBM and the IBM logo are trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation in the United States and all other countries.