NEA Foundation's 14th Annual "Salute to Excellence in Education" Gala
Ivan G. Seidenberg
Washington, DC
February 6, 2009
As prepared for delivery
Acceptance Remarks:
Award for Philanthropy in Public Education
Presentation by Lauri Fitz-Pegado, Chairperson of the Board, NEA Foundation.
Thank you, Lauri, and on behalf of Verizon I’d like to thank everyone associated with the NEA Foundation for this award. We’ve had a great partnership with the NEA over the years and we’re looking forward to continuing that relationship with your new president and veteran teacher, Dennis Van Roekel. I also want to congratulate Carol-Lynn Parente and the Sesame Workshop on that great tribute and -- for all the parents and grandparents in the room -- add a personal thank-you to Sesame Street for all the joy you bring to learning.
I can safely say this is the first time I’ve been on the same bill as the Muppets, which is just one of the reasons we’re so pleased for the opportunity to participate in this inspiring and invigorating occasion. At a time when we seem to be inundated with bad news – with worries of what we can’t do – this evening is all about what we can do when we join together in pursuit of a common goal.
As professionals and as Americans, I know that all of us are concerned about the 1 million young people who drop out of high school every year – a loss of human potential that our country cannot and must not tolerate. The flip side of that coin, though, is the more than three million students who do graduate every year – each one of which is an achievement to celebrate, and each one of whom is a tribute to you and the millions of dedicated educators you represent.
You’re the ones who go to work every day to make a difference in the lives of your students. Most of the time, you make do with too few resources and too little time. But you still get up every morning to do the job of delivering a great public education for every student.
It’s what you do.
What Verizon does is build great networks. Our broadband and wireless technologies make businesses more productive and keep our millions of customers connected, anywhere, anytime and on any device. The job of the Verizon Foundation is to use that technology to drive positive social and economic change in our communities. Whether it’s by transforming health care, conserving energy, promoting online safety, or creating new jobs, we firmly believe that communications technology can be a part of the solution to the issues that matter most to our citizens.
This fundamental belief in the transformational power of technology is at the heart of our commitment to education. We know that broadband and mobile technologies have changed the way teachers teach and students learn. And while technology can’t replace the human bond between you and your students or put more educators in the classroom, it can put more tools in your hands, extend your reach and magnify your impact on the lives of your students.
That’s the idea behind our signature educational program, which we call Thinkfinity.org – a free website with more than 55,000 lesson plans and interactive resources from some of the nation’s leading educational and literacy organizations. We are very pleased to have representatives from two of our eleven Thinkfinity partners with us tonight:
- Danny Edelson, vice president of the National Geographic Society,
- And Carole Watson, President Obama’s choice for acting chairperson of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The interactive lessons provided by great partners like these turn learning from a passive to an active experience. Instead of reading about, say, “compound interest” in a textbook, students can click on an exercise provided by the Council for Economic Education and see for themselves how changes in principal, interest rates and time periods affect savings accounts, credit card debts and stock returns – not a bad lesson for any of us, come to think of it. All this is free and accessible on any computer with an Internet connection -- in any home, classroom, library or computer lab. And best of all, Thinkfinity uses information-age tools and speaks in information-age language to meet today’s students where they are and get them excited about and engaged in learning.
I encourage all of you to check out Thinkfinity.org, if you haven’t already – I guarantee you’ll find it very cool.
The Thinkfinity community is large, and growing. Last year, we had 25 million visitors to the site, and almost 26,000 educators in 40 states took advantage of its professional development opportunities. More than 2,600 schools now have trained Thinkfinity educators, and thousands more will be added this year. We’re expanding to libraries, afterschool programs, and literacy programs, and we’re working hard to reach underserved communities and at-risk youth.
We’re also using the power of technology to level the playing field and address the critical skill shortages that hamper America’s businesses. We’re creating national academies of engineering to improve math and science education in underperforming school districts. We’re working with the Stevens Institute and the National Academy Foundation to create more minority and women engineers. Our literacy programs have trained more than 1,000 educators and serve close to 7,000 students, helping them gain this vital foothold on the first rung of the economic ladder.
We don’t pretend to have all the answers to improving America’s educational system. We do think that technology is a big part of the solution. And we’re smart enough to recognize that the best way to make a real impact on education is to put the empowering tools of the broadband era in the hands of America’s educators – who, after all, are the real experts in how to motivate students and boost educational achievement.
This award is a testament to the leadership of our Foundation president, Patrick Gaston, as well as the many partners and stakeholders who enable the Verizon Foundation to do its work.
It’s also a reflection of the dedication of the tens of thousands of Verizon employees who last year volunteered well over a half a million hours in service to their communities.
And most of all, it’s a symbol of what can happen when public and private interests come together around a common good.
As I was thinking about what to say to you this evening, I read a letter that Bill Gates recently published on the work of his own foundation over the past year. In it, he takes a look at what they’ve done in the field of education, trying to sort out what works and what doesn’t. He talks about many things: how important it is for business to get involved in education reform, which requires the kind of long-term investment in technology that’s hard to come by from public funds; how vital it is that the “innovation power” of the private sector be harnessed to improve America’s schools; how economic hardship and other social factors affect student achievement.
But at the end of the day, he says that the single most important variable in improving a student’s performance is the presence of a great teacher.
We couldn’t agree more.
I thank you again for this award, and I trust that the partnership between Verizon and the NEA will continue to connect and empower great teachers for many years to come.
