Microsoft answers the President’s ConnectED challenge with impressive numbers

4 min. read

Published onJune 26, 2015

published onJune 26, 2015

Share this article

Read our disclosure page to find out how can you help Windows Report sustain the editorial teamRead more

During the 2014 State of the Union address, President Obama set an ambitious agenda for education. The president wanted to make 2014 a year of action when it came to the topic of America’s commitment towards educating its youth. President Obama’s challenge, ConnectED, was a connected effort to make sure all students have access to the technology and devices to succeed. The president’s belief in educating and empowering the future working class ideally would increase prosperity and opportunity for America’s middle class.

When Microsoft answered the call in early 2014, the company did so by contributing more than $1 billion dollars in technology savings to schools across the nation. Since 2014, states, school districts, teachers and students from across North America have taken advantage of Microsoft’s unique offerings. As the White House releases themomentum dataon the ConnectED Challenge, we are starting to get a clearer picture of how effective Microsoft’s contributions have been.

According to the Microsoft Education Team:

“In the little more than a year since Microsoft joined the ConnectED initiative, there has been great progress. For example, over 3 million students have received access to Office 365 in K–12 schools across the U.S. Since inadequate teacher training is one of the key reasons technology deployments fail, Microsoft has provided in-depth technology training to nearly 150,000 educators, with more training sessions scheduled for this summer. In partnership with Acer, Asus, CTL, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, Toshiba, and others, Microsoft has deployed 2.9 million affordable, Windows-based devices in classrooms. With IT Academy, students and teachers have access to industry-recognized certifications, and we have enrolled 594 additional schools in the IT Academy program, reaching an estimated 60,000 students. Finally, Bing the in Classroom offers ad-free search for students, creating a safer environment for learning–and over 13,870 schools and 9.62 million students have enrolled in the program.”

With numbers in the millions, it is clear that Microsoft’s contributions are laying a solid groundwork for the ConnectED initiative. In ablogpost, theMicrosoft Education Teamalso highlights some more specific instances of where and how the company’s contributions are affecting students in local areas.

We reported on this one:“In a joint effort to best provide the students of New York City with the skills and tools to succeed, the New York City Council and the New York City Department of Education are making the Office 365 benefit available to all 1.1 million teachers and students in the city.”

In comparison, Apple pledged $100 million in iPads, MacBooks, and other products along with content and professional development tools to enrich learning in disadvantaged schools. Other companies like Verizon and O’Reilly Media offered $100 million respectively to partner with Safari Books Online and supported multi-year educational programs.

With the additions to Widows 10,Office 365 Pro Plus,Bing in the ClassroomandMicrosoft IT Academyall planned for this year and next, students, teachers and schools will have even more tools to help continue the vision of ConnectED.

Kareem Anderson

Networking & Security Specialist

Kareem is a journalist from the bay area, now living in Florida. His passion for technology and content creation drives are unmatched, driving him to create well-researched articles and incredible YouTube videos.

He is always on the lookout for everything new about Microsoft, focusing on making easy-to-understand content and breaking down complex topics related to networking, Azure, cloud computing, and security.

User forum

0 messages

Sort by:LatestOldestMost Votes

Comment*

Name*

Email*

Commenting as.Not you?

Save information for future comments

Comment

Kareem Anderson

Networking & Security Specialist

He is a journalist from the bay area, now living in Florida. He breaks down complex topics related to networking, Azure, cloud computing, and security

With KB5043178 to Release Preview Channel, Microsoft advises Windows 11 users to plug in when the battery is low#

Copilot in Outlook will generate personalized themes for you to customize the app#

Microsoft will raise the price of its 365 Suite to include AI capabilities#

Death Stranding Director’s Cut is now Xbox X|S at a huge discount#

Outlook will let users create custom account icons so they can tell their accounts apart easier#

Microsoft answers the President’s ConnectED challenge with impressive numbers#

With KB5043178 to Release Preview Channel, Microsoft advises Windows 11 users to plug in when the battery is low

Copilot in Outlook will generate personalized themes for you to customize the app

Microsoft will raise the price of its 365 Suite to include AI capabilities

Death Stranding Director’s Cut is now Xbox X|S at a huge discount

Outlook will let users create custom account icons so they can tell their accounts apart easier

Microsoft answers the President’s ConnectED challenge with impressive numbers