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Microsoft to design city high school
By Susan Snyder
Inquirer Staff Writer
A $46 million high school dazzling with the latest technology - from interactive digital textbooks and computerized tablets to electronic play diagrams for the basketball team - will be built by the Philadelphia School District in partnership with the Microsoft Corp., officials announced today.
Planned for 700 students at a location not yet chosen, the school will be embedded with wireless, mobile technology for every school function from keeping attendance to ordering cafeteria meals and school supplies.
"We have the premier techological entrepreneur teaming with us - absolutely incredible," said James Nevels, chairman of the Philadelphia School Reform Commission.
While the Seattle-based software giant has worked with other schools around the world, the Philadelphia school will become Microsoft's most comprehensive education venture, its officials said.
"We're looking at how technology can impact all aspects of the school - the way learning and teaching goes on in the classroom and also in how the school is operated," said Anthony Salcito, a Microsoft director. "We will create a school that operates more effectively and more efficiently."
The school, yet unnamed, is set to open in Sept. 2006, but district chief executive officer Paul G. Vallas said today that he hopes to have it ready a year earlier.
It will be one of 11 new high schools to be funded by the district's five-year $1.5 billion capital plan. Officials for the district and Microsoft are hopeful that it will become a local and national model, with programs and techniques can be used in other district schools. For that reason, it will be built on a budget similar to the other new city schools being planned.
Microsoft's contribution will not be monetary, but services worth millions of dollars, including a full-time on-site project manager, planning and design expertise, staff training and ongoing technology support. It plans to bring in other technology partners.
The company's reward is the opportunity to design a school using technology in every way possible from the ground up - a prototype it could then market.
The company came to Philadelphia at the request of Vallas, who has made school partnerships a focus of his year-old leadership. Vallas, Mayor Street and Nevels announced the venture with Microsoft at a ceremony today at the High School for Creative and Performing Arts in South Philadelphia.
"Microsoft came here because we asked, simple as that," Vallas said.
Wanda Miles, Microsoft's executive director of learning technologies, said the company has a "strong commitment to learning, and learning starts at the school district level."
The company last month partnered with a Florida school where seventh-grade students will receive digital textbooks, tablet PCs with screens that translate handwritten words digitally, 24-hour access to homework help and other services.
For those who might criticize such a corporate presence in a public school, district officials emphasized that Microsoft will not manage the school.
"They will be in an advisory capacity. We're still running the school," said Ellen Savitz, the district's chief development officer. "There's no fear of a corporation somehow overtaking the educational focus."
While the school will be loaded with technology, that will not become its learning theme. Officials envision a regular academic high school.
And, admission will not be based on academic ability.
"The objective is to bring innovations to the school for the average graduate and put that graduate on a legitimate college-prep track," Vallas said.
The exact admission process should be in place by January 2005, Savitz said. An independent board of community members will be established to help set the criteria and oversee the school, she said.
Officials are sure that some students will come from the neighborhood, while others will be accepted from around the city, she said. Competition for placement is expected to be strong.
Several sites for the school are being considered by Microsoft and the school district but officials declined to elaborate.
So new are the plans that district and Microsoft officials said they could not anticipate how many computers would be installed or describe what a classroom will look like.
"Technology continues to evolve, so we're not making decisions based on today's technology. We're trying to push the envelope so that when the school opens, it represents the future," Salcito said. "We also have to figure out how technology will evolve after the school opens."
But some details seem certain: Students will get PDAs, 24-hour access to homework help and class assignments. Parents will communicate online with teachers. The library will be integrated with online services.
One district official called it a "paperless" school, although Microsoft officials acknowledged that paper will always be needed.
Microsoft plans to work with textbook companies that have begun making interactive digital textbooks that students can highlight and write notes in.
"We want to take advantage of simulation and gaming technology to enrich learning," added Miles.
Nevels said the project is the most extensive partnership with a corporation that the district has undertaken. Earlier this summer, district officials announced that they would partner with the Franklin Institute - a city landmark known for its science education – to build a science and technology-oriented high school.
By Susan Snyder
Inquirer Staff Writer
A $46 million high school dazzling with the latest technology - from interactive digital textbooks and computerized tablets to electronic play diagrams for the basketball team - will be built by the Philadelphia School District in partnership with the Microsoft Corp., officials announced today.
Planned for 700 students at a location not yet chosen, the school will be embedded with wireless, mobile technology for every school function from keeping attendance to ordering cafeteria meals and school supplies.
"We have the premier techological entrepreneur teaming with us - absolutely incredible," said James Nevels, chairman of the Philadelphia School Reform Commission.
While the Seattle-based software giant has worked with other schools around the world, the Philadelphia school will become Microsoft's most comprehensive education venture, its officials said.
"We're looking at how technology can impact all aspects of the school - the way learning and teaching goes on in the classroom and also in how the school is operated," said Anthony Salcito, a Microsoft director. "We will create a school that operates more effectively and more efficiently."
The school, yet unnamed, is set to open in Sept. 2006, but district chief executive officer Paul G. Vallas said today that he hopes to have it ready a year earlier.
It will be one of 11 new high schools to be funded by the district's five-year $1.5 billion capital plan. Officials for the district and Microsoft are hopeful that it will become a local and national model, with programs and techniques can be used in other district schools. For that reason, it will be built on a budget similar to the other new city schools being planned.
Microsoft's contribution will not be monetary, but services worth millions of dollars, including a full-time on-site project manager, planning and design expertise, staff training and ongoing technology support. It plans to bring in other technology partners.
The company's reward is the opportunity to design a school using technology in every way possible from the ground up - a prototype it could then market.
The company came to Philadelphia at the request of Vallas, who has made school partnerships a focus of his year-old leadership. Vallas, Mayor Street and Nevels announced the venture with Microsoft at a ceremony today at the High School for Creative and Performing Arts in South Philadelphia.
"Microsoft came here because we asked, simple as that," Vallas said.
Wanda Miles, Microsoft's executive director of learning technologies, said the company has a "strong commitment to learning, and learning starts at the school district level."
The company last month partnered with a Florida school where seventh-grade students will receive digital textbooks, tablet PCs with screens that translate handwritten words digitally, 24-hour access to homework help and other services.
For those who might criticize such a corporate presence in a public school, district officials emphasized that Microsoft will not manage the school.
"They will be in an advisory capacity. We're still running the school," said Ellen Savitz, the district's chief development officer. "There's no fear of a corporation somehow overtaking the educational focus."
While the school will be loaded with technology, that will not become its learning theme. Officials envision a regular academic high school.
And, admission will not be based on academic ability.
"The objective is to bring innovations to the school for the average graduate and put that graduate on a legitimate college-prep track," Vallas said.
The exact admission process should be in place by January 2005, Savitz said. An independent board of community members will be established to help set the criteria and oversee the school, she said.
Officials are sure that some students will come from the neighborhood, while others will be accepted from around the city, she said. Competition for placement is expected to be strong.
Several sites for the school are being considered by Microsoft and the school district but officials declined to elaborate.
So new are the plans that district and Microsoft officials said they could not anticipate how many computers would be installed or describe what a classroom will look like.
"Technology continues to evolve, so we're not making decisions based on today's technology. We're trying to push the envelope so that when the school opens, it represents the future," Salcito said. "We also have to figure out how technology will evolve after the school opens."
But some details seem certain: Students will get PDAs, 24-hour access to homework help and class assignments. Parents will communicate online with teachers. The library will be integrated with online services.
One district official called it a "paperless" school, although Microsoft officials acknowledged that paper will always be needed.
Microsoft plans to work with textbook companies that have begun making interactive digital textbooks that students can highlight and write notes in.
"We want to take advantage of simulation and gaming technology to enrich learning," added Miles.
Nevels said the project is the most extensive partnership with a corporation that the district has undertaken. Earlier this summer, district officials announced that they would partner with the Franklin Institute - a city landmark known for its science education – to build a science and technology-oriented high school.
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