| Further Information About Thinkfinity
Washington State Curriculum Alignment Project
Search for Thinkfinity Resources by Washington State standards State Education Network!
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Why Should All Educators Use Thinkfinity?
 Highest Quality Resources for Teachers and Students
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Over
3000 Lessons and 55,000 Resources - with more being added regularly
All major curriculum areas involved
All grade levels (K-12) covered
Thinkfinity in Washington State
Thinkfinity is developing partnerships with states to coordinate training and usage of Thinkfinity resources. In Washington State, the Educational Technology Support Center program is leading this effort in cooperation with OSPI and the nine Educational Service Districts.The ETSC program is the lead vehicle for:
providing training to teachers
aligning Thinkfinity lessons to Washington State standards
developing and hosting this WWW site
promoting the use of Thinkfinity resources
News:
July 29, 2008
Verizon Awards $75,000 Grant to Provide Washington Teachers With Training to Use Thinkfinity.org’s Free Online Resources
Thinkfinity.org Now Also Offers Additional Free Educational Resources for Parents, Students and After-School Programs
TACOMA, Wash. – The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) received a $75,000 grant today from the Verizon Foundation to raise awareness and train teachers throughout the state to use thousands of free educational resources available on Thinkfinity.org.
Thinkfinity.org is the Verizon Foundation’s comprehensive online portal to more than 55,000 educational and literacy resources for teachers, parents and students. Resources include standards-based, grade-specific, K-12 lesson plans and engaging interactive activities provided in partnership with many of the nation’s leading educational and literacy organizations.
Thinkfinity.org offers elementary through high school teachers resources across eight academic disciplines, from science to English to mathematics, to improve student achievement. Thinkfinity.org is designed to help teachers gain access to online resources quickly.
Verizon announced the grant at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction’s Summer Institute.
"Thinkfinity provides educators with a great opportunity to utilize technology to advance their skills in an efficient and effective manner," said Gov. Christine Gregoire, who attended the event. "This public-private partnership is a perfect example of how we can reach our goals to enhance our education system and to provide more opportunities for our kids."
The Educational Technology Development Center, in collaboration with the Educational Technology Support Center Program and supported by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, is the Thinkfinity state education partner in Washington.
The grant will be used to:
Provide professional development opportunities to classroom teachers statewide through on-site and online training provided by Washington state’s Educational Technology Support Centers located at each of the nine regional Educational Service Districts (see http://www.edtech.wednet.edu/programs/thinkfinity/).
Provide access to Thinkfinity resources aligned to current and emerging state standards, through a centralized Web site
Infuse Thinkfinity professional development into other statewide initiatives, such as peer coaching and online learning.
To make the Thinkfinity site even more valuable to teachers, students and parents, the Verizon Foundation recently announced several enhancements and improvements to the Thinkfinity.org Web site, including:
The addition of 500 new resources.
Individual portals to allow users to search for resources targeted to educators, students, parents or after-school programs.
A dynamic new look.
A simple, more comprehensive search engine.
Ability to search for resources tailored to individual state standards.
"The exciting thing about the Thinkfinity grant is the teacher training," said Terry Bergeson, Washington state superintendent. "Teachers need to know how to create classroom activities that use the lesson plans, interactive learning games and home study materials from the Thinkfinity Web site. Training will help teachers integrate these learning resources so they can bring a new and exciting digital dimension into the learning environment ? one they can adapt to different learning styles."
In addition to providing standards-based resources from the nation’s leading educational and literacy organizations, Thinkfinity.org also offers a comprehensive professional development program that allows teachers to sign up for online or face-to-face training to learn how to make the most of Thinkfinity.org tools.
"Whether it’s an English teacher looking for resources to spark a love of reading in a student, or a parent seeking a convenient and user-friendly educational activity to stimulate the mind of a young child, Thinkfinity.org will help them quickly and easily find the information needed to improve student achievement," said David S. Valdez, senior vice president for Verizon’s Pacific Northwest region.
Content for Thinkfinity.org is provided through a partnership between the Verizon Foundation and 11 of the nation’s leading organizations in the fields of education and literacy: the American Association for the Advancement of Science, International Reading Association, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, National Center for Family Literacy, National Council on Economic Education, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Council of Teachers of English, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, National Geographic Society, ProLiteracy Worldwide and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
The Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications, supports the advancement of literacy and K-12 education through its signature program, Thinkfinity.org, and fosters awareness and prevention of domestic violence. In 2007, the foundation awarded more than $67.4 million in grants to nonprofit agencies in the United States and abroad. The foundation also matched the charitable donations of Verizon employees and retirees, resulting in $25.1 million in combined contributions. Through Verizon Volunteers, one of the nation’s largest employee volunteer programs, Verizon employees and retirees have volunteered more than 3 million hours of community service since Verizon’s inception in 2000.
For more information on the foundation, visit www.verizon.com/foundation.
February 20, 2007
Verizon Marcopolo is becoming Thinkfinity! Visit to learn about Verizon Foundation's vision for literacy, education and technology in the 21st century.
April 10, 2006
The MCI Foundation has been replaced by the Verizon Foundation to accommodate a recent merger of companies. Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon, is one of the largest corporate foundations in the world. With a focus on literacy, K thru 12 education, education technology and domestic violence, we support Verizon’s vision of advancing technology that touches people’s lives. Marcopolo will be a primary focus of the Verizon Foundation.
January 20, 2006
We would like to thank you for helping to make the Marcopolo Web site so widely used by educators! In November 2005 alone, Marcopolo recorded more than 3.4 million user sessions. As a result of this vigorous use of the Web site and the Marcopolo Search Engine our Technology Team has
determined that we need to move to a larger and faster server. That move is in process right now and expected to be completed by the end of this month. Until the move is complete, visitors may experience longer-than-normal delays during a search.
REDMOND, Wash., and ASHBURN, Va. -- May 4, 2004 -- Microsoft Corp. and
MCI's Marcopolo Education Foundation today announced they have entered into a unique agreement under which Microsoft will integrate content from the MCI Foundation's Marcopolo education program into Microsoft's Innovative Teachers program. Microsoft also will provide grant funding to MCI's Marcopolo Education Foundation to accelerate the development of additional student interactive resources by the Marcopolo content partners.
"Demand for lessons containing interactive student resources has skyrocketed. With support from Microsoft, we will respond to that need by accelerating the development of interactive online educational programs and expanding their reach through Microsoft's Innovative Teachers program," said
Caleb Schutz, President of MCI's Thinkfinity Education Foundation.
David Driftmier, general manager of Education Strategy, Solutions and Programs
at Microsoft, underscored the value that Marcopolo will add to the Innovative
Teachers program. "Teachers from around the country use the
Innovative Teachers network for community, content and professional learning.
Combining this growing community resource with Thinkfinity's track record for
delivering exceptional educational resources and its consortium of premier
content partners will provide an ideal complement to the existing professional
development and teacher-created materials."
The Marcopolo program provides high-quality standards-based Internet content and professional development to K--12 teachers and students throughout the United States. Microsoft's Innovative Teachers program provides free community, content and professional learning for districts and schools to help teachers and students realize the full potential of technology in the classroom. As a result of this collaboration, MCI and Microsoft will create new and engaging ways for students to interact with the online educational resources and lessons offered by the Marcopolo program.
What is Thinkfinity?
Originally established as MarcoPolo in 1998 by the MCI Foundation, Thinkfinity is a partnership between the Verizon Foundation and eight renowned educational organizations, the Thinkfinity program provides no-cost, standards-based Internet content, developed by the nation's content experts for the K-12 teacher and classroom. (Thinkfinity and the No Child Left Behind Act) Resources found on the Thinkfinity web site (http://www.thinkfinity.org). The eight partner web sites offer teachers invaluable educational resources and free materials so that teachers learn how to use this rich content in their classrooms daily.In mid-July, 2002 the Worldcom Foundation ceased to fund Marcopolo due the business issues of the parent corporation. However, just six months later, while the parent corporation was still in bankruptcy, the Worldcom Foundation (now known as the MCI Foundation) committed to fund the Marcopolo Project again. The amount of funding is approximately 33% of the original level and this change has necessitated the elimination of free training and printed materials being sent to all teachers. However, the development of additional materials by the eight partners is funded and continuing. So, Thinkfinity resources should be available and the project will grow for many years to come.
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