For Immediate Release:                                                             Contact:
March 22, 2007                                                                             Jo Scott (703) 276-2772 ext. 14
                                                                                                         Robin Scullin (202) 222-2345

Media Instructors, Classroom Teachers, Superintendents, College Faculty
and Policymakers Honored by Cable Industry for Innovation in Education

Washington, DC – Taking cyber high school students to Panama to live among the indigenous Indians for one month to learn Spanish and teach English and computer skills; developing an interactive web site that engages young girls with science, technology, engineering and math experts and concepts; and

motivating young children from low-income homes to read by pairing each student with a mentor and providing each student with his/her own library. These are among the examples of visionary education approaches employed by finalists for the prestigious 2007 Cable’s Leaders in Learning Awards, announced today by Cable in the Classroom, the cable industry’s national education foundation.

A total of 43 finalists were selected from applications submitted from across the country, including from classroom educators, administrators, college faculty, and community leaders.

Since 1989, the cable industry has maintained its unprecedented commitment to supporting education in communities nationwide. Cable’s Leaders in Learning Awards, now in its third year, is a cable industry program designed to honor outstanding leaders for their vision, innovation, action and transformation of learning in schools and communities. With an emphasis on the role of effective uses of technology for learning, this awards program is designed to recognize educators, administrators, policymakers and other community leaders who have demonstrated leadership in education.

Cable’s Leaders in Learning Awards winners, selected from among these forty-three finalists, will receive $3,000 and a trip to Washington DC where they will be honored on Wednesday, June 6, 2007 at an awards gala at the Library of Congress.

“We are pleased to honor these exceptional leaders working to improve education and the use of technology for learning in communities across the country,” said Dr. Helen Soulé, executive director, Cable in the Classroom, which created and administers the award program. “Each one of these finalists is an inspiration, and the impact of their work will surely benefit their communities for years to come.”

Up to a dozen finalists will be chosen to receive a 2007 Cable’s Leaders in Learning Award in one of five categories:

• General Excellence – for leaders who have demonstrated excellence in expanding and enhancing learning opportunities by employing a diversity of traditional and non-traditional approaches to producing measurable improvements in education outcomes in formal or informal settings;

• Media Literacy Education – awarded in partnership with National PTA to a leader who has advanced the teaching and learning of media literacy concepts and skills to children and youth. Media literacy is defined as the ability to access, understand, analyze, evaluate, and create media messages on television, the Internet, and other outlets;

• Cable Partnerships for Learning – for leaders who are working in partnership with the cable industry to expand and enhance learning opportunities for children and youth in or out of the classroom;

• Pushing the Envelope with Cable Technology and Programming – for leaders who push the envelope and/or redefine the education frontier through the use of cable technology and/or cable content; and

• Policymaker Excellence – for state and local elected officials, such as mayors, state legislators, and state education officials whose exceptional vision and/or action has dramatically expanded or enhanced learning opportunities for children and youth in their local community, state or region.

For more information on the awards and the 2007 finalists, please visit: www.leadersinlearningawards.org

Cable in the Classroom, the cable industry’s education foundation, works to expand and enhance learning for children and youth. Created in 1989 to help schools take advantage of educational cable programming and technology, CIC has become a leading national advocate for media literacy education and for the use of technology and media for learning, as well as a valuable resource of educational cable content and services for policymakers, educators and industry leaders.