NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release:
February 10, 2010

JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT EMBRACES OUTCOME-BASED DIGITAL LEARNING

Economic education non-profit convenes digital strategy task force.

Colorado Springs, Colo. – Junior Achievement (JA) will convene the first meeting of its Digital Strategy Advisory Task Force in the Washington, D.C., area next week. JA programs are designed to build young people's capacity to spur economic development and to engage them actively in the teaching and learning process. The Task Force will serve in an advisory role; it will define an action plan around the use of technology in Junior Achievement's future program development and delivery, with a goal of applying the learning to drive systemic change in K-12 work-readiness education.

The Task Force will be asked to address two key outcomes:

• Establishing a digital strategy around the use of multiple mediums in the development of programs.
• Recommendations around how the organization can effectively scale its use of business volunteers to deliver programs, by leveraging technology.

The Digital Strategy Task Force co-chairs are Mary Cullinane, Microsoft Education's Director of Innovation and Business Development Group; and Dr. Graham Spanier, president of The Pennsylvania State University. Digital Strategy Task Force Members include:

• Karen Bruett, Council of Chief State School Officers
• David Byer, Apple Inc.
• Cole Camplese, The Pennsylvania State University
• Dale Ferarrio, FreshBrain
• Frank Gallagher, Cable in the Classroom
• Jack Harris, Junior Achievement of Georgia
• John Harwood, The Pennsylvania State University
• Amy Kaslow, Council on Competitiveness
• Allyson Knox, Microsoft Corporation
• Michael Levine, Sesame Workshop
• Bob McIntyre, Scientific Atlanta, A Cisco Company
• Robert Naylor, U.S. Small Business Administration
• Kim Quinn Hutchinson, K12
• Robert Reeg, MasterCard Worldwide; Junior Achievement USA board member
• Bernie Trilling, Oracle Corporation
• Randy Wilhelm, THINKronize, Inc.
• John Wilson, National Education Association

Research backs up the anecdotal perception that teens spend a good deal of their time online. A recent Pew Research Center survey showed that 93 percent of teens ages 12-17 go online; 62 percent use the internet to access information on news and politics. And, results from a December 2009 poll by Deloitte and Junior Achievement showed that nearly nine-in-10 (88 percent) teens surveyed use social networks every day, with 70 percent saying they participate in social networking an hour or more daily. Leveraging social media and online delivery systems may encourage students to more actively engage with educational content delivered via those channels.

Robert Reeg, MasterCard Worldwide's President of Global Technology and Operations, noted, "We already know that the Junior Achievement curriculum is extremely effective at all grade levels in preparing children for the workforce. Leveraging technology and social media to share this information with current and new students allows us to extend the reach of this sound and effective financial education and entrepreneurial program beyond the traditional classroom setting. Doing so opens up some very exciting opportunities for innovation and sharing of best practices between educators and students, including working as members of international learning teams, which positions students even more strongly to be successful as they enter the global workforce."

Jack Kosakowski, president of Junior Achievement USA, added, "We're excited to engage leaders in both the education and technology sectors to collaboratively define Junior Achievement's leadership position in the delivery of educational digital content. We look forward to expanding JA's scope both in terms of student reach and volunteer engagement, with compelling and relevant programs in our three content areas-work-readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy."

About JA Worldwide® (JA)
Junior Achievement is the world's largest organization dedicated to inspiring and preparing young people to succeed in a global economy. Through a dedicated volunteer network, Junior Achievement provides in-school and after-school programs for students which focus on three key content areas: work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy. Today, 129 individual area operations reach more than four million students in the United States, with an additional 5.7 million students served by operations in 122 other countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.ja.org.

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