| An Overview of Cable’s Education Initiatives |
The cable television industry has a longstanding, ongoing commitment to education. Through cable’s education initiatives, quality programming and state-of-the-art technology, the industry provides a broad range of learning resources to America’s children and families.
Family and Community Critical Viewing Project
In October 1994, the cable industry and the National PTA formed a media literacy partnership, the Family and Community Critical Viewing Project, to address parents’ concerns about television and the impact of television violence and commercialism on children. The Project trains cable operators and PTA leaders how to conduct Taking Charge of Your TV workshops for parents, educators and organizations in their communities. The goal is to help families make informed choices about the television programs they watch and to improve the way they watch those programs. In addition to the workshops and media literacy materials, the Project initiated the first-ever National Critical Viewing Day in 1998 to emphasize the importance of media literacy and increase awareness of the resources available that help families make television viewing a positive and educational experience.
National Critical Viewing Day, March 23, 1999. The second annual National Critical Viewing Day featured a national telecast originating from Washington, DC, with parallel cable operator and PTA events taking place across the country. The 30-minute telecast, moderated by CNN Anchor Judy Woodruff, demonstrated how media literacy skills benefit children and families. Two :30 television PSAs, featuring First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and National PTA President Lois Jean White, were introduced during the event. These new PSAs offer tips for parents on how to use critical viewing skills and the TV ratings system to better guide their children’s television viewing. This special National Critical Viewing Day program aired on Court TV and was part of local PTA and cable events. National Critical Viewing Day has now been expanded to a week and has been re-named Take Charge of Your TV Week It is scheduled for September 24-29, 2000.
Additional Project Materials. Media literacy materials are important elements of the Project, and are distributed free of charge to parents, educators and organizations across the country. All the following materials can be obtained through cable operators or by writing to the National Cable Television Association.
Cable’s High Speed Education Connection
Launched in July 1996, Cable’s High Speed Education Connection is an industry-wide commitment to provide consenting K-12 schools, passed by cable, with a free cable modem and free high-speed Internet access, as cable operators deploy high-speed services in their communities. In September 1997, the cable industry expanded the High Speed Education Connection to include a teacher-training component, webTeacher®, to help teachers integrate the resources of the Internet into their classrooms. In October 1998, the cable industry expanded the program again to include similar high-speed connections to the nation’s public libraries. To date, more than 5,700 schools and libraries across the country are receiving their free high-speed connections.
- webTeacher. The webTeacher training program was developed in partnership with TECH CORPS®, a grassroots non-profit organization dedicated to bringing technology into America’s classrooms. A comprehensive, interactive, 80-hour online tutorial, the program can be used as a workbook for individual teachers or as part of a group training session. Receiving over 70,000 page views daily, the tutorial has received several awards for offering the best online training resource for teachers, and is online in Spanish also. It can be accessed at www.webteacher.org and is available free of charge.
Programming
Cable television provides more children’s programming, greater than four times more than all other programming sources combined, including more than 80 percent of all television hours that are devoted to children. In addition, over 75 percent of children’s programming watched by children in cable households is viewed on cable television. In 1999, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences elected its first Honor Roll of Children’s Programming, and nearly half of the shows chosen were on cable. The winners had to meet standards that included promoting diversity, overcoming racial and gender stereotypes, encouraging positive values and responsibly handling the issues of drugs, sex and violence.
Cable in the Classroom
Cable in the Classroom is a non-profit public service organization that was created by the cable industry in 1989. Since its launch, more than 8,500 cable operators and 41 cable networks have invested over $2 million a week in this ongoing effort. Cable operators have provided cable connections and educational programming to more than 80,000 schools and 44 million students nationwide, and cable networks have provided schools with 540 hours of commercial-free programming each month to complement current curriculum -- at no cost to schools or students. Cable in the Classroom also offers free professional development resources for educators, including integrating computer and video educational technologies into the curriculum. The Cable in the Classroom Institute consists of four Washington, DC-based training and R&D centers, four traveling training labs that use lap-top computers linked to the Internet and a series of virtual workshops offered on the Internet to create online, professional development classrooms. The initial part of the training emphasizes mastering basic Internet navigational skills to locate teacher support material and Web site destinations that complement the curriculum.
Tune In to Kids and Family Week
Launched in April 1997, this week-long prime time showcase featured more than 500 hours of high-quality family-friendly programming on 75 cable networks. To kick off the week, 20 cable networks simulcast a nationally televised 30-minute special, The American Family and Television Town Hall Meeting, hosted by Linda Ellerbee. The cable industry showcased the week-long programming celebration again in June 1998, kicking off with Take A Moment, another 30-minute special focusing on family interaction and how television can improve relationships through communications. Hosted by Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch) and Donald Faison (Clueless), the special was simulcast on 29 cable networks. The second annual effort also included the debut of National Critical Viewing Day, featuring a nationally televised press conference originating from Washington, DC, and parallel cable operator and PTA media literacy events around the country. Also as part of Week 2, cable operators aired locally produced family programming and PSAs, gave civic presentations and distributed free media literacy materials to customers and schools. Tune In to Kids and Family Week 3, June 21-27, 1999, highlighted more than 600 hours of family-friendly programming on at least 66 networks, and, once again, included operator-hosted special events in communities across the country. The kick-off special, Just Think, focused on how words, symbols and actions influence diversity, multiculturalism, tolerance and race relations in today’s society. Hosted by sports anchor personality James Brown, the 30-minute program was simulcast on at least 23 networks in prime time.
Cable in Focus
As part of this effort, cable networks and cable operators partner to offer high-quality educational, theme-based screenings in communities across the country. Since 1995, more than 600 cable operators have hosted over 1,000 screenings. Through these events, students are able to engage in post-screening group discussions based on issues addressed in the programming. Themes include literacy (fall), politics (fall, campaign years), diversity (winter) and the environment (spring). Since 1998, the cable industry has partnered with the National Association for Minorities in Communications (NAMIC) on the diversity theme, which incorporates Black History Month and Women’s History Month programming.
Distance Learning
Cable’s state-of-the-art technology offers many exciting learning opportunities, including virtual "electronic field trips," which provide interaction in real time over the Internet with experts in a wide variety of fields. Cable networks are making significant programming contributions, while local cable operators across the country are delivering instructional programming from leading universities and other continuing education providers directly to homes and schools.
For more information on these initiatives as well as a description of additional cable operator and programmer educational contributions and resources, NCTA offers a free booklet, The Cable Industry’s Ongoing Commitment to Education and America’s Teachers, Children and Families. This compilation showcases
many of cable’s current partnerships and initiatives, including professional development, online curriculum, media literacy/anti-violence efforts, Universal Service Fund, school/home connections and others. It is available from NCTA and can also be downloaded from the NCTA Web site.
For more information, contact:
Public Affairs Department
1724 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Phone (202-775-3680), Fax (202-775-1055), Web site (www.ncta.com)