WorldCom Commits $6 Million to Internet-based Education and Training Program

ASHBURN, VA, November 11, 2002 - WorldCom, Inc. today announced it will allocate $6 million in 2003 to continue MarcoPolo, the popular Internet-based education and training program that provides a crucial service to teachers and students nationwide. The distress signal for MarcoPolo went out in July when WorldCom, the program's sole source of funds, filed for bankruptcy protection. Since then, partnering education organizations, state agencies and thousands of educators have rallied behind the urgency of saving MarcoPolo. Determined educators trained 23,000 more teachers on MarcoPolo since the company's Chapter 11 filing, adding to the more than 130,000 already trained.

The unprecedented call for MarcoPolo's survival accelerated plans already in the works for creation of the MarcoPolo Education Foundation to broaden the sources of funding to ensure the MarcoPolo treasure is available for future generations. "Core funding from the company is critical, but there is a great need for additional funds from public and private sources to help meet our goal of training every teacher in the country," said Caleb Schutz, corporate vice president and president of the MarcoPolo Education Foundation. "Educators in all 50 states have told us, 'no one should be left behind, not teachers or students;' it is a national priority," he added.

Launched in 1997 by MCI, MarcoPolo provides teachers and students with the highest quality, standards-based Internet content in the fields of arts integration, science, mathematics, the humanities, geography, economics, reading and language arts. MarcoPolo's seven discipline-specific Web sites are produced by the nation's leading education organizations and include lesson plans, interactive student activities and panel-reviewed Internet content that can bring resources to every student and classroom. MarcoPolo also provides online professional development to
K-12 teachers across the country.

"Iowa has supported and been enthusiastic about the quality of the resources and support for teachers provided in the MarcoPolo project. Knowing that there is substantive funding to revive the momentum of this effective education resource is excellent news, and preserves access for Iowa's teachers to integrate this curricular tool in their classrooms," said Ted Stilwill, Director of Education, Iowa Dept of Education.

The company said it is committed to building on programs, like MarcoPolo, that provide quality, long-term value to customers and the community. MCI and, subsequently, WorldCom have invested $50 million to create and foster the MarcoPolo program over the past five years.

WorldCom's commitment to the community, despite tough times, means MarcoPolo will continue to provide much needed Internet-based online content and training nationwide. "Now with the MarcoPolo Education Foundation established, independent from WorldCom, we aim to exceed the company's commitment with funding from business, government, and other foundations focused on education," said Schutz. The Foundation's goal is to provide content integration training to 2.4 million teachers, 3,300 interactive lessons and offering thousands of educational resources across the K-12 curriculum and reach one million on-going teacher users by 2005.

As they learn the news, educators are relieved. "MarcoPolo is such a valuable tool for teachers that I hated the thought of losing it; you can be sure I'll be encouraging teachers to use it as much as possible," said Carol Sherer, Media Specialist/Librarian from Jetmore High School in Jetmore, Kansas.

Catherine L. Metzger, Technology Specialist at Whitaker Elementary School in Cincinnati, Ohio, said, "Not only do I teach in an elementary school where students use MarcoPolo for research, but also at the university level where MarcoPolo is one of the Internet assignment components. MarcoPolo is an invaluable resource for teachers; it saves precious time. Standards, lessons, resources -- I am thrilled that MarcoPolo has been saved."

"Thousands of teachers throughout the country are truly grateful, hopefully this will bring other contributors to the check-writing stage," said Karen Horn, a teacher at Collin County Community College in Collin County, Texas.

MarcoPolo: Internet Content for the Classroom (http://marcopolo-education.org) is an independent consortium of eight of the nation's leading education organizations and the MarcoPolo Education Foundation. Seven discipline-specific Web sites developed by the education partners deliver -- free to teachers -- high-quality, standards-based, commercial-free Internet resources designed to be integrated into the K-12 curriculum. Professional development training and resources provide critical Internet integration strategies for teachers nationwide. Funding and services provided by WorldCom and other public and private sources help the program reach the goal of high-quality Internet content and training for every teacher in America.