MCI Foundation-MarcoPolo: Internet Content for the Classroom
Executive Summary
The MCI Foundation-MarcoPolo program provides the highest quality, standards-based, commercial free Internet
content and professional development to K-12 teachers and students nationwide through a consortium of premier
education partners.
MarcoPolo Content Partners
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
- National Council on Economic Education
- The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
- John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
- National Geographic Society
- International Reading Association
- The National Council of Teachers of English
- National Endowment for the Humanities
Mission and Goals
MarcoPolo’s mission is to provide high-quality products and services that enhance teaching and learning to
improve student achievement for generations to come. By 2005, the program will:
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Develop 3,300 standards-based, MarcoPolo Partner-created lesson plans, with an additional 1,900 Partnerreviewed lessons to cover the K-12 curriculum
Establish a MarcoPolo trained educator in all 90,000 K-12 schools nationwide
Support one million regular users of MarcoPolo content
Integrate into state education systems, with local administration of training and alignment of MarcoPolo
content to state and local standards
Program Components and Results
Content – MarcoPolo features online lesson plans and student activities covering core K-12 disciplines – free to
all teachers and students. Each of the 2,641 Partner developed lessons designed to date is aligned to disciplinespecific standards and appropriate grade bands. MarcoPolo also incorporates external content, which is subject
to rigorous partner review and approval processes before being included in the MarcoPolo search engine. The
extensive quality assurance measures have resulted in positive feedback from educators, including a survey of
over 125,000 teachers that indicates a content quality rating for MarcoPolo of 4.5 (good/excellent) on a scale of
1 (poor) to 5 (excellent).
Professional Development – MarcoPolo’s professional development program trains teachers on how to
integrate technology and content into the classroom. The flexible training model reaches its audience through
onsite training, web conferencing, online courses, and detailed training materials - both hard copy and online. To
date, MarcoPolo’s scalable training model has recorded over 205,000 teachers trained nationwide and has been
aligned to ISTE’s National Education Technology Standards. Each training is registered, managed, and
measured by Rusticello, a comprehensive online professional development management system made available
free to state partners to facilitate MarcoPolo’s nationwide rollout. MarcoPolo trainers are supported by the online
Trainer Resource center, which provides free resources and strategies to facilitate Field Training sessions,
electronic copies of all print materials, ready-made training presentations, activity development templates, and an
interactive Agenda Creator to develop and guide customized training sessions.
Teacher Resources – The MarcoPolo Web site is home to over 110 resources for teachers, trainers, and state
partners. Over 1 million users per month access MarcoPolo content and resources through a set of powerful online
tools including the MarcoPolo search engine, state MarcoPolo sites containing content aligned to state standards,
and the MarcoPolo content calendar, which provides daily lessons and ideas for implementing MarcoPolo
content. Educators also benefit from free online Teacher’s Guides for integrating MarcoPolo content into the
classroom, and the MarcoGram, a topical e-newsletter that provides interdisciplinary lessons and activities to over
135,000 subscribers each month. Each resource provided by MarcoPolo maintains the highest standards for
quality and value, and enhances the program’s impact and legacy within K-12 education.
Copyright © 2005 MCI Foundation. All Rights Reserved.