After years of working closely with educators, students, parents and education publishers, Microsoft Corp. today unveiled at the National Education Computing Conference (NECC) four new academic-specific products designed to address everyday challenges in teaching and learning, and improve the use of technology in schools. Available in time for the upcoming school year, Learning Essentials for Microsoft® Office, Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows® XP, Microsoft Student 2006 and Microsoft Encarta® Academic Online will enable teachers to optimize their preparation time, allow students to concentrate on producing high-quality assignments, and simplify the setup and maintenance of instructional computers.

“U.S. schools are spending more than $5 billion a year on technology, and there are now nearly 13 million instructional computers in schools. It is imperative that an investment of this magnitude result in improved teaching and learning,” said Craig Bartholomew, general manager of the Education Products Group at Microsoft. “By working closely with educators, students, parents and education partners to better understand the kind of work they do, how they use technology and how their everyday experience with technology can be improved, Microsoft has made academic-specific innovations designed to bring relevant, immediate and unmatched value to schools.”