Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today joined U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige, New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein, and Cablevision President and CEO James L. Dolan to promote the important partnerships between parents and educators and the business community and public schools in the education of the City's children, discuss the significant role of the No Child Left Behind Act, and announce the Cablevision Power to Learn program's new, commercial-free online learning community called powertolearn.com. New York Knick star Allan Houston and New York Liberty star Teresa Weatherspoon joined the Mayor for the announcement, which marked the conclusion of Secretary Paige's 25-city No Child Left Behind Tour Across America, at Samuel Gompers Vocational and Technical High School in the Bronx.

"Parental involvement plays an instrumental role in educating our children and providing youngsters with opportunities to lead productive lives as adults," Mayor Bloomberg said. "President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act shares our vision and commitment to ensure a high quality education for all of the City's children and I thank the President and Secretary Paige for their efforts to improve schools in New York City and the rest of the country. I also want to thank Cablevision for its Power to Learn program, which enables parents at Gompers High School to both learn more about their children's classroom instruction through innovative technology and form stronger relationships with teachers and students alike."

"Technology is connecting parents to teachers," Secretary Paige said. "And, it is helping connect parents to assessments so we can measure the progress of every student. Partnerships among schools, businesses, parents and entire communities are equally important if we're to make sure no child is left behind."

"Corporate partnerships provide additional resources to help our students improve in school," Chancellor Klein. "Our partnership with Cablevision is an example of this. Through this partnership, our students can use Cablevision's Power to Learn program, which connects them on line to more than 1,300 schools and libraries. This ability provides our students with an invaluable research tool."

"Power to Learn provides a tremendous link connecting parents, teachers and students with one goal in mind, raising the level of education and communication," Mr. Dolan said. "Now, through powertolearn.com, we have extended our commitment to New York area schools by creating unique and valuable educational content for students, teachers and parents."

Thanks to the No Child Left Behind Act, more than $700 million is available to states and schools in 2002 by way of the Enhancing Education through Technology program, along with $2.25 billion through the E-rate initiative. Under the flexibility provisions of the law, states and schools can use more of their federal funds to make better use of technology. In addition, the law enables states and school districts to develop strong systems of accountability based upon student performance, as well as giving states and school districts increased local control and flexibility by putting decision-making in the hands of those at the local and state levels.