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President Barack Obama (pictured) has made strong pushes to improve education at the elementary to high school level by pushing for high-speed Internet connectivity and educational technology services in classrooms. Last week, during the President’s State Of The Union, he voiced a call to action regarding education and has announced the progress of the ConnectED initiative, which was launched last year.

RELATED: President Announces New ConnectEd Digital Education Initiative

Working jointly with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the private sector, President Obama’s call to action has been heard by a number of top companies who will be aiding the ConnectED initiative in a variety of ways.

Apple has pledged $100 million in iPads, MacBooks, and other tech tools to aid the learning capability of children in underserved schools. AT&T has promised to give $100 million to provide middle-school students with high-speed Internet connections.

Microsoft has also offered to give a price break to schools to license its popular Windows operating systems, while Verizon has provided up to $100 million to support the ConnectED program. In addition, the FCC’s E-Rate program has made a $2 billion down payment to help 20 million students receive broadband and wireless services starting this year.

ConnectED was announced last June at Mooresville, N.C., which kicked off the President’s ambitious plan to improve K-12 education for all students and bring technology up to the forefront in the classroom. In all, $750 million has been given by the aforementioned private sector entities, along with a handful of others, to make ConnectED’s goals a reality.

Learn more about the ConnectED initiative here.

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President Obama at the 2013 Morehouse College Commencement
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President Announces Progress In Completing ConnectED Initiative  was originally published on newsone.com