Alaska's Innovative, Top-down Program Connects Leaders and Educators

                        Across the Education Continuum

ORLANDO, Fla., Florida Education Technology Conference (FETC), March 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM), a pioneer in the field of mobile and wireless Internet solutions and a leading provider of handheld computers, today announced that it is working with Alaska to infuse handheld technology into the daily lives of Alaska's school leaders through a project called Leadership for Reinventing Alaska's Schools.

While some leadership programs focus on helping administrators become better, more efficient managers, Alaska is taking a different approach. "Our primary goal is to reconnect our leaders to their moral purpose as educators, to put heart back into our educational system," said Kelly Tonsmeire, director of Alaska Staff Development Network (ASDN). "We're not manufacturing widgets; we're educating our children; and that job can't be done by teachers alone, but by everyone across the educational continuum. It's a job that requires not ivory tower leadership, but caring, connected, involved and informed leadership. Palm is helping us achieve that goal, and Palm handhelds are so straightforward and easy to use that the adoption rate has been outstanding."

The statewide initiative, being led by Alaska's Staff Development Network (ASDN), is designed to help Alaska's public and private school principals and superintendents enhance their leadership skills in the areas of systemic change and technology integration, with a focus on applying handheld computing.

Through an $864,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, ASDN hopes to have up to 500 Palm(TM) handhelds in use by its school leaders by 2003. To date, 350 administrators and principals have purchased a variety of Palm handheld models through reseller partner SARCOM, best known for its ability to deliver and support large technology projects and recognized by Arthur Andersen as a leader in customer satisfaction.

Palm handhelds are being used to provide school leaders with an easy way to access the information they need to help their students improve their performance. Tonsmeire believes that, once school leaders are trained in a system designed to help all students meet high standards, Alaska's schools could see measurable improvement in student performance on state and national tests.

In September, Palm set up a specific Palm Education Training Coordinator (PETC) program in Anchorage. The PETC program is a train-the-trainer program that provides participants with a ready-to-use, complete training curriculum for basic handheld skills and curricular implementation. Individuals trained through PETC then train other principals and provide follow-up training for district teachers. Training is being done using a tiered approach -- face-to-face and through distance learning -- based on individual skill levels and organizational commitment to systemic change. It is provided at no cost to districts that can assemble groups of at least 10 principals, principal/teachers and/or superintendents. Smaller groups of principals, principal/teachers and superintendents can obtain training on a cost-sharing basis.

Leadership-development activities are designed to support administrators as they respond to ongoing school reform efforts. These efforts are aligned with statewide initiatives and expectations, including The Alaska Quality Schools Initiative (Alaska's standards-based, statewide systemic reform effort), Alaska's legislatively mandated high-stakes testing initiative, national and state standards, and priorities set by Alaska school districts and professional associations.

Project Partners

The following Alaska partners provided financial or other support to help ASDN in this leadership development effort:

    -- Alaska Association of Elementary School Principals

    -- Alaska Association of School Administrators

    -- Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals

    -- Alaska Council of School Administrators

    -- Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

    -- Alaska Federation of Natives

    -- Alaska Human Resource Investment Council, Office of the Governor

    -- Alaska Pacific University

    -- Alaska Private Schools Administrators Association

    About Palm, Inc.

Palm, Inc. is a pioneer in the field of mobile and wireless Internet solutions and a leading provider of handheld computers, according to IDC (December 2000). Based on the Palm OS(R) platform, Palm's handheld solutions allow people to carry and access their most critical information wherever they go. Palm(TM) handhelds address the needs of individuals, enterprises and educational institutions by offering the foundation for thousands of application solutions. Palm stock is traded on the Nasdaq national market under the symbol PALM. More information is available at http://www.palm.com.

NOTE: Palm OS is a registered trademark and Palm is a trademark of Palm, Inc. Other brands may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Palm, Inc.
Web site: http: //www.palm.com
CONTACT: Kathleen Dixon of Dixon Communications, +1-408-871-7765, or kathleen@kdixon.com, for Palm, Inc.