January 27, 2010 — After more than a decade of nationwide effort, the Digital Promise Project has achieved an essential goal the creation of the National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies.  The Digital Promise Project had its beginnings as a project sponsored by The Century Foundation. This year the Department of Education, as provided by their 2010 appropriations legislation, will make available the initial funding required to launch the National Center.   In the words of the Centers authorizing legislation, The purpose of the Center shall be to support a comprehensive research and development program to harness the increasing capability of advanced information and digital technologies to improve all levels of learning and education, formal and informal, in order to provide Americans with the knowledge and skills needed to compete in the global economy.
 
Congress voted overwhelmingly to establish this Center, the first new national research center in many years, as an independent, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.  Authorized in 2008 by amendments to the Higher Education Act of 1965, the National Center will have a governing board of nine members, which will include outstanding representatives from the public and private sectors and from varied professions and disciplines.
 
 The National Center will be eligible to receive private as well as public funds.  It will fill a critical gap by funding practical, advanced learning research that is unlikely to be undertaken entirely with private funds.  To help the efficient launch and operation of the new Center, the Digital Promise team has developed a suggested management plan.  In addition, a suggested learning research road map has been produced under the supervision of the Federation of American Scientists in workshops attended by distinguished educators, scientists, technology experts, and other stakeholders.
 
Co-chairs of the Digital Promise Project are Lawrence K. Grossman, former president of NBC News and PBS; Newton N. Minow, former FCC Chairman and Chairman of PBS, and Anne G.Murphy, former president of the American Arts Alliance.  The principals of the Digital Promise Project are pleased to work with the Department of Education and other experts to provide assistance in organizing and establishing the new National Center.  Original sponsors of the Digital Promise Project included the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Century, Knight, and MacArthur Foundations.
 
For more information from, contact Christy Hicks at  hicks@tcf.org, Lawrence K. Grossman at lkgrossm@gmail.com, Anne Murphy at annemurphy@verizon.net, or Newton N. Minow at nminow@sidleyaustin.com.