(NAPSA)—Theclassroom necessities for today’s students are drastically different from those of their parents. Wood pencils, slide rules andlunch pails are no longer the “have-to-have” school supplies. Instead, students are toting pens that write underwater, electronic calendars, and even multifunctional calculators that could tally the national budget. Another difference: technology is more central to the education process. Computers and Internet access, which were present in just three percent of classroomsin 1994, had spread to 77 percent of classrooms by 2000, according to the National Center for Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education. Whenit comes to ensuringchildren’s success in school, though, the essentials for parents are still the same: encouraging children to read and write at home, setting aside time each day for kids to do homework, and creating a distraction-free study environment. Giving students access to technology at homeis another way for parents to help their kids make the most of their study time. Today’s students need software tools that will help them complete more work in less time, more eas- ily share information with others and incorporate Web content into their assignments, improving the quality of their work. Families should look for integrated applications that offer the following: The ability to place relevant features and options at students’ fingertips to help them work more independently Document backup andrecovery tools that help guard against students’ accidental loss of work Straightforward documentediting tools to help students incorporate teachers’ and classmates’ feedback * Tools that makeit easier for students to interact with the Web while they are working in a word processing, spreadsheet, e-mail or other type of application Giving students access to technology at home can help them make the most of their study time. Integration with instantmessaging and e-mail applications to help students readily communicate with each other and help parents stay in touch with their children’s teachers and_ school administrators Built-in calendar and timemanagement features to help students plan and follow through with homework schedules Easily accessed reference materials that help students find current and relevant information for class assignments and school reports. With this checklist in mind, one option to consider is Microsoft Office XP Standard for Students and Teachers. Priced at $149, this edition of Office XP is available only to students and educators, and offers a significant discount over other versions of Office. For more information, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/office/for students/. In addition, Microsoft Corp. has teamed with the National PTA to help parents and students by creating an online homework Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/ family/pta/?id=ptadetails and a charitable program that will benefit PTA activities in communities nationwide. So with little help from Microsoft Office for Students and Teachers and the work of the Parent Teacher Association, kids have an easier time getting ahead in the classroom.
