WASHINGTON, D. C. -- Senator Thad Cochran (R-Ms.) introduced legislation today that addresses some critical technology issues and the role of public broadcasting in education.

The Digital Education Act, a bipartisan bill to amend Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, includes innovative applications of progressive technology to promote the best practices in teaching and bring up to date information to classrooms throughout the country.

"This bill takes the best of educational technology programing; improves those proven to work; and places renewed confidence in education's most trusted and successful content development partners," Cochran said.

The legislation expands the Ready To Learn program which blends a number of services to promote early childhood education, including quality children's educational television programming broadcast by PBS, and a variety of outreach services for parents, teachers and other care givers. A two-year University of Alabama study recently completed found that Ready To Learn families watch 40 percent less television and read more often with their children.

Cochran said, "The Mississippi Educational Network targets outreach services to high poverty populations who are particularly disadvantaged. Families in these communities often have no reading material at home, and the first book given to a child by Mississippi Ready To Learn is likely to be the first book a child has ever owned."

The Digital Education Act will build on the early successes of Ready To Learn. The bill would authorize funding to increase station grants, produce new outreach and training activities, and generate more services for more parents and care givers, so that more children start school ready to learn.

Another element of the bill is the expansion of the MATHLINE program, a proven model of teacher professional development. MATHLINE uses a blend of technologies, including online communications and video, to provide quality resources and services to teachers of mathematics.

Cochran said, "Our legislation would authorize the New Century Program for Distributed Teacher Professional Development. Under this new program, the successful MATHLINE model will extend to other core curriculum areas, such as literature, science and social studies, and nearly every teacher in the United States will have access to the program."

The bill also authorizes the Digital Education Content Collaborative which supports the production of new digital educational materials. Under this program digital broadcasting will increase and improve the types of services local public broadcasting stations can offer schools.

"Technology can revolutionize the way we teach our children and change the way they learn. It is essential that our teachers in schools take advantage of the latest educational techniques, and it is time to invest in instructional resources that will make these new networks relevant and ensure that students and teachers are prepared to benefit fully from the new technology," said Cochran.