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SAS® Programming for High Schools expands, earns validationSAS partners with National Academy Foundation, offers free teacher trainingCARY, NC (Jun. 25, 2009) – Last year’s pilot of SAS Programming for High Schools helped a handful of lucky students to graduate with highly marketable SAS programming skills. Luke Blackwood, a senior at Weaver Academy in Greensboro, NC, credits those skills for his first-place finish in the Future Business Leaders of America’s (FBLA) Desktop Application Programming competition. Deborah Seehorn, Business and Information Technology Education Consultant for the NC Department of Public Instruction, will present June 27th at the Computer Science and Information Technology Symposium in Washington, DC on SAS Programming for High Schools. Weaver Academy is one of 10 US high schools teaching SAS programming. That number will increase through a partnership with the National Academy Foundation (NAF). With more than 50,000 students in more than 500 academies, NAF is redesigning its Academy of Information Technology curriculum to offer SAS Programming to all academies next fall. Students who graduate high school with SAS knowledge carry a distinct advantage into post-secondary education, where SAS is used in many courses requiring quantitative analysis, such as psychology, statistics, mathematics, business and public health. People with SAS skills are in high demand among companies, governments and organizations worldwide that analyze huge amounts of data to make better decisions. SAS careers vary from entry-level programmers to executive positions requiring data warehousing, data mining and analytical expertise. “The addition of SAS programming to Weaver Academy’s robust technology curriculum has been met with great enthusiasm from students,” said Robert White, Director of Career-Technical Education for Guilford County (NC) schools. “The ability to harness the power of information is a key to success in the 21st century work force, and these skills will open up a world of opportunity to the students.” The FBLA awards test students’ business knowledge and skills in a broad range of business and career-related areas. Students can use whatever software or programming language they choose to address topics or solve problems. Applying their skills provides practice in real-world problem solving and higher-order thinking. As a state winner, Blackwood will compete for a national award at this summer’s FBLA National Leadership Conference in Anaheim, CA. “Integrating SAS programming into my classroom instruction has reinvigorated my passion for teaching,” said Susan Morissette, a 30-year educator who teaches Weaver’s SAS programming course. Free training is available to qualified teachers in the US who would like to integrate SAS programming into curriculum. Courses are conducted every summer at the five-day Institute for High School Educators at SAS’ world headquarters in Cary, NC.
SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions delivered within an integrated framework, SAS helps customers at more than 45,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976 SAS has been giving customers around the world
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