Escambia County Public Schools Foundation received a $4,000 grant from Bank of America Charitable Foundation to help continue a Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certification project at Bellview Middle School.
This year’s grant funds will be used to enhance instruction in the current program, which was started last year with funds from another Bank of America grant awarded to the Foundation that assisted in the implementation of the first Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certification testing initiative. This initiative provided 8th grade students enrolled in Bellview Middle School’s Introduction to Information Technology (IIT) course to receive instruction in, prepare for, and test to earn the MOS industry certification in at least three of the Microsoft Office applications (Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and Outlook). Students enrolled in IIT earn high school credit, and the MOS certification attainment provides a rigorous, real-world assessment. Middle school students had never earned industry certifications prior to last year, and the Bank of America grant enabled Bellview Middle School to administer the MOS exams and celebrate the middle school students who achieved the MOS certification.
