Scholastic, the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books, and a leading educational publisher, today announced the addition of new features to iReAch, its groundbreaking Internet-based reading assessment program helping educators to prepare students in grades 2-8 for state and national standardized tests. iReAch now includes 220 new standards-aligned diagnostic assessments, for a total of 550 tests to help educators pinpoint students' reading strengths and weaknesses, and adjust instruction as needed. In addition, Scholastic is offering a new home school license to serve the growing population of parents educating their children at home.

iReAch is a literature-driven program that exposes students to critically-acclaimed literature and uses standards-aligned assessments to gauge reading skills. Students read full-length books selected from hundreds of best-loved, award-winning titles, then take online tests that target skill standards for their grade level. The skills are correlated to five major standardized tests-the Metropolitan Achievement Test, the California Achievement Test, the Stanford Achievement Test, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, and the CTBS TerraNova-as well as every statewide assessment of curriculum framework.

iReAch provides reports that inform schools districts, administrators, educators and even parents of student performance across reading and vocabulary, indicating how students will score on grade-level standardized tests. iReAch can produce individual, group, class, grade level, and school-wide progress reports, to gauge improvement on a variety of levels. These comprehensive management reports can be generated to guide student reading progress. Delivered through a web-based subscription service, the program is flexible to use, and can be accessed within the classroom, library/media center, or home setting.

"iReAch has been welcomed by educators as a powerful way to pinpoint students' skill levels and instructional needs, while engaging students with literature. The addition of 220 new assessments to the program provides educators with an even more robust tool with which to evaluate student achievement," said Harry Barfoot, Vice President, Scholastic Education. "With estimates of approximately one million home schooled children across the country, there is a growing population of parents seeking high quality curriculum resources. The new iReAch home school license will give them information about the standards their states expect children to meet, and diagnostic tools for gauging their children's progress toward mastery."

A one-year home school license for 10 students costs $69. To learn more about iReAch, educators and home schoolers may visit www.scholastic.com/ireach.

Scholastic Corporation (NMS: SCHL) is the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books. Scholastic creates quality educational and entertaining materials and products for use in school and at home, including children's books, textbooks, magazines, technology-based products, teacher materials, television programming, videos and toys. The Company distributes its products and services through a variety of channels, including proprietary school-based book clubs, school-based book fairs, school-based and direct-to-home continuity programs; retail stores, schools, libraries, and television networks; and the Company's Internet Site, www.scholastic.com.