New York, NY (March 16, 2005) -- Scholastic, the global children’s publishing and media company, is currently working with Marilyn Burns Education Associates (MBEA), the nation’s leading professional development company for the teaching of mathematics in grades K-8, to develop and publish classroom-tested materials that support math instruction. Scholastic will release the collaboration’s first program, the Marilyn Burns Classroom Math Libraries for grades K–6 in April 2005.
 
“Marilyn Burns is one of the country’s best-known math educators,” said Dick Robinson, Chairman, President and CEO, Scholastic. “We are honored and delighted to be working with Marilyn and her colleagues to bring her insights and classroom-tested lessons to a broader audience.”
 
Ms. Burns worked with Scholastic to select grade-appropriate collections of classic, contemporary, and award-winning children’s books that enable teachers to introduce and reinforce important math concepts and skills. Each grade-level collection contains 25 titles and a corresponding teacher handbook written by Ms. Burns. The handbooks will provide classroom-tested lessons and activities for each title, and will identify the national math standard, topic and math curriculum connection found in each book.
 
“I have always admired the quality of Scholastic’s dedication to teachers and children,” said Ms. Burns, Founder of Marilyn Burns Education Associates. “I’m excited about working with Scholastic to extend the company’s commitment to literacy into mathematics.”
 
 
The collaboration of Scholastic and MBEA comes at a time of growing national concern about mathematics achievement. In 2003, the National Assessment of Educational Progress found that more than two thirds of all fourth graders had not reached proficiency. Recent international comparisons have found that U.S. students’ math performance continues to trail that of most other industrialized nations.
 
“As the nation’s focus on math instruction intensifies, school districts around the country are in need of alternative resources that build student interest in math and reinforce important concepts.  The Marilyn Burns Classroom Libraries connect the literature that teachers and students love with critical math concepts and lessons to help educators deepen students’ math understanding and skills,” commented Margery Mayer, President, Scholastic Education.
 
Ms. Burns has more than 40 years of experience in teaching children, leading in-service workshops, and writing professional development publications and materials for teachers and administrators that support math instruction in grades K-8.  In 1996, the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics recognized her influence on mathematics education with the Glenn Gilbert National Leadership Award and in 1997 she was honored with the Louise Hay Award for Contributions to Mathematics Education from the Association for Women in Mathematics.
 
Scholastic Education currently publishes a range of supplemental products that support math instruction including Scholastic DynaMath^Ò, a classroom magazine for students in grades 3-6, Scholastic Math^Ò, a classroom magazine for students in grades 6-9, and Scholastic Teaching Resources, a collection of professional books that feature classroom lessons and activities on a range of math skills and grade levels.  In addition, Tom Snyder Productions, a Scholastic company, publishes several software programs that support math instruction including The Graph Club^® 2.0, for creating, exploring and interpreting graphs, Graph Master^®, for analyzing data, interpreting results and solving problems, as well as two new products, Fastt MathÔ, the research-validated intervention program that helps struggling students develop math fluency, and Go SolveÔ, which uses graphic organizers to help students understand and solve word problems.
 
About MBEA
Marilyn Burns Education Associates (MBEA), based in Sausalito, California, is an organization dedicated to improving the teaching of mathematics through providing its Math Solutions Professional Development products and services to teachers and administration in school districts nationwide.  Founded in 1984, MBEA currently has 44 employees and about 100 Math Solution consultants, including math experts and classroom teachers.  For more information about MBEA, go to www.mathsolutions.com.
 
About Scholastic
Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL) is the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books and a leader in educational technology.  Scholastic creates quality educational and entertaining materials and products for use in school and at home, including children's books, magazines, technology-based products, teacher materials, television programming, film, 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, and school-based and direct-to-home continuity programs; retail stores, schools, libraries and television networks; and the Company's Internet site, www.scholastic.com.
 
 

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