New York, NY (July 8, 2002) -- Scholastic, the global children's publishing and media company, today announced that its leading classroom news weekly Scholastic News® will launch a new standards-based test preparation program for grades 3 to 6 this fall. The new program is designed to help teachers integrate state assessment preparation into day-to-day curriculum through the magazine content. More than 25 million students and teachers rely upon Scholastic News and Scholastic's other classroom magazines to supplement and enhance instruction with age-appropriate current events and high interest material.

"With the No Child Left Behind Act and other new Federal legislation mandating strong state testing programs, teachers are even more focused on ensuring that their students have mastered critical skills and can meet the demands of standardized tests. With so little time in the day for teachers to devote to test prep exclusively, the best programs are the ones that teachers can easily, and quickly, thread through their curriculum," said David Goddy, Publisher of Scholastic Classroom Magazines. "The Scholastic News program allows them to incorporate preparation into the context of broader current events and social studies lessons. We believe that no other classroom news magazine offers such well-designed test prep support."

All subscribers to Scholastic News editions for grades 3 to 6, as well as to Scholastic News en españolâ for grade 3, will receive the new test prep program at no additional charge. The program includes:

• Multiple diagnostic skills tests for student practice and evaluation of skill mastery.
  
• 16-page How to Be a Better Test Taker Skills Book, geared to grade level, that builds familiarity with test-taking, reinforces comprehension, fine-tunes pacing skills, and bolsters memory skills. Includes additional practice tests.
  
• 25 reproducible skills pages in the Scholastic News Teacher's Edition for more practice questions and skills builders.
  
• "Test Taking Tips Poster" offering students a quick reference on the best way to take tests.
  
• "The Standard of the Week" — a regular feature in every issue of Scholastic News to help teachers use the magazine's content to help students master a particular curriculum standard.
  

Scholastic is the world's largest publisher of educational magazines for grades pre-K through 12. Scholastic News, grade-by-grade classroom magazines for grades 1-6, gives kids their own thought-provoking, interactive news weekly through which they can understand current events and relate them to their world. The magazines' online companion, Scholastic News Zone (www.scholasticnews.com), is a free resource for teachers, parents and children that can be used in the classroom or at home to discuss current events and develop students' understanding of how national and international news affects their lives. Scholastic News Zone's special reports on topics including school violence, the Middle East crisis, and energy policy issues, have won high praise from teachers for age-appropriate, sensitive coverage of major breaking news.

Scholastic (NMS: SCHL) is the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books. As a global children's publishing and media company serving the needs of parents, teachers, and children, Scholastic provides book and software distribution through school book clubs, school book fairs and to classrooms, as well as through the retail trade. The company holds a leadership position in direct-to-home children's book clubs. Since 1920, Scholastic has created quality educational materials for schools and has expanded its reach to include the distribution of books, software, toys, online learning services and television programming direct to the home. Scholastic's Library Publishing division is the leading print and online publisher of children's reference materials. Internationally, Scholastic operates wholly owned companies in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the United Kingdom. The U.S. Scholastic web site <http://www.scholastic.com> is a leading provider of educational services online for parents, teachers and children.

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