SRA/McGraw-Hill Honors Schools with Greatly Improved Reading Scores

COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Elementary publisher SRA/McGraw-Hill has named its recipients of the 2008 Pride of SRA Academic Recognition Awards for achievements in reading: Brunswick County Schools in Bolivia, N.C.; Oakland Unified School District in California, and H.B. Stowe Fine & Performing Arts Academy in Chicago.

The annual awards program, established in 2001, recognizes schools and districts that are models in reading education. Honorees have demonstrated significant improvement or consistently high reading test scores through the implementation of a reading curriculum, such as SRA's Open Court Reading or Direct Instruction's reading programs -- Reading Mastery or Corrective Reading. The winners will be honored May 6 during a ceremony that coincides with the International Reading Association annual conference held this year in Atlanta.

Visit SRAonline.com/pride.html to learn more about the Pride program and award winners.

    The 2008 winners are:

      -- Brunswick County School District, Bolivia, N.C.
         Brunswick County School District has over 11,600 students in Grades
         Pre-K-12. The district's population is 23% African American, 6%
         Hispanic, and 70% Caucasian. Its free and reduced-price lunch
         population is 51%. In 2004, after failing to meet Adequate Yearly
         Progress in reading, three Title I elementary schools in the
         Brunswick County School District began school-wide implementations of
         SRA/McGraw-Hill's Direct Instruction programs Reading Mastery and
         Corrective Reading. By 2006-2007, each school met all reading targets
         for the very first time. Belville Elementary's Hispanic subgroup
         increased over 24%.  Jessie Mae Monroe Elementary's overall scores
         increased over 15%.  Lincoln Elementary's male subgroup increased
         nearly 9%.

      -- Harriet Beecher Stowe School, Chicago
         The Harriet Beecher Stowe school is a Grades Pre-K-8 fine and
         performing arts academy with 1,140 students. This school serves a
         population that is 6% African American, 92% Hispanic, and 2%
         Caucasian. The school offers 99% of the students free and
         reduced-price lunch and 30% of the students are English language
         learners. Stowe students have participated and won many competitions
         such as Joffrey Ballet, Latino Film Festival, Outstanding Latina
         Scientist, the Area Academic Olympics and Young Author, the City
         Spanish Oratory, Science Fair, and Chicago Young Filmmakers of the
         Year. The school has used SRA/McGraw-Hill's Open Court Reading and
         its companion Spanish language instruction Foro abierto para la
         lectura since 2003. Grade 8 reading proficiency scores increased from
         43.9% in 2005 to 70.9% in 2006.

      -- Oakland Unified School District, Oakland, Calif.
         Oakland USD is an urban Pre-K-12 district with 38,544 students. The
         student population is 37% African American, 34% Hispanic, 16% Asian,
         7% Caucasian, and 6% multicultural. More than 31% of students are
         English learners. Prior to implementing SRA/McGraw-Hill's Open Court
         Reading and Foro abierta para la lectura district-wide, teachers in
         the district were using a variety of programs exposing students to
         many different pedagogies. Administrators and teachers within the
         district now appreciate having a consistent and cohesive program and
         student results are showing the impact, with Academic Performance
         Index scores steadily increasing every year, from 568 in 2002 to 658
         in 2007.

About Direct Instruction

Direct Instruction is an explicit teaching method based on nearly 50 years of educational research and classroom verification. It is used in classrooms of all types throughout the world, with students ranging from those with learning difficulties to very bright students. Direct Instruction's programs are based on two beliefs: All children can learn regardless of their learning histories, and all teachers can be successful when given effective materials and presentation techniques. These programs have been proven to work even when other programs fail. They provide a structured learning process that helps students learn "how to learn" while they build specific skills in reading, math, spelling, and language arts. Today, more than 1 million students in a third of the country's schools use a Direct Instruction program.

About Open Court Reading

Open Court Reading is a leading Pre-K-6 reading and language arts program published by SRA/McGraw-Hill. Developed from 45 years of intense study and field-testing, Open Court Reading incorporates sound teaching practices from scientific research. In the schools and districts where the program has been implemented, not only have students' reading test scores increased, but teachers and principals also are seeing gains in student achievement overall. The latest edition was published in 2008 as Imagine It!

About SRA/McGraw-Hill

SRA/McGraw-Hill is the top provider of specialized research-based educational programs and professional development for the elementary market. Leading programs include SRA Imagine It! reading program, Direct Instruction, and additional core and supplemental programs. SRA is part of McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies NYSE: MHP. McGraw-Hill Education is a leading global provider of instructional, assessment, and reference solutions that empower professionals and students of all ages. McGraw-Hill Education has offices in 33 countries and publishes in more than 40 languages. Additional information is available at mheducation.com. For more information on SRA/McGraw-Hill's products, call 1-888-SRA-4543 and visit SRAonline.com.

    Contact:  Amy Tillinghast                     Melina Metzger
              SRA/McGraw-Hill                     Paul Werth Associates
              (614) 750-7285                      (614) 224-8114 Ext. 236
              amy_tillinghast@mcgraw-hill.com     mmetzger@paulwerth.com