Pearson Brings its Campaign to Stamp Out 'Word Poverty' to L.A.'s Largest Family...

Pearson Brings its Campaign to Stamp Out 'Word Poverty' to L.A.'s Largest
Family Book Fair - Feria Del Libro
Leading Educational Publisher's 'Amazing Words' Meets City's 'Million Word
Challenge'

SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Recognizing the
overwhelming evidence pointing to the school success of children who read at
home with their families, for the second consecutive year Pearson Education
and the Pearson Foundation will be a sponsor of the Annual Feria del Libro: A
Family Book Fair at Los Angeles City Hall on Saturday, June 7, 2008.
The Feria del Libro: A Family Book Fair is a community-wide event
promoting a culture of literacy at home and academic achievement at school,
while making quality culturally relevant books available to children of all
ages and their families. The fair is the culmination of the Million Word
Challenge, a literacy campaign promoting a culture of literacy at home and
academic achievement at school.
Pearson Foundation president Mark Nieker said, "The heart of the message
of Feria del Libro centers around the family and the importance of reading and
vocabulary development. Research tells us that elementary school children
should be increasing their vocabulary at the rate of seven words per day on
average - that they should know a minimum of 8,000 words by grade three and an
average of 45,000 words by high school graduation. Unfortunately, statistics
confirm that struggling students are often not even learning one new word each
day."
"The book fair sprang to life to celebrate the love of reading and to give
books to children and their families -- many with no bookstores in their
neighborhoods and no place to purchase books," said Maria Casillas, president
of Families In Schools. She added, "Again this year, we are grateful for the
generous financial support of the Pearson Foundation and its recognition of
the importance of family reading. The Foundation's additional contribution of
children's books to Feria del Libro: A Family Book Fair helps to open up a
world of reading to thousands of homes that may not own even one book for
their children."
Pearson Education vice president for California Vicky Bush cited a recent
report from the U.S. Department of Education that indicates that three-
quarters of California's eighth-grade students score at or below basic level
in writing ability. California schools fared worse than other states,
according to the report, because it has so many students who learn English as
a second language.
Bush said, "We know that one of the most effective ways to bridge the
achievement gap is to address the vocabulary gap, or what we call 'word
poverty.' We do this is through our Amazing Words learning strategy, which
helps students' reading comprehension while building their speaking
vocabularies." She added, "We see Pearson's Amazing Words and Feria del
Libro's Million Word Challenge as the perfect partnership -- both encourage a
passion for reading and the love for learning new words."
In addition to its ongoing financial commitment to Feria del Libro, the
Pearson Foundation will offer its Family Book Night program to families at the
event and will donate popular children's books from the Penguin Young Readers
series and Longman English-Spanish dictionaries for students and for adults.
Bush noted, "We are 100 percent committed to working with the schools and
teachers in California to address the issues around 'word poverty.' We are
doing this not only through the intensive focus in our reading/language arts
programs, but through the philanthropic work of the Pearson Foundation, which
is equally dedicated to programs which build vocabulary in young children and
set them on a path toward a lifetime love of reading."
In addition to Feria Del Libro, the Pearson Foundation, an international
non-profit based in California, sponsors and takes part in initiatives for
California families, students, and teachers, including the Foundation's own
Family Book Nights and Digital Arts Alliance programs, the Pearson Teacher
Fellowship, Jumpstart's Read for the Record Campaign, and other programs
described at www.pearsonfoundation.org.
About Pearson in California:
Pearson, the world's leading education publisher, has been providing
education materials to California schools as far back as the 1800s. You may
know us individually as Scott Foresman, Prentice Hall, Longman, SuccessMaker,
NovaNet, AGS, Pearson Assessment and Information, Learning Teams, Achievement
Solutions, and so many more -- names in the world of education that are
recognized and respected across the State and the globe. In fact, most
teachers in California have learned their profession by studying with
Pearson's Merrill or Allyn & Bacon textbooks, and many have benefited from our
professional development programs. Today, nearly a thousand Pearson people are
living and working in the State, providing educational materials that cover
the gamut from birth through professional learning. Whether in science, math,
social studies, music, middle/high school language arts, English as a second
language, foreign languages, or AP courses, hundreds of thousands of
California's preK-12 students are learning with our Pearson products every
day.
In addition to Education, Pearson's other major businesses include The
Financial Times Group and The Penguin Group. For more information, go to:
www.californiareading.com or www.pearsonschool.com.
SOURCE Pearson

Adam Ray, +1-415-533-1005, adam.ray@pearsonfoundation.org, Kate Miller,
1-800-745-8489, kate.miller@pearson.com, both of Pearson