World's Leading Educational Publisher Offers Department of Education Array of
Innovative Programs Addressing the Needs of All Learners
SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The education
publisher Pearson today announced that it has submitted to California's
Department of Education a total of seven comprehensive programs aligned to
meet new state standards and designed to boost reading, vocabulary, and
language arts performance for all of California's elementary and secondary
students.
Pearson vice president for California Vicky Bush said, "The state has been
explicit about its expectations, not only with core content, but especially in
meeting the needs of struggling students and English learners. In creating
our customized California programs, we have been 100% focused on providing the
state's educators with comprehensive, innovative educational materials to
provide every child the maximum opportunity to be successful in school."
The Pearson programs include an integrated array of instruction, digital
media, and assessment aligned to Reading First requirements and revised State
standards. Bush said, "This is the first time that Pearson will be offering an
elementary reading program for California. Our Reading Street for California
customized curriculum is based on five years of research and development
invested in the Scott Foresman Reading Street series." Bush noted that over
the past two years, the core curriculum has been adopted by thousands of
schools, and in 2007 was the top-selling reading program in the U.S. Now it
has been enhanced and customized for California, adding a visually-engaging
and entertaining digital path, and including California authors and
literature. This and other elementary and secondary programs are also being
customized for English learners.
The new California 2008 instructional requirements are based on research
indicating greater need to support academic achievement of students and narrow
the achievement gap. According to the state, teachers and school leaders
requested this current adoption requirements include comprehensive
instructional materials that ensure the successful academic achievement of
African American students, English learners, and students at risk of academic
failure; and provide new components and improved instruction to efficiently
and effectively address their instructional needs.
In response to this mandate, Pearson has submitted comprehensive programs
developed by three of its educational publishing arms: Scott Foresman (K-6),
Prentice Hall (6-12), and Longman (K-12).
"These three publishing teams worked seamlessly to incorporate the many
critical student needs and state requirements into our programs," said Bush.
"What distinguishes Pearson in this adoption is that for the first time, a
publisher has succeeded in pulling all of the required elements together in a
totally integrated K-12 reading and literacy package."
The seven Pearson programs are:
1. Pearson Reading Street for California (grades K-6), a customized
curriculum steeped in five years of research and development to create
the Scott Foresman Reading Street program. The top-selling reading
curriculum in the U.S. in 2007, the program has been enhanced and
customized for California, adding a visually-engaging and entertaining
digital path, and including California authors and literature.
2. Pearson California Language Central (grades K-6), a component for
intensive English-language development. Instruction is built from Grant
Wiggins's Understanding by Design concepts. Instructional support for
English learners of various proficiency levels includes: an explicit
and efficient path to the Reading Street curriculum; frontloading of
language and literacy skills; and connections of common unit and weekly
concepts of Pearson Reading Street for California and Pearson calle de
la lectura.
3. Pearson calle de la lectura (grades K-3), a parallel Spanish version of
Pearson Reading Street for California. A comprehensive, research-based
program developed specifically to support teaching and learning of the
California Spanish-Language Arts Content Standards, with differentiated
instruction for struggling readers, grade level readers and advanced
readers.
4. Pearson Literature California Reading and Language (middle/high school)
is a comprehensive literature program developed specifically for
California and based on the most recent reading research. Organized
around Big Questions and the Understanding by Design model of Grant
Wiggins, the program also provides differentiated instruction for
struggling readers, English learners, and advanced learners, making the
program curriculum accessible to all students and ensuring that all
students have the opportunity to master the State's English-Language
Arts Content Standards.
5. Pearson California Language Central (grades 6-8). Customized to meet
California's rigorous standards, this program provides students with an
additional one hour of instruction each day to help ensure that English
learners acquire proficiency in English as quickly, efficiently and
effectively as possible. Pearson California Language Central is
directly aligned with Pearson Literature California Reading and
Language and focuses on common units and lesson concepts and is
consistent with its scope and sequence.
6. Pearson Longman Cornerstone is a stand-alone, multi-level intervention
program designed for elementary English learners and struggling readers
whose academic achievement is two or more years below grade level.
Longman Cornerstone incorporates the instructional principles of Grant
Wiggins's Understanding by Design. The program includes focused
instruction to accelerate students' language acquisition, reading
comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, and oral and written communication
skills.
7. Pearson Longman Keystone, a stand-alone, multi-level intervention
program for struggling readers and English learners whose academic
achievement is two or more years below grade level, blends rigorous,
research-based reading and language skills instruction together with a
balance of content-area readings and age-appropriate, high-interest
literature. The program incorporates the instructional principles of
Understanding by Design, with the goal of equipping students with the
key transferable academic skills necessary to transition successfully
into mainstream basal programs.
"One of the factors that separates us from other publishers is our
aggressive intervention programs for struggling readers and students whose
first language is not English," said Joanne Dresner, president of Pearson
Longman. "As the world's leading provider of instructional materials for
English learners, our programs are grounded in extensive research and authored
by world-class experts who are uniquely qualified in addressing the complex
issues around English language acquisition. Our goal in California is to move
learners as quickly as possible out of intervention and into the mainstream
programs, so that regardless of whether or not their first language is
English, all California students will have the opportunity to achieve academic
and lifelong success."
Pearson has worked diligently to establish a prestigious team of authors,
researchers and educators to develop programs that meet California's unique
needs, said Pearson's Bush. She noted that Pearson has just signed an
exclusive agreement with noted curriculum design expert Grant Wiggins, as well
as bringing on the award-winning children's writer Jon Scieszka as a Pearson
author.
"Across the spectrum, our programs connect with one another, as well as
with the needs of California teachers, students, parents and others in the
education community," she said. "We look forward to working with the state
throughout the process to ensure maximum impact and value to California."
About Pearson in California:
Pearson (NYSE: PSO), 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
Kate Miller of Pearson, 1-800-745-8489, kate.miller@pearson.com; or Stevan
Allen for Pearson, +1-916-448-1336, stevan@allenstrategic.com
