Purchasing Authority: A Companion to Teacher Buyer Behavior, 2008-2009 Shows Teacher Preferences for Buying Teacher Supplies, Supplemental Materials and Professional Development

Denver, CO (March 11, 2008) — Teachers are the primary decision makers for purchasing supplemental materials, classroom supplies, and professional development resources in American schools, reports a new study from Quality Education Data, Inc. (QED), a leading education market research and database firm, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Scholastic. QED researches teacher purchasing trends each year to collect the most current data on teacher spending in American schools.

Purchasing Authority: A Companion to Teacher Buyer Behavior, 2008-2009, asked educators about their research and purchasing activities when buying materials for their classrooms. The study also asked teachers to report their use of retail stores, teacher stores, print catalogs and online stores for purchase of classroom supplies and materials.

Key findings include:

Scholastic Surpasses Competitors as Top Destination for Researching and Purchasing Classroom Supplies, Supplemental Materials and Professional Development

New York, NY (March 10, 2008) — The website for Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, is the overwhelming choice for teachers researching and purchasing educational materials for their classrooms online, according to Purchasing Authority: A Companion to Teacher Buyer Behavior, 2008-2009, a study released in February by Quality Education Data, Inc. (QED).

The study, which asked a cross-section of K-12 educators about their research and purchasing preferences for educational materials, reported that Scholastic is the top resource for teachers gathering information about and purchasing teacher supplies, supplemental materials and professional development materials online. Key findings from the study include:

More Kids Say “Yes” to Presidency in 2008 than in 2004;
More Boys Say “Yes” Than Girls

New York, NY (February 15, 2008) — Would you want to be President of the United States? According to a recent election year poll by Scholastic News®, America’s leading news source for kids, most kids would pass on a job in the Oval Office, especially girls. More than 30,000 students in first through eighth grades from across the country took part in the poll:

New Classroom Book Collections Use Journals, Letters and Well-Known Children’s Literature to Build Fluency and Inspire Students in Grades K-8

New York, NY (February 6, 2008) -- Scholastic Classroom Books, a division of Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, announces the release of Tim Rasinski Presents…Fabulously Famous Books for Building Fluency™. These new libraries emphasize reading with expression and oral performance using speeches, journals, letters, poetry and many other formats to improve fluency and inspire a love of reading in students in grades K-8.

Fabulously Famous Books is designed to build fluency skills such as expression, intonation and phrasing and encourage students to demonstrate oral fluency performance through engaging activities like poetry slams, reader’s theater and storytelling.

Dr. Timothy Rasinski, one of the nation's leading authorities on reading fluency, has conducted extensive research and created practical strategies to help students become accurate and fluent decoders of words. His goal with the new fluency libraries is to “share the excitement of great literature and let students use their own voices to make the passages come alive.”

New Free Web Site Helps Teachers and Parents Match the Right Book to the Right Child Based on Four Different Reading Level Systems, Interests and Previously Enjoyed Books

New York, NY (January 30, 2008) -- E-Scholastic, the online division of Scholastic, the global children’s publishing and media company, announces the launch of Teacher Book Wizard™ (www.scholastic.com/bookwizard). The new Web site enables teachers, librarians and even parents to search a database of over 50,000 books to find just the right match for every child, according to reading level, interest, subject and genre. Teachers and librarians can also download free lesson plans related to specific books and purchase many titles at teacher discounted prices through Scholastic.com’s Teacher Store.

The unique BookAlike™ feature helps educators find book recommendations based on a title that their students’ already know and enjoy. They can also search for titles that are at, above or below the original book’s reading level.
Teacher Book Wizard offers other tools, including:

Scholastic News Election Reporters Learn About Life at Home and on the Campaign Trail with Children of Presidential Candidates, Ages 6-37

New York, NY (January 24, 2008) -- What are the kids of the current presidential candidates like? Emma Claire Edwards likes Webkins; Bridget McCain loves hanging out with friends; Malia and Sasha Obama can’t wait to get a dog; and Tagg Romney sometimes fights with his brothers. The Scholastic Kids Press Corps, a team of student reporters ages 10-14 who are covering the race to the White House and reporting for Scholastic News, discovered that the kids of candidates are not so different from the Kid Reporters themselves!

Scholastic Kid Reporters interviewed many of the candidates’ children and spouses to find out more about them and to learn what it’s like to have a parent running for president. Their interviews are published at Scholastic News Online (www.scholastic.com/news) and in upcoming issues of Scholastic News (for students in grades 1-6) and Junior Scholastic (grades 6-8).

Here’s a peek at what the Scholastic Kids Press Corps learned about the candidates’ kids, ages 6-37: