Children across Recovery School District to Read at School and at Home and Earn Rewards and Prizes for Hard Work and Good Reading

100-book Custom Scholastic Classroom Libraries Placed in 620 RSD Classrooms

New Orleans, LA (April 2, 2008) — Recovery School District Superintendent Paul Vallas and Scholastic today announced the New Orleans RSD Superintendent’s Challenge—a reading challenge issued to students of all ages across the school district to encourage a generation of strong, enthusiastic readers. The challenge, which will run through the end of the school year, rewards students for reading 100 minutes or more a week, either at school or at home. Superintendent Vallas announced the program at a reading celebration at the Fannie C. Williams School in East New Orleans.

“At Fannie C. Williams, a group of second graders caught “reading fever” this school year and completed more than 20,000 pages. They became truly excited about books and about reading every day. My goal in launching the RSD Superintendent’s Challenge is to inspire and motivate all of our students in every grade to read each and develop a real love for reading that will last a lifetime,” said Superintendent Paul Vallas.

To help students achieve the goals of the New Orleans RSD Superintendent’s Challenge, each classroom in the Recovery School District has received a 100-book age-appropriate, high interest, custom classroom library from Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company. The collections are bundled with comprehension quizzes, teacher guides and reward certificates to honor great readers across the district. Students who reach the minimum reading challenge goal of 100 minutes a week will receive prizes from Scholastic; top-scoring district-wide readers will receive special awards from the Superintendent.

“As the people of New Orleans continue to rebuild, Scholastic remains committed to the city’s youngest citizens by promoting literacy and learning in every school and every classroom across the Recovery School District,” said Greg Worrell, President of Scholastic Classroom and Library Group. “We are proud to stand beside Superintendent Vallas as he issues this important reading challenge and we are happy to provide the hard working students in the district with exciting, engaging books to help achieve their goals.”

Please visit www.scholastic.com/classroombooks for more information about Superintendent Vallas’ reading challenge.

About Scholastic
Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL) is the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books and a leader in educational technology and children’s media. Scholastic creates quality educational and entertaining materials and products for use in school and at home, including children's books, magazines, technology-based products, teacher materials, television programming, film, videos and toys. The Company distributes its products and services through a variety of channels, including proprietary school-based book clubs and school-based book fairs, retail stores, schools, libraries, television networks and the Company’s Internet Site, www.scholastic.com.

Contacts:
Recovery School District
Siona LaFrance
504-373-6200

Scholastic
Sarah Trabucchi
212-343-6424
strabucchi@scholastic.com