NEW YORK, NY — January 31, 2011 — The Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE), an international professional educational organization affiliated with the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), has endorsed System 44, a foundational reading program for struggling readers from Scholastic.

Since its launch in 2008, System 44 has shown high levels of success in helping students in grades 3-12 change the trajectory of their learning and move toward proficiency with grade level text. The result of a collaboration with Dr. Marilyn Jager Adams, Visiting Professor, Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences Department, Brown University, and Dr. Ted Hasselbring of the Peabody College of Education at Vanderbilt University, System 44’s adaptive technology provides each student with individualized instruction in phonics and foundational reading skills, deliberate practice, visual representations, instruction in multiple modalities, and second language support in Spanish – essential supports for students who face learning challenges or have special needs.

"System 44 was designed to help our most challenged readers in grades 3–12 rebuild the skills required to get on the path to college and career readiness," said Margery Mayer, President, Scholastic Education. "When a child struggles with basic phonics in third grade and beyond, System 44 provides intensive, personalized instruction that is respectful of older students and designed to accelerate learning and get the student back on track for reading success. We’re honored that it has been recognized for its effectiveness in helping students in special education programs."

Through the use of System 44, students learn that the English language is a system of 44 sounds and 26 letters that can be mastered. Its cutting edge software provides differentiated instruction at a one-to-one level and is constantly adapting to provide the right amount of challenge to each student. System 44 also provides ongoing progress monitoring, which offers educators real-time information on student progress.

System 44 is often implemented as a precursor to READ 180®, a reading intervention program used by 1.2 million students across the country every day. Initially endorsed by CASE in 2007, READ 180 was re-endorsed this year after Scholastic released a new version of the program, READ 180® Next Generation. READ 180 Next Generation provides struggling readers with an explicit and accelerated path to college and career readiness.

About System 44
System 44 is the breakthrough foundational reading and phonics intervention technology program for our most challenged readers in Grades 3–12+. System 44 includes state-of-the-art adaptive reading technology that delivers direct, explicit, research-based foundational reading and phonics instruction as well as engaging, high-interest print materials for student practice in reading, writing, and spelling.

About READ 180 Next Generation
READ 180 Next Generation is a comprehensive system of curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development that helps schools raise reading achievement for struggling readers in grades 4–12. In READ 180 classrooms, students move in small groups through rotations that include adaptive technology, independent reading and direct, differentiated instruction from the teacher. The technology tracks student progress every day, delivering personalized instruction to the student and data to the teacher that makes differentiation easy.

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Contact:

Alex Wladich
Scholastic Inc.
212-965-7353
awladich@scholastic.com